To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the number of retired police officers in North Yorkshire and the impact of the cost of their pensions on the operational budget of North Yorkshire Police. (189093)

Information on the number of retired police officers in individual police forces is not held centrally as the administration of the police pension schemes is the responsibility of each individual police authority.

Under the new system of pensions financing introduced on 1 April 2006 police authorities now have a separate pensions account out of which retired officers’ pensions are paid. Where the cost of pensions in payment exceeds the level of employer and officer contributions paid into the pension account in any year the account is topped up with a grant from central Government; any surplus is recouped. A key benefit of this change is that it takes away from police authorities the burden of the rising cost of pensions, as the number of pensioners increases, from the operational budget. Instead, the operational budget now only has to provide for the employers’ contributions in respect of serving officers.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many senior police officers were permitted to retire while under disciplinary investigation in each of the last five years. (189159)

The retirement of senior police officers is primarily a matter for the officer concerned, and his or her police authority. The Home Office does not collate information on those who retire while subject to disciplinary investigation.