asked the Minister for the Civil Service how many (a) Civil Service pensioners and (b) Civil Service pensioners' widows are calculated at the latest convenient date in the following age groupings: under 60 years, attained 60 but under 65 years, attained 65 but under 70 years, attained 70 but under 75 years, attained 75 but under 80 years, attained 80 but under 85 years, and over 85 years, respectively.

The date 31st March 1973 is the latest date for which a breakdown by age is available. As at that date the information requested is given in the following table:

Age Group		Civil Service Pensioners (000s)	Civil Service Pensioners' widows receiving a pension (000s)
Under 60	…	9	13
60–65	…	38	9
65–70	…	56	13
70–75	…	49	15
75–80	…	33	14
80–85	…	12	4
Over 85	…	3½	1½

asked the Minister for the Civil Service if he will publish a list in the Official Report showing the expectation of life at various ages for civil servants and Civil Service pensioners upon which the actuarial calculations for their pensions are based; and if he will give comparable figures for five, 10, 15 and 20 years previously.

The following table gives the life expectancy according to the mortality tables used most recently for pension calculations:

			Expectation of Life (to nearest half year)
Age			Men	Women
60	…	…	17	22
65	…	…	13½	18
70	…	…	10½	14
75	…	…	8	10½
80	…	…	6	7½

The data for younger ages are not in a convenient form to enable figures for ages below 60 to be produced. Records are not kept in a form which allows direct comparison with earlier years. While there has in general been some improvement in mortality over the past 20 years the improvement is not significant in terms of pension costs.