asked the Minister for the Civil Service how many persons in the public sector currently have fully inflation-proofed pensions in payment; and of those how many, at the latest date for which information is available, had pensions of less than £1,000 a year, £1,000 to £2,000, £2,000 to £3,000, £3,000, to £4,000, £4,000 to £5,000, £5,000 to £7,500, £7,500 to £10,000, and over £10,000 a year.

I regret that information in the form requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Such information as is readily available shows that a total of some 860,000 inflation-proofed pensions are in payment to ex-members of the Civil Service, the National Health Service, local government, the police and fire services, the teaching profession and the Armed Forces. The average pension in payment to a retired civil servant is £897 a year.