Baroness Smith of Basildon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Smith of Basildon on 2016-04-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what meetings (1) the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, and (2) other ministers, have had with (a) the Civil Nuclear Police Authority, (b) the Chief Constable of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, and (c) the Civil Nuclear Police Federation, to discuss the occupational retirement age for Civil Nuclear Constabulary officers.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

My hon. Friend the Minister of State for Energy has met with the Chair of the Civil Nuclear Police Authority (CNPA) and the Chief Constable of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) on two occasions since taking office where the pension age of officers was discussed. In October 2015 and March 2016.

The Minister of State has recently written to the Civil Nuclear Police Federation about meeting representatives of that organisation to discuss issues including the age at which CNC officers receive their pension.

Officials at the Department of Energy and Climate Change have worked closely with officials at the CNPA and CNC at all levels, up to and including the Chief Constable, on the issue of the pension age of CNC officers since May 2014. The Department has received frequent and substantial advice on all aspects of this issue. This includes, but is not limited to, the impact of fitness standards on CNC officers and how those standards affect deployability of officers, and the costs of administering a pension scheme with a lower effective pension age.

The Minister of State has received two letters from the Civil Nuclear Police Federation outlining their legal case for a lower pension age. Officials have met with the Civil Nuclear Police Federation to discuss the pension age of CNC officers on two occasions in 2015.