I said in an intervention that I had some interesting views on the Opposition’s stance. I have sympathy with the thrust of the amendments, but I assure the Minister that it does not extend to voting for them.
Our starting point on the retirement age must be the demographic pressures we face. UK National Statistics data show that in 2008, males were expected to live to 78.1 years and females to 82.1 years, yet by 2011, life expectancy had jumped to 90.3 years for men and to 93.8 years for women, and we could expect to pay almost as many pension cheques as pay cheques. One of my reasons for supporting the linkage—in the main—
between public sector pension schemes and the state retirement age is that there is a huge gap between the contribution rates of the employer and employee and what is drawn out as a pension.
The NHS pension scheme tiered employee contributions data, which are published by the NHS, show that the employer pays about 14% and the employee about 8.5%. My rudimentary maths leads me to conclude that 22.5% goes in. Members who took part in the Bill Committee evidence sessions will remember the British Medical Association’s interesting contribution, not least because the BMA said that doctors should pay less and the lowest-paid should pay more for their pensions. The BMA confirmed that the average pension out in the NHS was 49%, so if the contribution rates are putting in only 22.5%, but 49% is coming out, that 26.5% gap has to be covered from somewhere, and it is being funded by the taxpayer. If that taxpayer gap is going to grow because of the demographic time bomb—people are retiring at the same age, but living longer and drawing pensions longer—it will start to be completely unsustainable, undermining the public sector pension schemes in total. That is why the Government are right to link the normal pension age with the state retirement age.
5.15 pm
As I said, I have some sympathy with the thrust of the amendments. I acknowledge that the Government have gone some way to recognise the physicality of the work of the police, the fire service and the armed forces by having a lower retirement age of 60. However, I gently ask the Minister to revisit the impact of the physical nature of some of the roles within those categories, although not all the roles, because there is a huge difference between a police officer on the beat, in a territorial support group or in the computer-aided dispatch call centre.
On Saturday, I met one of my constituents, who is a sergeant in the local territorial support group. He is 42 years old and physically very fit. He explained that his job involves being the guy at the sharp end outside the gates of Parliament when we have serious disorder. He is the guy in full riot gear who has to wade into civil disobedience. He is the guy who goes in the front door when the police have to go in and arrest a violent criminal. The physicality of that job requires him and his colleagues to pass tests to ensure that they are physically up to the job. There are two tests in particular, and one is called the bleep test. Anybody who goes to a gym may know that this is where one has to run faster and faster to get between two points before the bleep cuts one off. On top of that, the sergeant explained that he has to do a shield test, which is where he and his colleagues, in full riot gear, have to be able to run 1 km in not more than six minutes. He explained to me that that, at his age, he is getting towards the limit of his physicality. Expecting a sergeant in the TSG to be able to pass the bleep test or a riot shield run in six minutes or less for 1 km at the age of 59 is perhaps asking too much.
I am reasonably fit, but I have 10 years on the sergeant. I have accepted the challenge of doing the shield run—of trying to run 1 km in not more than six minutes in full riot gear. Perhaps the Government and Opposition Front Benchers would like to join me. If they
are keen to take up the challenge, I will happily arrange it. Both the Minister and the shadow Minister have 10 years on me as well. [Interruption.] Whips, of course, are entitled to take part—they might enjoy dressing up with the truncheon.
On the question of physicality, I am not suggesting that the Government have got it wholly wrong. I am suggesting that if, at some point in the future, we have empirical evidence that such physicality has an impact on those particular jobs, the Minister—I am sure he is rushing off to check the data—might revisit the rules to see if that physicality can be reflected in those specific roles within those specific categories.