To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what his most recent estimate is of the unfunded liability in present value terms of each public sector pension scheme for which his Department is responsible; and on what assumptions for (a) discount and (b) longevity the estimate is based. (200706)

Staff employed by the Department for International Development (DFID) are members of one of the five principal civil service pensions schemes and as such DFID cannot identify its share of the underlying assets and liabilities of these schemes.

Information on unfunded liabilities can be found in the resource accounts of the Cabinet Office: Civil Superannuation:

www.civilservice-pensions.gov.uk.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the unfunded liability in present value terms was of each public sector pension scheme for which his Department is responsible in each year since 1990-91. (200707)

Information on unfunded liabilities in present value terms of the Civil Service pensions schemes can be found in the resource accounts of the Cabinet Office: Civil Superannuation at

www.civilservice-pensions.gov.uk.

This information is only available since 2000-01 and has been produced under differing sets of assumptions (e.g. on longevity) since 1990 and as such is not comparable during the period in question.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the effect on his Department's expenditure would be from increasing the employee contribution to each pension scheme for which his Department is responsible by one per cent.; and if he will make a statement. (200709)

Staff employed by the Department for International Development (DFID) are members of one of the five principal civil service pension schemes. Only the Partnership scheme offers the possibility of DFID increasing its expenditure as a result of an increase in employee contributions. In the Partnership scheme DFID matches member contributions up to 3 per cent. of pensionable earnings. Currently 25 DFID staff are members of the Partnership scheme and have varying contribution levels. A 1 per cent. increase will have a very minimal increase to DFID's overall expenditure.