To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to the answer of 4 December 2006, Official Report, columns 189-90W from the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, the hon. Member for Wolverhampton, South-East (Mr. McFadden) to the hon. Member for Blackpool, South (Mr. Marsden) on the retirement age, what his Department’s policy is for the setting of retirement ages for staff below the senior civil service under the Civil Service (Management Functions) Act 1992. (108010)

Staff serving in the Wales Office are either on loan from the Welsh Assembly Government or employed by the Department for Constitutional Affairs. Their individual retirement age is agreed with their home Departments rather than by the Wales Office. The Wales Office sets no standard retirement age and has a number of staff who have opted to work beyond normal retirement age.