To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how the incentive payments offered to Spanish pensioners related to contributions to the Gibraltar Social Security Fund up to 1969, as set out in individual letters sent to those eligible to be paid directly from the UK, have been calculated. (129733)

The payments offered to affected Spanish pensioners relate in part to individuals' contribution records to the Gibraltar Social Insurance Fund.

Incentive payments form part of the wider Cordoba pensions settlement, which removes a substantial liability from the UK taxpayer, as the Spanish Government has agreed not to claim healthcare costs for the affected Spanish pensioners for whom it would be entitled to do.

As under existing arrangements for pension payments, incentive payments are being managed by the Department for International Development, and administered by Crown Agents Bank.