Constitutional position on public service pension control: FOI release

Information requested

A. Devolution Settlement Analysis

1) Legal analysis of tension between devolved health/education services and reserved pension control
2) Any legal advice received regarding Scottish Government's position on public service pension arrangements
3) Documentation of discussions with UK Government regarding pension devolution
4) Scottish Government position on democratic accountability for Scottish workers' pension contributions

B. SPPA Oversight and Control

1) Documentation of Scottish Government's oversight role (if any) over SPPA
2) Any Scottish Government directions issued to SPPA regarding pension administration
3) Confirmation of Scottish Government's understanding of where Scottish pension contributions ultimately go
4) Analysis of whether current arrangements comply with devolution principles

C. Constitutional Concerns

1) Any concerns raised about UK Treasury spending Scottish workers' pension contributions on UKScottish
2) Risk assessments regarding future pension obligations for Scottish public sector workers
3) Analysis of independence implications for pension scheme liabilities
4) Comparison with other devolved pension arrangements (Welsh, Northern Ireland)

D. Democratic Accountability

1) Documentation of Scottish Parliament scrutiny of pension arrangements
2) Any questions raised by MSPs regarding pension contribution accountability
3) Scottish Government response to constitutional tensions in current arrangements
4) Future policy intentions regarding pension devolution

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA) does not hold some of the information you have requested.

A. Devolution Settlement Analysis

1) Information not held by SPPA.
2) Information not held by SPPA.
3) Information not held by SPPA.
4) Information not held by SPPA.

B. SPPA Oversight and Control

1) The Scottish Public Pensions Agency is an agency of the Scottish Government. This is set out in the Framework Document: https://pensions.gov.scot/corporate-publications/framework-document.
2) As above.
3) Contributions are collected by employers and used to pay pensions in payment, with funding to meet pension payments for the NHS and Teachers’ schemes made available from the Scottish Government’s Annually Managed Expenditure budget or from the Scottish Government Department Expenditure Limited budget for the Police and Firefighters' schemes. Scheme Accounts: https://pensions.gov.scot/nhs/scheme-governance-and-legislation/nhs-scheme-accounts and https://pensions.gov.scot/teachers/scheme-governance-and-legislation/stss-schemeaccounts.
4) Information not held by SPPA.

C. Constitutional Concerns

1) Information not held by SPPA.
2) Pension scheme valuations are undertaken on a four year cycle and are available to view on the SPPA website:
https://pensions.gov.scot/firefighters/employers/valuations
https://pensions.gov.scot/police/employers/valuations
https://pensions.gov.scot/teachers/employers/pension-contribution-rates/valuations
https://pensions.gov.scot/media/2560
3) https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-government-position-on-pensions-in-an-independentscotland-foi-release/
4) Information not held by SPPA.

D. Democratic Accountability

1) Documentation in relation to Scottish Parliament scrutiny of pension arrangements is in the public domain.
2) Documentation in relation to questions raised by MSPs relating to pension contributions accountability is in the public domain.
3) Information not held by SPPA.
4) Information not held by SPPA.

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