New clause 27 - Extension of benefits to members of
Armed Forces (Pensions and Compensation) Bill
11:00 am
Mr Desmond Swayne (New Forest West, Conservative)
New clause 27 would place a duty on the Minister to extend the benefits of the scheme to reserve forces within one year. As a member of the reserve forces, I clearly have an interest to declare, although I must say that I had never given a second thought to the matter, probably because I was a contributor to the teachers' pension scheme, and then to the Royal Bank scheme. Then, I found our own scheme so attractive that I paid the amounts accrued to those schemes into ours when I came to the House. I have been able to tidy away my pension arrangements, paying almost 10 per cent. of my income into it. However, we have to be careful about the requirements and needs of those people who are not so generously provided for.
I intervened during the Secretary of State's speech on Second Reading on the question of pension entitlement for reservists. I was going to leave it at that, but I received representations of such force that I tabled the new clause. Many people feel very strongly about the issue. Reservists' pay is abated in the same way as that of the regular forces, but they do not have the benefit that arises from that abatement. It is true that when a reservist is mobilised, the Ministry of Defence makes the payments to their own contributory pension scheme. I do not see that as an issue at all. My concern is for those people who do not have pension schemes to contribute to, and those who are unemployed, who typically tend to serve a larger number of days as a result.
Typically, in my career as a member of the Territorial Army I have served between 30 and 35 to 40 days—that is, about a month—a year. However, paragraph 3.3 in essay No. 3, supporting the recent White Paper, which is on developing the reserves, says:
''This policy sees the Reserves providing an integrated, ready and capable component of Defence, capable of being mobilised for any type and scale of operation.''
Low-intensity peace support operations might imply a much more frequent use of reservists. That provides an opportunity for the Ministry to introduce the means by which those who do not have pension arrangements can be included in the armed forces pension scheme arrangements. It is only equitable that that should be so.
In his response to my intervention, the Secretary of State said, ''Well, yes, we've looked at this, and the amounts involved are just so small as not to make it worth while.'' I wonder whether the Minister can give the Committee some illustrative figures—or write to us if he is not able to do so today—showing what that would imply. Although my service has typically been some 35 to 40 days a year, there will be many members of the reserve forces who will typically have served between 60 and 100 days a year, which is rather more substantial. It would be interesting to hear what that would imply.
There is a minority of serial mobilisers who want to go on operations whenever they get the opportunity, and those people are now likely to serve a much larger number of days. It would be wrong not to examine thoroughly what that implies. An illustrative figure would be very helpful for the Committee, perhaps as a tool for Report.