Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the cost of proposals submitted by the Overseas Service Pension Association in December 2016 for assisting the government of Zimbabwe in meeting its obligations to Zimbabwe public service pensions.

The Government understands the hardship that lack of pension payments causes to former service-people and their families. The British Ambassador to Zimbabwe raises pensions frequently with the Zimbabwean Government and has secured written confirmation that it will resume payments when the economic situation improves. However, we have not made an estimate of the cost as these payments are the responsibility of the Government of Zimbabwe as set out in the Lancaster House Agreement in 1979.