asked the Minister for the Civil Service whether, in view of the fact that a public servant details of whom have been supplied to him, is due to retire on an indexed pension of £14,000 per annum with the opportunity of taking up other full- or part-time employment without loss of pension rights and that in the present position this pension will be worth £348,478 per annum by the time he has reached 83 years of age, he will take action to amend this pension scheme.

My hon. Friend may have sent details of the individual case referred to, but as yet I have not received them, and, therefore, I am unable to comment on his specific figures. I cannot accept his assumption that inflation will continue at 15 per cent. for 23 years, but would point out to him that, on that assumption, an index-linked pension would buy no more at the end than it did at the start. Indeed, on that assumption the price of a 20p loaf of bread would rise to some £5.

asked the Minister for the Civil Service whether he will arrange for estimates to be made of the cost of inflation-proofing Civil Service pensions, in real terms, for the years beyond 1980–81; and whether he will then publish these estimates in the Official Report.

Assuming real terms means constant demand on resources, indexing a pension to the cost of living does not increase its cost in real terms.