Title: SNA long-term research agenda
Categorisation
International Coordination\SNA Revision
To Joe, Aileen and ELS DDs,
Members of the ESA 95 Review Group have been asked by the UN, via Eurostat, for our suggestions
concerning the prioritisation of the 2008 SNA Research Agenda. I have listed the present issues on the SNA
long-term research agenda below.
Way forward and ...... Action for YOU !
Any comments on the prioritisation of the present list.
Any additions to the list together with text for the 5 headings listed below are required.
Any response(s) to me should be copied to Joe/Aileen for any additional comment.
Deadline is 9 April 2010, allowing me time to co-ordinate a single response to Eurostat.
The treatment of quality adjustments in measuring non-market output should be an example of an
addition we may seek to add. If so, I would be grateful for Simon Humphries (and his team) to provide the
appropriate supporting detail.
Present issues on the SNA long-term research agenda
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Reverse Transactions
Debt concessionality
Clarification of income concept in the SNA - should holding gains be included?
Final consumption of corporations
The relationship of SNA and IASB
High inflation
Accrual interest in the SNA - the debtor or creditor approach?
Equity valuation and its implications
Provisions
Distinction between current maintenance and capital repairs
Broadening the fixed asset boundary to include other intellectual property assets
Treatment of private-public partnerships
Consolidation, both for government and private enterprise groups
Wider use of fair value for loans
Recognition of social security entitlements as liabilities
Leases to exploit natural resources such as mineral deposits
Reinvested earnings
Output of central banks: taxes and subsidies on interest rates applied by central banks
Inclusion of international organisations in the SNA
Government social services
Additional items
If you want to include any additional items, details for the following headings are needed. I have also
provided an example for the type of details needed below.
Contact person
The issue
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
1
LIMITE EN
Reasons for inclusion in the research agenda
Time horizon
Key references
12
Treatment of private-public partnerships
Contact person
Cor Gorter (IMF)
The Issue
PPPs are generally understood to be arrangements whereby elements of the acquisition and operating of
infrastructural projects that were traditionally undertaken by the public sector are transferred to the private
sector. These elements may include legal ownership of the infrastructure for an agreed number of years, the
financing of the asset, and production of services related to the exploitation of the asset. PPP arrangements
vary widely in character and typically involve large financial resources. They are popular in several countries
for financing and operating (rail) roads, education and health facilities, and even prisons. From the point of
view of the public sector, the main attraction of this limited privatization is the efficiency gains they promise.
However, by using the private sector to finance these projects governments may avoid showing explicit
government debt. Furthermore, PPPs bear considerable fiscal risks to government (e.g., in the shape of
guarantees, etc.) and the accounting of such risks may affect policy decisions. It is therefore imperative that
statistics appropriately reflect these hazards; the present 1993 SNA does not provide sufficient guidance in
this
respect.
Several issues need to be resolved. A main question is who should be considered the economic owner of
the fixed asset: government, the private enterprise, or maybe both to some extent. A related question is
whose balance sheet should show the external financing of the project. Further questions concern the
classification and valuation of the transactions taking place between government and the private enterprise
during the period covered by the operation of the asset.
Reasons for inclusion in the Research Agenda
PPPs were proposed as a 1993 SNA update issue (issue number 24) by the Canberra II Group on the
Measurement of Non-Financial Assets. The Group discussed the issue of economic ownership on the basis
of the criteria economic control and who has the risks and rewards of the assets. As the relative importance
of these factors are likely to vary with each PPP, it appeared to be very difficult to formulate generally
applicable rules. The Group came to a similar conclusion regarding the operation of the assets. Headway
had been made in Eurostat’s ESA 95 Manual of government deficit and debt,1 the UK Accounting Standards
Board and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), but none of the proposals found a strong
backing in the Canberra II Group.
The AEG discussed an Issues paper on PPPs during its January/February 2006 meeting. 2 The AEG
acknowledged that a general description would be very useful but that the issues are very complex. It was
therefore suggested that the material might appear as an annex to the updated SNA. Representatives of the
Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Office for National Statistics, and the International Monetary Fund offered
to draft a text for the annex.
Statisticians should consider the rules that the IASB and the International Public Sector Accountants
Standards Board (IPSASB3) adopt regarding PPPs4, even if these are not decisive for the statistical
treatment. By end-2006, the IASB arrived at a conclusion on how the private sector should account for
PPPs.5 The IPSASB has started its own project for public sector financial reporting on PPPs, but an end date
is not yet known.
In view of the limited progress made up till date, the ISWGNA decided it would be better to add this topic to
the Research Agenda.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 Section IV.4.2, Long term contracts between government units and non-government partners.
2 The document was prepared by Brett Kaufmann, Robin Lynch, Christoph Maier, and John Pitzer.
3 The IPSASB is part of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC).
4 PPPs are often referred to as “service concessions arrangements” in public and business accounting.
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
2
LIMITE EN
5
The International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC, the interpretative arm of the IASB),
issued a near-final interpretation-IFRIC 12, Service Concessions Arrangements, on November 30, 2006. It
concluded that the asset should be recorded with the unit that has the controls over it, which usually is
government. The private operator receives either a financial asset in the shape of a right on cash payments
from government for services rendered, or an intangible asset in the shape of the right to charge users of the
public asset.
Time horizon
An agreement in the IPSASB may well take until its meeting in mid-2008. A proposal for the statistical
treatment of PPPs could then be expected by the end of 2008.
References
AEG document and conclusion:
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/sna1993/description.asp?ID=23
Overview IFRIC 12:
http://www.iasb.org/Current+Projects/....htm
Sanjiv
23 March 2010
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
3
LIMITE EN
Ian Richardson
09/03/2012 14:34
To:
Dunn/ONS@ONS
cc:
Subject:
Daniel Wisniewski/NAD/MESAG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS, San
Chris Daffin/EEPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS
POLICE AND FIRE PENSIONS
I attach a paper discussed at a recent Sector Accounts Local government meeting with HMT and OBR, abut
the treatment of police and fire pensions in the national accounts and Public Sector Finances.
As you will see, OBR feel that the present treatment of police and fire pensions does not count transactions
accurately. I think that there is a problem , and it seems likely that we will be proposing a change of
presentation in the 2013 Blue book.
It is not clear to me who the central contact point for pensions is for Blue Book purposes but I would welcome
a central view on the possible changes.
Thank you
Ian
Ian Richardson
Branch Head
Local Government and Public Corporations Account
Public Sector and Economics Division
Room 1.059, ONS, Newport
Tel. 01633 455780
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
4
LIMITE EN
SALG (12) 1
POLICE AND FIRE PENSION TOP-UP GRANTS
Background
1. Philippa Todd (OBR) has queried the present treatment of the police and fire pension
schemes, in particular arguing that the central government top-up payments into these
pension schemes are double-counted in the local authority accounts.
Introduction
2. I attach as an annex an e-mail setting out the views of David Hobbs, ONS accountant.
3. I think that basically Dave agrees with Philippa that the present system double counts the
police and fire top-up grants by scoring the receipts in both D.612 imputed social
contributions and in D.73 current grants from central government
4. The following table (also in this attachment), shows
Table 5.3.4 in the Blue book.
9086/12
one possible way of changing
MLG/am
DG G I
5
LIMITE EN
5. Changing the value for identifier NSMM (D.61 social contributions) will change GZSK (net
social benefits paid) and show increased local authority spending in the PSF tables.
Scope for making this change
6. As the proposed change would affect the Blue Book calculations for at least ten years this
change will have to wait for the 2013 Blue Book at the earliest. A further complication is that
the 2014 Blue Book will introduce changed methods for showing pensions as ONS adopts
the 2010 European System of Accounts. It could be argued that making a change for one
year only might confuse users.
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
6
LIMITE EN
Next steps
7. Views from SALG members are invited on this possible change. Other parts of ONS have
not yet been fully consulted and their views will also need to be taken into account.
Ian Richardson
23 February 2012
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
7
LIMITE EN
ANNEX: ADVICE SUPPLIED BY DAVE HOBBS, ONS ACCOUNTANT
David Hobbs
To:
cc:
Subject:
20/12/2011 14:44
Ian Richardson/EEPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@O
Police and Fire pension funds
Ian
As stated in the LG Financial Statements, "The police and fire fighters' pensions are provided through
unfunded schemes administered locally, and the cost of police and fire fighters' pensions are therefore
included in local authority expenditure."
So there are effectively no separate pension funds for these schemes so it makes sense to include all related
flows transparently within the LA's accounts.
For illustration, I have used the unaudited 2009-10 figures for the police scheme, as per Tom's paper to
show how I think the various flows should appear in the accounts, firstly as if the scheme and LA report the
flows separately and, secondly, merging the scheme into the LA's account:
(a) Police pensions Scheme income and expenditure account, 2009-10
Expenditure:
£ million
(iv)Pensions payable in period
2492
Income:
(i)Employee contributions
receivable in period
(ii)Employer's contributions
payable in period
(iii)Other income
(v) Deficit for the period,
covered by LA
£ million
543
1216
70
663
(b) Local authority income and expenditure account, 2009-10
Expenditure:
(ii)Employer's contributions
payable in period
£ million
1216
(v) Scheme deficit for the
period, covered by LA
Income:
£ million
(vi)Top-up grants receivable by
LA from CG, calculated as
pensions payable (iv) employee contributions (i) employer contributions (ii) other income (iii) =
2492 - 543 - 1216 - 70 =
663
663
(c) Households' income and expenditure account, 2009-10
Expenditure:
(i)Employee contributions
payable in period
£ million
543
Income:
(iv)Pensions receivable in
period
£ million
2492
(d) General government income and expenditure account, 2009-10
Expenditure:
(vi)Top-up grants payable by
CG to LA, calculated as
pensions payable (iv) employee contributions (i) employer contributions (ii) other income (iii) =
2492 - 543 - 1216 - 70 =
Income:
663
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
8
LIMITE EN
The net effect of all this is that:
the transactions within the police pension scheme net to a deficit for the year of £663m, and this is covered
by the local authority.
In turn, the pensions cost to the local authority nets out to its imputed employers contribution of £1216m (as
its contribution to the scheme is covered by the top-up grant from CG). The net impact on LG borrowing
is therefore £1216m.
The only impact on CG borrowing is £663m (= the top up paid to LG, which could be seen as a form of
'employers' contribution , paid by CG, to the scheme, via the LA).
The overall impact on GG borrowing is therefore £663m + £1216m = £1879m, made up of:
total pensions payable £2492
less employee contributions receivable £543
less other income £70m
As the fire fighters' scheme is unfunded it can, for convenience, be amalgamated with the LA income and
expenditure accounts (cancelling out all opposite and equal transactions) as follows:
(e) Combined local authority and fire-fighter' scheme income and expenditure account, 2009-10
Expenditure:
£ million
(iv)Pensions payable in period
2492
Income:
£ million
(i)Employee contributions
receivable in period
(iii)Other income
(vi)Top-up grants receivable by
LA from CG, calculated as
pensions payable (iv) employee contributions (i) employer contributions (ii) other income (iii) =
2492 - 543 - 1216 - 70 =
Impact on borrowing = 'imputed
employer contributions'
543
70
663
1216
Philippa's recent note to you included the following comments:
- PSNB should score the gross payments to pensioners, less employee
contributions (as with the main CG unfunded schemes) True - PSNB should score the net
cost of providing the fire fighter's pensions in the period, although I think this should also take into account
the 'other income'. So, for 2009-10, the total impact on GG PSNB would be pensions payable less [employee
contributions receivable + other income] (= 2492m - 543m- 70m) = £1879m.
Via the top-up grant, this impact on GG PSNB is shared as £1216 for LG and £663m for CG.
- Employers contributions would increase compensation of employees, and
reduce net social benefits In Table (e) above, the employer contribution is not visible as an
expenditure item. I think what Philippa is saying is that if we show an imputed employer's contribution on the
expenditure side of the LA's account then this is balanced by a reduction in the amount shown for social
benefits (=pensions) payable. Following Philippa's logic, Table (e) would be re-arranged to become Table (f)
below, with the same overall effect on LG PSNB:
(f) 'Re-arranged' Combined local authority and fire-fighter' scheme income and expenditure account, 2009-10
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
9
LIMITE EN
Expenditure:
£ million
(iv)Pensions payable in period
[= gross pensions payable
£2492m less amount treated
as employer contribution, i.e.
as employee compensation
rather than social benefits
£1216m)
Employer's contributions
(within employee
compensation)
1276
Income:
(i)Employee contributions
receivable in period
1216
(iii)Other income
(vi)Top-up grants receivable by
LA from CG, calculated as
pensions payable (iv) employee contributions (i) employer contributions (ii) other income (iii) =
2492 - 543 - 1216 - 70 =
Impact on borrowing = 'imputed
employer contributions'
£ million
543
70
663
1216
However, in my view, this is rather misleading as it understates the true size of the gross pensions
payments. More meaningful would be to show the full figure for pensions payable (i.e. £2492m) and to show
the employers' contributions on both the expenditure (i.e. LA) side and the income (i.e. pension scheme)
side. The combined account would thus appear:
(f) 'Re-arranged' Combined local authority and fire-fighter' scheme income and expenditure account, 2009-10
Expenditure:
£ million
Income:
£ million
(iv)Pensions payable in period
2492
(i)Employee contributions
543
receivable in period
Employer's contributions made
1216
Employer's contributions
1216
by LA (within employee
received by scheme
compensation)
(iii)Other income
70
(vi)Top-up grants receivable by
663
LA from CG, calculated as
pensions payable (iv) employee contributions (i) employer contributions (ii) other income (iii) =
2492 - 543 - 1216 - 70 =
Net impact on LG borrowing
1216
Philippa continues:
- Although the gap between gross payments and employer and employee
contributions is met by CG top-up grants, the PSNB should be including
the net spending that this top-up grant finances True, GG PSNB should be impacted by
£1879m, of which £1216m is borne by LG and £663m by CG as explained above.
- And any imputed employer contributions that were netted off net social
benefits should also have an offset that scores in an offsetting way
within PSNB (e.g. within compensation of employees)Not necessary if presented as in (f).
Table (f) above is similar to the presentation in the BB table 5.3.4S which shows both employees
contributions (D611) and employers' contribution (D612) on the income (i.e. resources) side and shows
pensions payable on the expenditure (i.e. uses) side. The employers' contributions on the expenditure side is
not included in Table 5.3.4S as this, being part of compensation of employees, would be included as a 'use'
within the allocation of primary income account for LG.
It is not clear to me, however, whether the Top-up grant is included in the figure for 'employer contributions'
within Table 5.4.3S (resources), or where in the accounts the 'other income' amount has been recorded.
Regarding the PSAT2LG table, this seems to have been prepared in a fashion that may be inconsistent with
5.4.3.S. I would have expected 'current receipts' to include both employee contributions and imputed
employer contributions, other income and the top-up grants receivable in the year. Perhaps these are
included in the 'gross operating surplus/deficit line?). Similarly, I would expect 'current expenditure' to include
the gross pension cost (under 'social benefits') and the LG compensation of employees (including the
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
10
LIMITE EN
imputed employer contribution) to be included within P3 'Current expenditure on goods and services'. I can't
tell if this is the case without a breakdown of the figures contained in the PSAT2LG table.
Happy to discuss
Dave
David Hobbs
Public Sector Division
Office for National Statistics
Tel: 01633 456316
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
11
LIMITE EN
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 03/02/2012 at 22:49
Title: Table 29 - Differences between Dec 2010
Commission Proposal and Supplementary Table
Questionnaire
R
R
e
p
o
n
e
T
o
R
e
p
o
n
e
Re
esssp
po
on
nssse
eT
To
oR
Re
esssp
po
on
nssse
e
Note for the record
Sanjiv Mahajan
03/02/2012 21:56
To:
cc:
Subject:
Sarah Levy/ONS@ONS
Robert Dunn/ONS@ONS
[RESTRICTED] - Re: Fw: UK supplementary table on pension
Dear Sarah,
As discussed - the resolution of the differences has yet to be bought back to the Council. It is likely to be in
the late March meeting.
Also, a few countries are coming out of the woodwork and will support the German proposal.
Happy to discuss.
Sanjiv
Sarah Levy
31/01/2012 16:41
To:
cc:
Subject:
Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@O
Robert Dunn/ONS@ONS
[RESTRICTED] - Fw: UK supplementary table on
FYI.
This is rather an odd response - they have already published the table in the Compilation Guide (published
17th Jan), but now he is suggesting that the decision is not final until approved by the Council.
Sarah
----- Forwarded by Sarah Levy/ONS on 31/01/2012 16:38 -----
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
12
LIMITE EN
Ismael.AHAMDANECHZARCO@ec.europa.eu
To Sarah Levy/ONS@ONS
31/01/2012 15:19
cc
Subject RE: [RESTRICTED] - Re: UK supplementary table on
pensions 2010
Hola Sarah,
in fact, we decided to go the other way because it makes more sense and because it is more in line with the
final report of the CMFB on pensions and with the SNA 2008.
On the other hand, it is true that this will affect to all columns, but since this row can be estimated, the
residuals will be obtained anyway. I also think that I need to inform to the contact group on pensions, but I
prefer to do it when table 29 is finally approved by the Council.
Looking forward the agenda of the seminar¡ Un abrazo,
Isma
From: Sarah Levy [mailto:sarah.levy@ons.gsi.gov.uk]
Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2012 1:51 PM
To: AHAMDANECH ZARCO Ismael (ESTAT)
Cc: Robert Dunn; Sanjiv Mahajan
Subject: [RESTRICTED] - Re: UK supplementary table on pensions 2010
Hola Isma
I remember the problem - but as far as I know, the solution was still under discussion at the higher
level and you had indicated that you felt the best option would be to delete Row 2.5. This is why we
were surprised to find that the decision has gone the other way.
Thank you for agreeing that we do not have to include Row 2.5 until the next transmission (2011).
However, I will need to look into the issue over the next month because of our publication on 27th
April.
A key point - which I hope you will include in the guidance that I believe should be sent to the
Contact Group on Pensions - is that inclusion of Row 2.5 also affects other parts of the
supplementary table. The following cells in the table are affected:
Column A (DC pensions): Rows 2 (total contributions) and 8 (revaluations, which is a residual)
Columns B, E and G (DB pensions for employees): Row 2.2 (employer imputed contributions,
which is a residual) but NOT Row 2.
Column H (social security pensions): Rows 2 (total contributions) and 3 (other changes, which is
a residual)
Regarding the seminar, we will be sending out invitations and agenda shortly.
Best wishes, Sarah
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
13
LIMITE EN
Ismael.AHAMDANECH-ZARCO@ec.europa.eu
31/01/2012 09:44
To Sarah Levy/ONS@ONS
cc
Subject RE: [RESTRICTED] - Re: UK supplementary table on pensions 2010
Hola Sarah,
the problem we found is that there was a missmatch between table 29 in the Annex A of the new ESA (the
methodological part) and Annex B (the transmission program). In the methodological part there was no row
2.5, but we were working all the time with that row (remember that in the questionnaire you had always it).
Regarding the UK table for 2010, for Eurostat there is no problem if you don´t include row 2.5. This is a
voluntary transmission so any data you send will be very welcome. You can include row 2.5 for the next
transmission (2011).
Tell me if I can help you in something else.
Un abrazo,
Isma
ps: btw, do you know when you will have the agnda for the seminar of 27th of April?
From: Sarah Levy [mailto:sarah.levy@ons.gsi.gov.uk]
Sent: Monday, January 30, 2012 5:36 PM
To: AHAMDANECH ZARCO Ismael (ESTAT)
Cc: Robert Dunn; Sanjiv Mahajan
Subject: [RESTRICTED] - Re: UK supplementary table on pensions 2010
Hola Isma
Thank you for your response. I can see why you have taken this decision, and I don't disagree with it - but
with such a major change, it really would have been helpful to email the Contact Group on Pensions about it.
We will now have to revise the UK 2010 table to include it.
I can see that the final version of the Technical Compilation Guide that you published on 17th January
includes Row 2.5 in the table on page 33, but I can see no accompanying text explaining it or providing
guidance on how to compile it. I assume that, because it was a last-minute change, you did not have time to
incorporate such text.
Could you email the Contact Group on Pensions alerting us all to the change and explaining what it means?
I think this is important in order to avoid the risk of some EU countries doing it one way and others the other
way, which would produce inconsistency.
Best wishes,
Sarah Levy
Head of Pensions Analysis
Household and Labour Market Division
Office for National Statistics
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8XG
Tel: 01633 455457
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
14
LIMITE EN
Ismael.AHAMDANECH-ZARCO@ec.europa.eu
30/01/2012 15:45
To Sarah Levy/ONS@ONS
cc
Subject RE: [RESTRICTED] - Re: UK supplementary table on pensions 2010
Hola Sarah,
yes, you are right, but then we had an internal discussion and we decided that row 2.5 should be in. The
reason is what I said before. In fact, I think that it is the best solution, because these charges have to be
taken into account somehow, and row 2.5 is the best place. So the charges will be included in the tables,
separately in that row.
Sorry for the confusion I have created. Do you agree with our approach?
Un abrazo,
Isma
From: Sarah Levy [mailto:sarah.levy@ons.gsi.gov.uk]
Sent: Monday, January 30, 2012 4:14 PM
To: AHAMDANECH ZARCO Ismael (ESTAT)
Subject: [RESTRICTED] - Re: UK supplementary table on pensions 2010
Thanks, Isma
But we still have the problem that Row 2.5 is no longer included in the most recent versions of the table, as
you agreed in November, e.g. your email of 18th November in which you said:
"Hola Sarah,
I have to leave now, I will call you tomorrow. You are right, we need to
fix that mismatch, and I think the best option is, as you suggest, to
delete row 2.5 of Annex II.
Thanks for spotting that¡¡,
Isma"
Given that this is the case, we have assumed that the service charge should not be included in Row 2
(because Row 2 = sum of Rows 2.1 to 2.4). But the question is, are we right to assume this, or should it be
included in Row 2 even if it is not shown separately?
If the latter,
(a) would it be included in Row 2.2 or 2.4?
Or
(b) would Row 2 be calculated as: Row 2.1 + Row 2.2 + Row 2.3 + Row 2.4 + service charge (not shown
separately).
Thank you.
Sarah Levy
Head of Pensions Analysis
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
15
LIMITE EN
Household and Labour Market Division
Office for National Statistics
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8XG
Tel: 01633 455457
Ismael.AHAMDANECH-ZARCO@ec.europa.eu
30/01/2012 14:55
To Sarah Levy/ONS@ONS
cc
Subject RE: [RESTRICTED] - Re: UK supplementary table on pensions 2010
Hola Sarah,
ya estoy contigo. Now, I switch to english. For me, row 11 is no so important since it is a memo item. The
important thing for me is row 2.5. Why? Because if you want to know the change in pension entitlements,
you need to have an estimation of the cost of managing the pension fund: somebody has to pay that, and
these are the contributors. So, in fact, the change in entitlements is equal to contributions minus payments
minus service cost (in fact, row 11 and 2.5 should be the same). You can take a look to the SNA 2008 and
see that they follow the same approach (chapter 17.5).
Regarding the estimation, I think you should so it as the summ of the cost: salaries of managing employees
plus other costs such as rent of buildings, IT,...
Please, tell me if this helps you. We can discuss even by phone if you wish.
Un abrazo,
Isma
From: Sarah Levy [mailto:sarah.levy@ons.gsi.gov.uk]
Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2012 7:48 PM
To: AHAMDANECH ZARCO Ismael (ESTAT)
Subject: [RESTRICTED] - Re: UK supplementary table on pensions 2010
Hola Isma
We are planning to publish our first UK Supplementary Table on Pensions, for the year 2010, on 27 April
2012. This is the table that I sent you on 21 December in the workbook "Pensions Questionnaire_2011_UK".
The table will be accompanied by an article explaining how we have arrived at the estimates. As I will be
writing this article in the next few weeks, I would be grateful if you could send me any comments you may
have on the table.
In particular, please could you respond to my queries under Question 8 of the 'Questions' spreadsheet in the
"Pensions Questionnaire_2011_UK" workbook?
Also, we are organising a seminar in London on the morning of 27 April to present and discuss the 2010
table. I will send you an invitation shortly, in case you may be interested in attending.
Best wishes,
Sarah
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
16
LIMITE EN
Sarah Levy/ONS
21/12/2011 17:3
To Ismael.AHAMDANECH-ZARCO@ec.europa.eu
cc Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS
Subject [RESTRICTED] - UK supplementary table on pensions 2010
Dear Ismael
Please find attached the first experimental Supplementary Table on Pensions for the UK, for the year 2010. I
also attach some accompanying documentation.
We are pleased to have produced our first table by the deadline of 31 December 2011, and we would
welcome any comments you may have on it.
Please note that the Table and other unpublished material are marked 'RESTRICTED'. Please treat them as
confidential and not for publication or circulation.
Deseandote una feliz navidad y todo lo mejor para el 2012!
Un abrazo,
Sarah Levy
Head of Pensions Analysis
Household and Labour Market Division
Office for National Statistics
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8XG
Tel: 01633 455457
For the latest data on the economy and society consult National Statistics at http://www.ons.gov.uk
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
17
LIMITE EN
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 18/11/2010 at 09:56
Title: Pensions Technical Compilation Guide - Issues for
clarification
Categorisation
International Coordination\Pensions
Note for the record
Sarah Levy
17/11/2010 11:52
To:
cc:
Subject:
Ismael.AHAMDANECH-ZARCO@ec.europa.eu, christoph.mue
Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS, Reimund
[UNCLASSIFIED] - Issues for clarification
Dear Ismael and Christoph
I am sending you a note of key issues which I think need to be clarified in the Technical Compilation Guide. I
am copying this email to Reimund, given his interest in some of the points.
I would be happy to provide some real-life examples for the Guide. As you know, the UK cannot provide
numbers yet, but I would be happy to describe examples of types of pension scheme and other things which
give rise to the concerns described in the note.
Best wishes,
Sarah Levy
Head of Pensions Analysis
Household and Labour Market Division
Office for National Statistics
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8XG
Tel: 01633 455457
If pension statistics are important to your work, please respond to our Work Programme Consultation at
www.ons.gov.uk/about/consultations/work-programme-consultation/index.html
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
18
LIMITE EN
Points for clarification in the Technical Compilation Guide on Pensions Data in the National Accounts, following the
workshop in Luxembourg 9-10 November 2010
Sarah Levy
Office for National Statistics, UK
1. Columns A and D
As I said at the workshop, there is not enough guidance provided at present on how to deal with DC schemes (columns
A and D of the supplementary table). Even if this affects only a minority of countries, it is important to have clear
guidance. Here are some suggestions:
First, I think it is important to be clear about which schemes should be in Columns A and D. My view is that these
columns are for pure DC schemes only. Schemes that are not pure DC (i.e. where liabilities may be different from
assets and therefore require actuarial calculations) should be shown in columns B and E-H. If notional DC schemes or
other hybrids were to be included in Columns A or D, the figures would be very difficult to interpret because we would
have a combination of (i) liabilities calculated on an actuarial basis and (ii) liabilities = assets (the value of the
accumulated pension fund). Some countries appear to be doing this at the moment.
Second, if we accept that Columns A and D should only contain schemes where liabilities = assets (pure DCs), then the
approach to compiling the Supplementary Table for these columns must be different from the approach used for the
columns based on actuarial estimates of liabilities (DBs, hybrids etc). With DBs, the opening and closing balances are
estimated – either from a model like the Freiburg model or by actuaries. By contrast for DCs, the data sources should
contain actual figures for assets (which = liabilities) at the start of the year (row 1) and at the end of the year (row 10),
plus contributions (rows 2.1 and 2.3), transfers (row 6), property income (row 2.4) and benefits (row 4). If the opening
balance + contributions + net transfers in + property income – benefits paid during the year do not equal the closing
balance, it can only be because of changes in the underlying value of the fund (either up or down). This should, I think,
go in row 8 (revaluations) although row 9 is another possibility. Note that:

In the case of pure DCs, there is no actuarial information. Therefore rows 2.2 and 3 are not applicable, as
Chapter 17 makes clear.

Also (but this is not clear at present) there can be no actuarial information for rows 7, 8 and 9. Therefore
these are also not applicable, unless we use 8 or 9 for changes in the underlying value of the fund, as
suggested above.
NOTE ON HYBRIDS: After I had written the above paragraphs, I started to wonder how hybrids should be treated.
Maybe it depends on the rules of the scheme and on whether the estimated value of actuarial liabilities is higher or
lower than the value of liabilities based on actual asset values? For instance, in a scheme which is predominantly DC
but with a DB underpin, then it would not make sense to estimate the liabilities based only on the DB underpin, as the
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
19
LIMITE EN
households’ actual entitlements would be higher than this minimum value. Again, I think the Guide needs to explain
how to deal with such cases.
2. Pensions manager and classification issues
We still need clarification of this, and some real-life examples would be helpful in the Guide –especially because the
text in Chapter 17 (Section 3.2) is still very unclear. Specifically:

Where the fund and the scheme are separate legal entities, guidance is needed about where to put the liability in
the table – should it be put in the column which reflects the classification of the fund? (normally financial
corporations) Or in the column that reflects the classification of the scheme? (in most cases associated with the
sponsoring employer).

I understand that the ‘pension manager’ is, in the case of DB schemes, the one that bears the responsibility for
paying the liabilities (the employer/scheme) irrespective of whether another unit (such as a pension
fund/insurance company) has the day-to-day management (‘administration’) of the assets. I assume that this is
why funded DB schemes where general government is the pension manager can be classified either in financial
corporations (column E) or in general government (column F) depending on who administers the assets.

But if this is the case, then Column D is odd because there is generally no risk to the employer with DC schemes
(because assets = liabilities). As one of the Swedish delegates said, if pension management was defined by who
assumes the risk, then Column D should not exist! So probably we should interpret Column D simply as containing
DC schemes for general government employees. If this is so, would all such schemes be classified in financial
corporations? I cannot find any guidance in the Guide on these matters. Again, I think the problem comes from
trying to apply the same rules to DCs as to DBs.
3. Indexation arrangements and PBO/ABO
The Guide tends to assume that all government pension schemes will be wage-indexed, at least up until the point of
retirement. Of course this is the case for final salary schemes by definition. It also the case for notional DC schemes
where adjustments are in line with wages until retirement (Box 12). Therefore, the Guide recommends the PBO
approach.
However, as I said at the workshop, there are a growing number of DB schemes that are not ‘final salary’ – such as
career average schemes and notional defined contribution schemes – and many of these have entitlements linked to
price increases pre- as well as post-retirement. For instance, this is the case with ‘Nuvos’, the UK civil service pension
scheme which is the only DB option for people joining the civil service from 2007. The Technical Compilation Guide
does not deal with this issue, and I think it needs to do so – first by acknowledging that ABO may be more appropriate
than PBO in some cases, and second by providing guidance on how to deal with cases of indexation by prices rather
than wages.
4. Imposed and negotiated reforms
I really think we need some real-life examples of what type of reform should go where.
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
20
LIMITE EN
5. Actuarial valuations as an alternative data source
I think many of the estimates produced so far for DB pension liabilities have been for social security pension schemes
and have used the Freiburg model because this model can cope well with such schemes. However, it should be
recognised that in some countries the source data for employment-related social insurance schemes (DB) comes
directly from actuarial valuations. In such cases, given the number of schemes and the cost involved, it is not possible
to recreate estimates of liabilities using the Freiburg model or a similar approach. Nor would there be any advantage
to doing so, as professional actuarial valuations should provide equally good estimates of pension liabilities. It would
be helpful to acknowledge this in the Guide.
It has been suggested that the results from an approach based on compiling figures from actuarial valuations may be
less ‘transparent’ than results from a modelling approach. I agree that they would be less transparent to those who
are accustomed to modelling, but from the point of view of those external to the compilation processes, both
approaches are equally difficult to understand. Transparency can only be obtained, in my view, by clear explanations
of the methods in both cases.
6. Working example 8.2 in the Guide
The German example included in the Guide gives the impression that it will be OK to provide column C only under the
Transmission Programme, without a split between columns A and B. This does not seem probable – but please could
you clarify if this is or is not the case.
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
21
LIMITE EN
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sarah Levy on 15/10/2010 at 11:01
Title: ELS Representation at conferences / meetings
outside ONS - HLM Division - Pensions Analysis Unit
R
R
e
p
o
n
e
Re
esssp
po
on
nssse
e
ELS Representation at Conferences (National and international) from April 2010
Household and Labour Market Division - Pensions Analysis Unit (PAU)
Name of
conference
Date
Location
International 12 May
Bank of
Guidance
2010
England,
Manual
London
Update
Seminar
(organised
by Sanjiv
Mahajan)
ONS
5 October
Church
Pensions
2010
House
Seminar
Conference
(organised
Centre,
by PAU)
London
Eurostat
9-10
Eurostat
Workshop November
offices,
on Pensions
2010
Luxembourg
Name of
Link attendee(s)
for
more
details
Role of attendee(s)
Sarah Levy To present overview of ONS project 'funded and
unfunded pension estimates in the NA'
Sarah Levy The four members of PAU were presenters; Ole
Hazel
Black chaired the seminar.
Mitchell
Guled
Guled
Jess
Coleman
(and Ole
Black)
Sarah Levy To attend the workshop, which will provide further
guidance on Eurostat's requirements for
completing the new Pensions Supplementary
Table.
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
22
LIMITE EN
ELS Representation outside ONS
Household and Labour Maket Division - Pensions Analysis Unit (PAU)
Name of
organisation
(e.g. UN,
Eurostat,
OECD, other
govt.
departments,
etc.)
ONS =
coordinator
OGDs =
members
DWP =
coordinator
OGDs =
members
Chatham
House
Name of
Duration Name of representative(s)/attendee(s)
Committee,
Purpose Frequency
of
Task Force,
(Brief
(e.g. per meetings
Steering
description year)
(e.g. no.
Group, User 1 sentence)
of days)
Group, etc.
National
Statistics
Harmonisation
Group
(NSHG), in
particular the
NSHG subgroup on
pensions
The NSHG
manages the
harmonisation
process. PAU
chairs the
NSHG subgroup on
pensions and
represents the
pensions subgroup at the
meetings of
the NSHG.
Enabling
The Steering
Retirement
Group
Savings
oversees the
Programme
design and
(ERSP)
management
Evaluation
of the ERSP
Steering
Evaluation,
Group
which is
intended to
assess the
impact of the
2012 private
pension
reforms.
Group of
Provide expert
experts (the
advice to the
group has no Chatham
formal name) house project
"Modelling of
Long-Run
Savings,
Pensions and
Financial
Market
Trends"
4-5 times a 1/2 days
year
Hazel Mitchell
Sarah Levy
4-5 times a 2 hours
year
Sarah Levy
1 meeting
so far,
another
expected
before
Xmas
Sarah Levy
9086/12
2 hours
MLG/am
DG G I
23
LIMITE EN
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 28/08/2010 at 21:22
Title: ONS view on pensions letter
Categorisation
International Coordination\Pensions
Note for the record
Tim Clode
19/08/2010 11:09
To:
cc:
international@ons
Subject:
Melissa.Perry@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk
Martin Kellaway/NEID/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS, Simon H
ONS view on pensions letter
Dear Melissa,
Here are the views of our pensions expert, Martin Kellaway.
Kind regards
Tim
"The letter from the 9 MSs is not particularly clear.
First of all, in terms of government deficit and debt statistics (used to judge compliance against the Maastrict
Treaty EDP process and the Stability & Growth Pact) it does not particularly matter whether pension
schemes are funded (a pension pot that gets invested in assets) or unfunded (pay as you go, like the UK civil
service scheme). In both cases the government liability (should one be recognised) to pensioners/potential
future pensioners is not included in the government debt statistics. In terms of the deficit, for unfunded
schemes the impact is the payment to pension receipients. For funded schemes, it is the cost by
government as an employer in making contributions to the fund, the fund itself should be classified outside
the government sector in the financial corporations sector.
If MSs are replacing unfunded schemes with funded ones, the act of making payments into those funds
(which we would expect to be higher than the costs of paying the current pension recipients) to establish the
fund will have an impact on government deficit and debt, so I guess this is what the complaint is about. The
MSs involved therefore feel penalised for taking responsible action (bringing forward their pension timebomb
problem by trying to resolve it) whereas those that leave it are not similarly penalised. However, it could be
argued that the credit rating agencies will take this into account when rating issues of government debt so
that by being responsible now the interest bill comes down.
It is, of course, difficult to have harmonised statistics to judge MSs performances when their systems (such
as pensions, but another example is social security) are not harmonised. To exclude the payments would
only be possible if the S&G Pact was revised to be based on a new statistic: an adjusted form of government
net borrowing.
Martin Kellaway"
__________________________________________________________________________________________
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
24
LIMITE EN
TIM CLODE | International Relations | UK Statistics Authority | Newport NP10 8XG | United Kingdom
Tel +44 (0)1633 455739 | Fax +44 (0)1633 652652 | tim.clode@statistics.gov.uk | www.statistics.gov.uk
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 22/12/2011 at 07:51
Title: UK supplementary table on pensions 2010
Categorisation
International Coordination\Pensions
Note for the record
Sarah Levy
21/12/2011 17:32
To:
cc:
Subject:
Ismael.AHAMDANECH-ZARCO@ec.europa.eu
Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS
[RESTRICTED] - UK supplementary table on pensions 2010
Dear Ismael
Please find attached the first experimental Supplementary Table on Pensions for the UK, for the year 2010. I
also attach some accompanying documentation.
We are pleased to have produced our first table by the deadline of 31 December 2011, and we would
welcome any comments you may have on it.
Please note that the Table and other unpublished material are marked 'RESTRICTED'. Please treat them as
confidential and not for publication or circulation.
Deseandote una feliz navidad y todo lo mejor para el 2012!
Un abrazo,
Sarah Levy
Head of Pensions Analysis
Household and Labour Market Division
Office for National Statistics
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8XG
Tel: 01633 455457
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
25
LIMITE EN
Compiling estimates of state pension obligations for the
National Accounts (a methodology article)
Sarah Levy, Pensions Analysis Unit, Office for National Statistics (ONS)
1. Introduction
ONS is working to produce the first official estimate of the total obligations, or gross liabilities, of
UK pension schemes. The work began in 2009 as part of efforts to address new international
requirements for the National Accounts. These include a ‘supplementary table’ on pensions which
all countries will have to include in their National Accounts.
The UK’s first supplementary table on pensions will be produced on an experimental basis for the
year 2010. The table will include estimates for unfunded pensions, which comprise public sector
employee pensions and state pensions. For such pensions there is no pension fund: the payments
are financed from taxation and employee contributions.
The first article in this series, which was published in August 20111, provided an overview of the
work in the context of the 2010 revision of the European System of Accounts (ESA), which is the
EU-specific interpretation of the internationally agreed System of National Accounts. ESA2010
involves changes in the treatment of pensions, in particular the introduction of a ‘supplementary
table on pension schemes in social insurance’ (see Table 1).
The first article also described the methodology that ONS – with the support of the Government
Actuary’s Department (GAD) – has developed for estimating the accrued-to-date obligations of
public sector employee pension schemes. This article describes the methodology for producing
similar estimates for state pensions, which will appear in Column H of the supplementary table on
pensions. In the supplementary table, as elsewhere in the National Accounts, ‘social security
pension schemes in social insurance’ do not include social assistance (income-related benefits).
UK state pension estimates are for the contributory state pension, which is made up of the basic
and additional state pensions. Pension Credit (a means-tested benefit for pensioners) and other
non-contributory state pensions are not included2. The estimates have been produced for ONS by
the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). ONS and GAD have quality assured the results.
It should be noted that state pension liabilities are not liabilities in the sense of debt, because it is
possible to change the obligations outstanding by enacting legislation or, if legislation is not
required, by announcing changes to the rules. Such changes may affect service already accrued
by pension scheme members, as in the case of the change in the basis of uprating for state
pensions in payment discussed in Section 2. For this reason, pension liabilities are properly
defined as ‘contingent pension obligations’ rather than debt in the Maastricht sense. Contingent
pension obligations are not the same as ‘contingent liabilities’ as defined by HM Treasury for the
purposes of the Whole of Government Accounts and by the Office for Budget Responsibility in its
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
26
LIMITE EN
fiscal sustainability reports3.
1 Levy,
S. (2011), see Sources and further reading.
2 Pension
Credit is the main non-contributory state pension. There are two small non-contributory elements of the Basic
State Pension: Category C, which is is payable to people over State Pension Age on 5 July 1948 and their widows; and
Category D, which is paid to people aged 80 and over in certain circumstances (see Pension Trends Chapter 5: State
pensions in Sources and further reading).
3 HM Treasury (2011) and Office for Budget Responsibility (2011), published on 13 July 2011 (see Sources and further
reading). These reports define ‘contingent liabilities’ as liabilities which are associated with events which may arise in
future but are improbable (less than 50 per cent probability); some of these events are also unquantifiable.
Office for National Statistics 2
Table 1: Supplementary table on pension schemes in social insurance
Relations
Row
No.
Recording Core national accounts
Not in the core
national accounts
Total
pension
schemes
Counterparts:
Pension
entitlements
of
nonresident
households4)
Pension manager Non-general government General government
Defined
contribution
schemes
Defined
benefit
schemes
and
other1)
nondefined
contribution
schemes
Total
Defined
contribution
schemes
Defined benefit schemes for
general government employees2)
Social
security
pension
schemes
Classified
in
financial
corporations
Classified
in
general
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
27
LIMITE EN
govt 3)
Classified
in
general
government
Column number A B C D E F G H I J
Opening balance sheet
1 Pension entitlements
Changes in pension entitlements due to transactions
Σ 2.1
to 2.4 2
Increase in pension
entitlements due to
social contributions
2.1
Employer actual
social contributions
2.2
Employer imputed
social contributions
2.3
Household actual
social contributions
2.4
Household social
contribution
supplements5)
3
Other (actuarial)
change of pension
entitlements in social
security pension
schemes
4
Reduction in pension
entitlements due to
payment of pension
benefits
2+3
-45
Changes in pension
entitlements due to
social contributions
and pension benefits
6
Transfers of pension
entitlements between
schemes
7
Changes in pension
entitlements due to
pension scheme
reforms
Changes in pension entitlements due to other flows
8
Changes in
entitlements due to
revaluations6)
9
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
28
LIMITE EN
Changes in
entitlements due to
other changes in
volume 6)
Closing balance sheet
1+ Σ
5 to 9 10 Pension entitlements
Related indicators
11 Output
1) Such other non-defined contribution schemes, often described as hybrid schemes, have both a defined benefit and a defined
contribution
element.
2) Schemes organised by general government for its current and former employees.
3) These are non-autonomous defined benefit schemes whose pension entitlements are recorded in the core national accounts.
4) Counterpart data for non-resident households will only be shown separately when pension relationships with the rest of the world are
significant.
5) These supplements represent the return on members' claims on pension schemes, both through investment income on defined
contribution
schemes' assets and for defined benefit schemes through the unwinding of the discount rate applied.
6) A more detailed split of these positions should be provided for columns G and H based on the model calculations carried out for these
schemes.
The cells shown as █ are not applicable; the cells in XX will contain different data from the core national accounts.
Office for National Statistics 3
2. Methodology
This section describes the work that has been done by DWP, ONS and GAD to produce the state
pension estimates for the 2010 experimental supplementary table.
The supplementary table is prepared on an ‘accrued-to-date’ basis, in line with similar information
contained in the National Accounts. This means that Rows 1 and 10 (entitlements/ liabilities) show
the amounts due for service to date (at the beginning and end of the year respectively). They do
not include rights which will be built up in the future.
However, the work that is routinely carried out by DWP to forecast expenditure on state pensions
takes into account future accumulation of pension rights, as well as rights accrued to date. This is
because the purpose of such forecasts is to establish whether expenditure flows are sustainable as
part of long term projections of government expenditure.
This section starts by discussing the models used by DWP to produce the estimates of state
pension expenditure for the long term projections. It then explains the adjustments that had to be
made in order to produce estimates for Rows 1 and 10 of the supplementary table (Column H) on
an ‘accrued-to-date’ basis. Additional adjustments due to the modelling assumptions required for
the National Accounts are also explained. A discussion of the procedure for discounting
expenditure flows to produce estimates of the present value of expenditure concludes the
discussion of how the entitlements/liabilities were estimated.
2.1 Modelling state pensions for the long term projections
In the UK, the contributory state pension is made up of two tiers: the Basic State Pension (BSP),
which provides a flat-rate pension in retirement, and the additional state pension4. In order to
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
29
LIMITE EN
qualify for the full BSP, which was £102.15 per week for a single person in 2011/12, people
reaching State Pension Age (SPA) on or after 6 April 2010 need to have 30 ‘qualifying years’
(reduced from 44 years for men and 39 years for women reaching SPA before this date). If they
have fewer qualifying years, they receive a partial payment in proportion to the number of
qualifying years they have built up. Qualifying years are built up by paying National Insurance (NI)
contributions while working or, if not in work, through credits. People may also purchase qualifying
years by making additional voluntary contributions.
With the additional state pension, employees (but not the self-employed) add to the BSP by
making extra contributions in order to receive additional pension payments. People who care for
others can build up entitlements through credits. The additional state pension was first introduced
as the State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) in 1978. SERPS was replaced by the
State Second Pension (S2P) in 2002. In DWP’s modelling for the long term projections, references
to Additional Pension (AP) refer to SERPS and S2P. Estimates for the state graduated retirement
benefit scheme (GRAD), a forerunner of SERPS to which it was possible to contribute between
1961 and 1975, are produced separately (see below).
People can defer receipt of their state pension beyond SPA. In such cases, the initial entitlement is
increased at a rate of 1 per cent for every five weeks of deferral or 10.4 per cent for a complete
year. If people defer for 12 consecutive months or more, they can choose to receive a lump sum
instead of the amount that they would have been paid as a pension. The lump sum is equivalent to
the amount of deferred pension payments plus interest at 2 per cent above the Bank of England
base rate.
4 Further
details are available in Pension Trends Chapter 5: State pensions (see Sources and further reading).
Office for National Statistics 4
DWP’s long term projections of state pension expenditure are based on two models: the BSP
model and the AP model, discussed below. The BSP model is also used to produce separate
estimates for GRAD and for lump sums.
2.1.1 The BSP model
The BSP model is made up of two parts: the first comprises people who are currently over SPA,
referred to in this article as ‘pensioners’; the second comprises the ‘inflows’ of working age people
into the pensioner population as they reach SPA. For each group, it is necessary to estimate
expenditure on BSP from the date of the accounts (end-2009 or end-2010 in the case of the 2010
supplementary table) until the date at which the youngest person of working age (age 16) is
expected to die.
For the first group (pensioners), the model takes information on initial amounts of BSP paid to
pensioners at SPA from the Quarterly Statistical Enquiry (QSE), a biannual 5 per cent sample of
administrative data. Over time, these initial amounts of BSP are adjusted for changes in
pensioners’ lives after SPA such as changes in marital status, including widowhood5; they are also
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
30
LIMITE EN
increased each year in line with uprating policy (see Section 2.2.2). Pensioners remain in the
population until death, which is estimated using mortality rates from the ONS’s 2008-based
national population projections. The mortality rates used in the model are split by sex and single
year of age up to 125 years.
For the second group (working age people reaching SPA), it is necessary to estimate both the
initial numbers of people (cohorts reaching SPA) and amounts of BSP that will be paid to them
when they reach SPA. These ‘inflows’ into the pensioner population can then be treated in the
same way as the estimates for existing pensioners, including adjusting for changes in their lives
after SPA and increasing pensions in line with uprating policy.
In order to estimate inflows, the BSP model creates a ‘caseload forecast’ for each cohort of
working age people reaching SPA until the youngest person (age 16 at the date of the accounts)
reaches SPA. The caseload forecast is estimated by creating 17,550 groups, representing different
combinations of: country of residence6, sex, marital status, age, personal entitlement to BSP as a
percentage of full BSP, and category of pension (see Box 1). Some combinations are not possible
in practice, so some groups have no one in them.
The number of people in each group is multiplied by the average BSP payment for that group at
SPA (based on multiplying the personal entitlement to BSP for the group by the projected value of
full BSP that year) to create an expenditure forecast for the group when it reaches SPA. This
expenditure forecast can be treated in a similar way to the initial amounts of BSP paid to existing
pensioners at SPA, as described above.
In order to allocate people to the right group in the caseload forecast, data on personal
entitlements to BSP is needed. This comes from the ‘L2 dataset’ (a 1 per cent sample of HM
Revenue and Customs’ National Insurance Recording System). L2 shows the entitlement to BSP
built up by each person in terms of qualifying years, whether as a result of paying NI contributions
while working or as a result of building up credits or through payment of additional voluntary
contributions. Age and sex data from the L2 dataset is also used to show when people will reach
SPA (which ‘SPA cohort’ they belong to).
5 Further
details of the BSP model including adjustments to deal with changes in pensioners’ lives after SPA are
available in the paper ‘DWP Long Term Basic State Pension Modelling’ (see Sources and further reading).
6 Pensioners
living overseas are entitled to receive BSP from the UK if they have built up qualifying years during their
working lives, but their entitlement is treated differently depending on where they are resident (see Box 1).
Office for National Statistics 5
To forecast numbers reaching SPA in each year, the model uses ONS’s 2008-based national
population projections. These provide the total potential number of inflows, which are then split by
level of personal entitlement on a cohort basis using information from the L2 dataset. The numbers
from the L2 dataset are adjusted using information from the QSE, because the L2 data is known to
underestimate future entitlements to BSP.
Box 1: Categories used in the BSP caseload forecast
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
31
LIMITE EN
Country of residence1 GB, non-frozen rate overseas, frozen rate overseas.
Sex Male, female.
Marital status2 Male, single female, married female, divorced female, widowed female.
Age 60-125 (women), 65-125 (men).
Personal entitlement Proportion of full BSP: 0%, 0-50%, 50-60%, 60-80%, 80-100%, 100%.
Category of pension3 A: entitlement based on a person’s own contributions.
B: entitlement based on partner’s contribution record, paid when the person is not
entitled to a Category A pension.
1 Pensions of people living overseas in countries with a non-frozen rate are uprated in the same way as
those of people living in the UK, but those living in ‘frozen rate’ countries have their state pensions frozen
at the rate they were first paid. A full list of frozen/non-frozen rate countries is available from
http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd4/sp_historical_overseas_expenditure.xls
2 Data on marital status is from ONS marital status projections (2006). This is an important factor when
modelling the caseload forecast for women.
3 Note that ‘category of pension’ combined with ‘marital status’ and ‘personal entitlement’ information gives
further breakdowns. Also, some people have both category A and B components. If someone has less
than 60% of Category A, their pension can be topped up using their partner’s contributions. There are a
number of combinations, e.g. AB, ABL and BL.
Source: Department for Work and Pensions
It should be noted that the model produces estimates for Great Britain (GB) in the first instance;
these include payments to pensioners resident overseas who have rights to UK state pensions.
Forecasts for numbers of overseas residents are currently produced by assuming that a proportion
(for example 12 per cent of the 2009/10 ‘SPA cohort’) of the total is overseas residents. DWP is
working to improve this methodology. Forecasts for the UK are produced by uprating the GB
(including overseas) estimates using a factor based on the ratio of pensioner numbers in Northern
Ireland to those in GB7.
Although the model is based on the two parts discussed above – (i) current pensioners and (ii)
inflows of working age people reaching SPA – it also needs to allow for inflows of people into the
pensioner population after SPA (in cases where people decide to defer taking their state pensions
beyond SPA) and associated payments of deferred pensions and lump sums. Inflows after SPA
are derived using historic inflow numbers from the QSE combined with ONS population figures to
predict how many people with unclaimed entitlement are above SPA at any point in time, and when
they are likely to claim state pension. Some adjustments are made to allow for changes in the
behaviour of women as women’s SPA rises from April 2010.
To estimate the payments associated with inflows after SPA, the model uses data from the QSE on
take-up rates for deferred pensions and lump sums combined with calculations of amounts payable
7 As
part of quality assurance, GAD pointed out that the use of this ratio produces a double allowance for pensioners
overseas who originate from Northern Ireland because the GB figure includes residents overseas originating from all
parts of the UK. The effect of this double counting was judged to be negligible, so no adjustment has been made for
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
32
LIMITE EN
2010, but GAD has recommended making an adjustment in future years.
Office for National Statistics 6
based on the rules applying to each. Deferred pension payments are included in estimates of BSP
in DWP’s model, while results for lump sums are calculated separately (see Section 2.2.1).
Finally, the BSP model is used to produce estimates for GRAD, even though GRAD is a forerunner
of the additional state pension. For current pensioners, administrative data from the QSE shows
the proportion receiving GRAD at SPA. The proportion of future SPA cohorts with GRAD
entitlement is calculated using information from the L2 database. From 2023/24 there are assumed
to be no new cases reaching SPA because GRAD could no longer be accrued after 5 April 1975.
2.1.2 The AP model
The BSP model is a payouts-based model: it is based on estimates/forecasts of pension payments
at SPA for current and future pensioners. By contrast, the AP model is an accruals-based model.
Estimates of entitlement to SERPS and S2P accrued during people’s working lives (revalued by
earnings growth) are used to estimate their entitlements to AP from SPA.
After SPA, entitlements are adjusted for changes in pensioners’ lives, such as widowhood. They
are increased each year in line with inflation until death, which is estimated using mortality rates
from the ONS’s 2008-based national population projections.
In order to produce estimates/forecasts of entitlement to AP there are three stages. The first stage
uses the L2 database to produce earnings factors8 based on:
Numbers of jobs from DWP’s cohort employment model,
Numbers of people by individual age earning at each of three levels:
1. between the Lower Earnings Limit and the Lower Earnings Threshold
2. between the Lower and Upper Earnings Thresholds
3. between the Upper Earnings Threshold and the Upper Accrual Point
Deductions for contracting out of AP into private pension schemes.
For the 2010 supplementary table, the earnings factors between 2008/09 and the date of the
accounts (end-2009 or end-2010) had to be projected as 2008/09 was the last year of actual data
available from the L2 database.
The second stage combines the earnings factors (whether from the L2 database or projected) with
accrual rates. Accrual rates are defined in legislation and are used to turn earnings factors into
accrued AP entitlements.
In the third stage, for each cohort of people, entitlements accrued in a particular financial year are
increased until SPA according to the rules on revaluation during working life – currently in line with
earnings growth (see Table 2). They are then converted into a ‘gross AP entitlement’ for the cohort
at SPA and this is increased from SPA in line with inflation.
Thus, accrued AP entitlements =
Earnings * rate of accrual... revalued in line with earnings growth until SPA
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
33
LIMITE EN
Earnings * rate of accrual... uprated in line with inflation from SPA
Carer credits are modelled separately using data on benefit caseloads, economic activity,
information from the L2 database and ONS population projections.
8 For further details, see the paper ‘DWP Earnings Factor Modelling: Turning earnings distributions into earnings factors’
(Sources and further reading).
Office for National Statistics 7
Table 2: Earnings revaluation rates used in the AP model
Financial year
Earnings
revaluation rate
2009/10 1.031
2010/11 1.012
2011/12 1.009
2012/13 1.020
2013/14 1.022
2014/15 1.041
2015/16 1.044
2016/17 1.045
2017/18 1.048
1 The 2017/18 assumptions are repeated for all future years.
2 Historical rates are based on the Average Earnings Index. Forecasts are consistent with the Budget 2011
economic assumptions up to 2016/17 and the Office for Budget Responsibility’s long term economic
assumptions as of July 2011 from 2017/18 onwards.
Source: Department for Work and Pensions
It should be noted that the AP model currently has some weaknesses, which DWP’s forecasting
team is working to resolve. These are:
It only forecasts the amount of money going to a cohort of people based on total accruals in
each year; it does not show the distribution between different groups. However, this does
not affect the estimates produced for the National Accounts.
It does not distinguish between GB and overseas cases, so all entitlements are uprated
from SPA (even those in ‘frozen rate’ countries).
2.2 Adapting to National Accounts requirements
2.2.1 Accrued-to-date estimates
The main adjustment needed for the National Accounts supplementary table on pensions involved
putting the estimates generated by the long term projections model onto an ‘accrued-to-date’ basis.
This is because the long term projections model used by DWP to forecast expenditure on state
pensions takes into account future accumulation of pension rights as well as rights accrued to date.
However, the National Accounts shows accrued-to-date pension entitlements/liabilities.
Putting the estimates from DWP’s models onto an ‘accrued-to-date’ basis meant removing any
accruals beyond the date of the accounts (in the case of the 2010 supplementary table: end-2009
for Row 1 of the supplementary table and end-2010 for Row 10). For the AP model, this was
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
34
LIMITE EN
relatively straightforward because it is an accruals-based model. This meant that accruals could be
‘turned off’ after the date of the accounts (for December 2009 taking three-quarters of accruals in
2009/10; and for December 2010 taking three-quarters of accruals in 2010/11).
For the BSP model the change to an ‘accrued-to-date’ basis was more complicated. In the BSP
model’s caseload forecast, the proportions of full BSP that people should receive based on their
working lives and qualifying years had to be changed to estimate personal entitlement to 2009/10
and 2010/119 rather than personal entitlement when they reached SPA10. Further adjustments
were needed to ensure that the alignment of the L2 data with the QSE data (see Section 2.1.1)
was not affected by this change.
9 The
long term projections model for BSP works on financial years; it was not possible to change it to calendar years.
10 Although
GRAD estimates are based on the BSP model, there was no need to turn off accruals for GRAD because
accruals have already ceased.
Office for National Statistics 8
When modelling BSP on an accrued-to-date basis, a problem was encountered with ‘inherited
rights’: the rights to BSP of people with Category B pensions (those based on a spouse or civil
partner’s contribution record, see Box 1). When DWP sought to run the long term projection model
on an accrued-to-date basis, the model assumed that many people reaching SPA after the date of
the accounts had only a partial state pension based on their own contributions (Category A)
because qualifying years were only allowed for up to the date of the accounts. Thus the model
automatically projected that they would receive inherited rights (Category B), as their pensions
based on contributions paid to the date of the accounts were insufficient.
To avoid distorting the result, DWP and ONS agreed to remove all inherited rights for people
reaching SPA after the date of the accounts. This was justified on the basis that the changes
introduced from 6 April 2010 by the Pensions Act 2007 (see Box 2) should mean that in future
most people will qualify for full BSP in their own right. However, GAD has pointed out that this is a
considerable approximation, and has recommended further work in future to address the issue.
Box 2: The Pensions Act 2007
The Pensions Act 2007 introduced a package of measures including, from 6 April 2010:
a reduction in the number of qualifying years for full BSP to 30 (from 44 for men and 39 for
women) for those reaching SPA on or after this date,
the ending of the requirements (a) for people to have at least one-quarter of the full number
of qualifying years to receive any BSP and (b) for at least one year to come from paid
contributions rather than credits, and
the introduction of a new system of carer credits.
Source: Pension Trends Chapter 5: State pensions
A different approach was used for producing estimates of lump sums for the supplementary table
because it proved difficult to forecast annual expenditure on lump sums on an accrued-to-date
basis. Therefore, the forecast from the long term projections was adjusted using ratios. These
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
35
LIMITE EN
ratios were calculated as: BSP expenditure on the accrued-to-date basis divided by BSP
expenditure on the long term projections basis11. Separate ratios were produced for each year, by
age and gender. They were applied to the forecast for lump sums from the long term projections,
producing a downwards adjustment. Adjustments were also made to allow for the different
assumptions on SPA used for the National Accounts work compared to those used for the long
term projections (see Section 2.2.2).
2.2.2 Changes in model assumptions
Some modelling assumptions also had to be altered in order to meet the requirements for the
National Accounts supplementary table on pensions. In particular, it was necessary that the
estimates should be based on legislation already enacted at the date of the accounts, and that
modelling assumptions should not include reforms enacted thereafter. This meant that SPA rules
had to be based on the Pensions Act 1995 which raised SPA for women to 65 by 2020 and the
Pensions Act 2007 which provided for a gradual increase in SPA for men and women to 68 by
2046. This meant changing the assumptions in DWP’s long term projections model, which were
based on the schedule of increases in SPA contained in the Pensions Bill 2011 as at July 201112,
although the Bill only became an Act of Parliament in November 2011.
11 BSP
12 At
was used in preference to AP to derive the ratios, as most lump sum payments are related to BSP.
the time of the publication of the long term projections in Office for Budget Responsibility (2011).
Office for National Statistics 9
The 2011 supplementary table will incorporate the changes to SPA under the Pensions Act 2011,
which provide for women’s SPA to rise to 65 by November 2018 and for SPA for both sexes to rise
to 66 by October 2020. A comparison of estimates in the 2011 supplementary table with those in
the 2010 supplementary table will shed light on the impact of the increased pace of SPA changes.
Another change in modelling assumptions related to the uprating rules for BSP. DWP’s long term
projections model uses assumptions based on the ‘triple lock’ policy, which was introduced by an
official announcement in the June 2010 Budget (no legislation was required). The triple lock policy
stated that in future the BSP would increase each year by average earnings growth, inflation (using
the CPI) or 2.5 per cent, whichever was higher. As this announcement was made during 2010, the
2010 supplementary table required different uprating assumptions for the BSP estimates produced
as at December 2009, before the triple lock was announced, and those produced as at December
2010, after its announcement (see Tables 3 and 4).
Similarly, there was an announcement in the June 2010 Budget that inflation uprating for state
pensions would move from the Retail Prices Index (RPI) to the Consumer Prices Index (CPI).
Therefore in the 2010 supplementary table, for uprating AP by inflation after SPA, it was necessary
to use the RPI for the December 2009 estimates and the CPI for the December 2010 estimates.
Table 3: Economic assumptions used for the supplementary table in the calculation of the
BSP model estimates for December 2009
Financial
year
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
36
LIMITE EN
Calendar
year
Uprating
value Uprated by Policy
2004/05 2005 1.028 RPI RPI, 2.5%
2005/06 2006 1.031 RPI RPI, 2.5%
2006/07 2007 1.027 RPI RPI, 2.5%
2007/08 2008 1.036 RPI RPI, 2.5%
2008/09 2009 1.039 RPI RPI, 2.5%
2009/10 2010 1.05 RPI RPI, 2.5%
2010/11 2011 1.025 2.5% RPI, 2.5%
2011/12 2012 1.046 RPI RPI, 2.5%
2012/13 2013 1.021 Earnings Earnings
2013/14 2014 1.02 Earnings Earnings
2014/15 2015 1.038 Earnings Earnings
2015/16 2016 1.043 Earnings Earnings
2016/17 2017 1.045 Earnings Earnings
2017/18 2018 1.04754 Earnings Earnings
1 The 2017/18 assumptions are repeated for all future years.
2 Forecasts of inflation and earnings growth are consistent with the Budget 2011 economic assumptions up
to 2016/17 and the Office for Budget Responsibility’s long term economic assumptions as of July 2011 from
2017/18 onwards.
Source: Department for Work and Pensions
Office for National Statistics 10
Table 4: Economic assumptions used for the supplementary table in the calculation of the
BSP model estimates for December 2010
Financial year Calendar year
Uprating
value Uprated by Policy
2004/05 2005 1.028 RPI RPI, 2.5%
2005/06 2006 1.031 RPI RPI, 2.5%
2006/07 2007 1.027 RPI RPI, 2.5%
2007/08 2008 1.036 RPI RPI, 2.5%
2008/09 2009 1.039 RPI RPI, 2.5%
2009/10 2010 1.050 RPI RPI, 2.5%
2010/11 2011 1.025 2.50% RPI, 2.5%
2011/12 2012 1.046 RPI RPI, CPI, earnings, 2.5%
2012/13 2013 1.043 CPI CPI, earnings, 2.5%
2013/14 2014 1.025 2.50% CPI, earnings, 2.5%
2014/15 2015 1.038 Earnings CPI, earnings, 2.5%
2015/16 2016 1.043 Earnings CPI, earnings, 2.5%
2016/17 2017 1.045 Earnings CPI, earnings, 2.5%
2017/18 2018 1.0495 Earnings plus 0.2% CPI, earnings, 2.5%
1 The 2017/18 assumptions are repeated for all future years.
2 Forecasts of inflation and earnings growth are consistent with the Budget 2011 economic assumptions up
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
37
LIMITE EN
to 2016/17 and the Office for Budget Responsibility’s long term economic assumptions as of July 2011 from
2017/18 onwards.
3 The long term uprating assumption (from 2017/18) is earnings plus 0.2%, in line with the triple lock policy.
Historically, earnings have risen more rapidly than prices (or 2.5 per cent) in most years, so under the triple
lock policy, BSP increases are expected to keep pace with earnings growth in future. However, in years
when earnings growth is sluggish, BSP increases might outpace earnings increases, so 0.2% is added to the
earnings growth forecast for the long term uprating assumption.
Source: Department for Work and Pensions
2.3 Discounting
In both the BSP and AP models, the initial outputs from the model show forecast expenditure every
year from the date of the accounts (December 2009 or December 2010) until 2114. However, for
the supplementary table, a single figure representing the present value of accrued-to-date
obligations is required. Therefore, future expenditure flows are discounted using a discount rate
(see Box 3) and summed to give a single figure.
Box 3: The discount rate
The discount rate (r) is the rate which is used to convert future payments into a ‘present value’ at a particular
date. For example, the present value (PV) at time (t) of a payment (P) payable one year in future (at t+1) is
calculated as:
PVt= Pt + 1
(1 + r)
In the case of pensions, there is a stream of payments for many years into the future which are discounted to
calculate the present value.
For the supplementary table, Eurostat requires that the same discount rate be used in all EU
countries and for all government-managed pension schemes including social security pension
schemes (Column H)13. For the 2010 supplementary table, the rate that Eurostat has asked all EU
countries to use is 3 per cent real (or 5 per cent nominal).
13 See
‘Pensions in the National Accounts: Compiling a complete picture of UK pensions including unfunded pensions for
public sector employees’ (Sources and further reading).
Office for National Statistics 11
Eurostat’s approach is similar to the ‘social time preference rate’ approach used for cost benefit
analysis/project appraisal by the UK Government, following guidance in HM Treasury’s ‘Green
Book’14. The Green Book prescribes a standard discount rate of 3.5 per cent (real) but says that a
lower rate may be appropriate for long term usage. The approach is also similar to the method
adopted by HM Treasury for setting contribution rates in public service pension scheme valuations
using the Superannuation Contribution Accruing for Past Experience (SCAPE) rate. The SCAPE
rate is a stable discount rate. It was revised in the March 2011 Budget from 3.5 per cent (real, in
excess of RPI), where it had been fixed since the late 1990s, to 3 per cent (real, in excess of CPI).
For the work on Column H of the supplementary table, a 5 per cent nominal discount rate has been
used. This has been adjusted to allow for the effect of moving from financial to calendar years in
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
38
LIMITE EN
the spreadsheets used for discounting (see Appendix 1).
3. Conclusion
ONS is working to produce the first official estimate of the total obligations of UK pension schemes,
including state pensions. The obligations to pay future state pensions are entitlements from the
point of view of households and liabilities from the point of view of government. They are properly
defined as ‘contingent pension obligations’ rather than debt in the Maastricht sense.
ONS has commissioned DWP to produce estimates of state pensions for the 2010 experimental
supplementary table on pensions, which is part of new international requirements for the National
Accounts. Pension obligations in the supplementary table are estimated on an accrued-to-date
basis, showing amounts due for service to date, excluding rights which will be built up in the future.
The work by DWP has involved adapting existing models used for long term projections of
expenditure on the basic and additional state pensions, and overcoming several challenges in the
process. ONS and GAD have quality assured the results, and GAD has recommended a number of
improvements. Some of these are being implemented for the 2010 supplementary table and others
will be considered as part of work for future supplementary tables.
14 See
HM Treasury (2003), Sources and further reading.
Office for National Statistics 12
Sources and further reading
Department for Work and Pensions (2011): ‘DWP Long Term Basic State Pension Modelling’.
Available on request.
Department for Work and Pensions (2011): ‘DWP Earnings Factor Modelling: Turning earnings
distributions into earnings factors’. Available on request.
Eurostat/European Central Bank (2011): Technical compilation guide on pensions data in National
Accounts, second draft for the Eurostat/ECB Contact Group on the statistical measurement of the
assets and liabilities of pension schemes in general government. Available on request.
HM Treasury (2003): The Green Book: Appraisal and Evaluation in Central Government. Available
at: www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/data_greenbook_index.htm
HM Treasury (2011): Whole of Government Accounts: Unaudited Summary Report for the year
ended 31 March 2010, published July 2011. Available at www.hmtreasury.
gov.uk/psr_government_accounts.htm
Hobbs, D. (2010a), Office for National Statistics: Wider measures of public sector debt: A broader
approach to the public sector balance sheet. Available at
www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/psa/widermeasuresof-public-sector-debt/july-2010/index.html
Hobbs, D. (2010b), Office for National Statistics: Wider measures of public sector debt: an update.
Available at www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/psa/wider-measures-of-public-sector-debt/september-2010-update-/index.html
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
39
LIMITE EN
Levy, S. (2011): ‘Pensions in the National Accounts: Compiling a complete picture of UK pensions
including unfunded pensions for public sector employees’, Office for National Statistics. Available
at: www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/pensions/pensions-in-the-national-accounts/compiling-acompletepictureof-uk-pensions-including-unfunded-pensions-for-public-sector-employees--methodologyarticle2011-/index.html
Office for Budget Responsibility (2011): Fiscal sustainability report, July 2011. Available at
http://budgetresponsibility.independent.gov.uk
Office for National Statistics Pension Trends, available at www.ons.gov.uk/ons/aboutons/ourstatistics/
publications/pension-trends/index.html
System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA2008), published jointly by the European Commission, the
International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the
United Nations and the World Bank. New York, 2009.
Office for National Statistics 13
Appendix 1: Adjustment to discounting approach
This appendix is an extract from the quality assurance report by the Government Actuary’s
Department (GAD) which discusses a recommended adjustment to the discounting approach to
allow for changes from financial year to calendar year. The outcome is also shown.
Extract from the GAD quality assurance report
“DWP provided some figures for total expenditure on state pensions over the years 2006-07 to
2010-11, which provided no evidence that the payments were spread unevenly over the year. In
particular, the proportion of payments made by the end of December each year was very close to
75.0%. Thus it seemed entirely reasonable to assume that ¼ of the payments from the 2010-11
year should be included in the present value calculation as at 31st December 2010 (and similarly,
that ¼ of the payments from the 2009-10 year should be included in the present value calculation
as at 31st December 2009).
“The discounting of projected amounts of expenditure in each (financial) year to give present
values was done in the workbook “PV_ONS_201110921_UK.xls”. This was easy to understand. To
produce the present value as at end December 2010, it summed:
¼ of the year’s expenditure in the FY 2010-11 (discussed in paragraph 23) with no
discounting
expenditure in the FY 2011-12 discounted by 5%, that is, divided by 1.05, where 5% is the
discount rate mandated under ESA 2010
expenditure in the FY 2012-13 discounted by dividing by a factor of 1.052
expenditure in the FY 2013-14 discounted by dividing by a factor of 1.053
and so on.
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
40
LIMITE EN
“Take as an example, the figures for 2011-12. These payments fall on average mid-way through
the financial year, that is at the end of September (assuming that payments are more or less level
over the year). Therefore, to produce a present value as at 31st December 2010, the payment for
2011-12 needs to be discounted by a factor of 1.050.75, that is, for the 9 month period from end
September back to 31st December. This issue will apply for each subsequent year as well – for
example, the figure for 2012-13 should be discounted by 1.051.75 rather than 1.052. Thus the totals
as calculated will be 1.050.25 too small (about 1¼%)”.
Outcome
As a result of the advice from GAD, DWP has adjusted its approach to producing present value
figures for the National Accounts supplementary table on pensions. For example, the present value
at 31 December 2010 is the sum of:
¼ of the year’s expenditure in the FY 2010-11 with no discounting
expenditure in the FY 2011-12 discounted by dividing by a factor of 1.050.75
expenditure in the FY 2012-13 discounted by dividing by a factor of 1.051.75
expenditure in the FY 2013-14 discounted by dividing by a factor of 1.052.75
and so on.
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
41
LIMITE EN
Extract from article on Column H to be published in 2012
UNPUBLISHED – PLEASE TREAT AS CONFIDENTIAL, NOT FOR CIRCULATION
4. Sensitivity analysis
This section presents the results of analysis of what happens to the estimate of pensions
entitlements (or liabilities) when the assumptions used to produce the estimate change. Each
assumption in turn is varied, while holding the other assumptions constant. The changes are
reported with respect to a ‘central estimate’, which is the estimate of entitlements (or liabilities) at
31 December 2010 shown in Row 10 of Table 8 (£3.8 trillion).
Table 9 looks at the impact of varying the nominal discount rate away from the 5 per cent level
used for calculating estimates in the supplementary table on pensions. Increasing the discount rate
by 0.25 per cent to 5.25 per cent leads to a 6 per cent decrease in total state pension entitlements
(by £231 billion), while increasing the discount rate by one percentage point to 6 per cent leads to
a 21 per cent decrease in total state pension entitlements (by £815 billion). Reducing the discount
rate has an even greater impact on the estimates. For example, reducing the discount rate to 4 per
cent leads to a 31 per cent increase in total state pension entitlements (by £1.2 trillion).
Table 9: Sensitivity analysis for discount rate1,2
United Kingdom and overseas
Basic State Pension (BSP)
Nominal discount rate (%)
Change in pension entitlements
Change in pension entitlements
Additional Pension (AP)
Nominal discount rate (%)
Change in pension entitlements
Change in pension entitlements
Total state pension
Nominal discount rate (%)
Change in pension entitlements
Change in pension entitlements
(£ billion)
(%)
4.00
1,018
31%
4.25
726
22%
4.50
461
14%
4.75
220
7%
5.00
0
0
5.25
-200
-6%
5.50
-383
-12%
5.75
-551
-17%
6.00
-704
-22%
(£ billion)
(%)
4.00
145
27%
4.25
104
19%
4.50
66
12%
4.75
32
6%
5.00
0
0
5.25
-29
-5%
5.50
-55
-10%
5.75
-80
-15%
6.00
-102
-19%
(£ billion)
(%)
4.00
1,174
31%
4.25
837
22%
4.50
532
14%
4.75
253
7%
5.00
0
0
5.25
-231
-6%
5.50
-443
-12%
5.75
-637
-17%
6.00
-815
-21%
1
AP comprises S2P and SERPS. Total state pension comprises BSP, AP, GRAD and lump sums.
2
Changes are with reference to central estimate of pension entitlements as at December 2010.
Source: ONS using Department for Work and Pensions data
Table 9 also shows breakdowns for the main components of the state pension: BSP and AP. The
impact of changes in the discount rate is greater for BSP than for AP because the central estimate
of BSP entitlements is much larger than the central estimate of AP entitlements.
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
42
LIMITE EN
Table 10 shows the impact of varying uprating assumptions for BSP and AP payments with respect
to the central estimate of entitlements as at 31 December 2010. The uprating approach in each
case is different: in the case of BSP, uprating is based on the triple lock policy (see Section 2.2.2),
while for AP it is in line with the CPI measure of inflation (assumed to be 2 per cent in the long
term). The analysis shows the impact of varying uprating in each case by +/-2 per cent.
For BSP, increasing uprating by 1 per cent leads to a 31 per cent increase in entitlements, while
reducing uprating by 1 per cent leads to a 22 per cent reduction in entitlements. For AP, increasing
uprating by 1 per cent leads to a 16 per cent increase in entitlements, while reducing uprating by 1
per cent leads to a 13 per cent reduction in entitlements.
Table 10: Sensitivity analysis for uprating (BSP and AP)1,2,3
United Kingdom and overseas
Basic State Pension (BSP)
Change in uprating (%)
Change in pension entitlements
Change in pension entitlements
Additional Pension (AP)
Change in uprating (%)
Change in pension entitlements
Change in pension entitlements
(£ billion)
(%)
-2
-1,233
-38%
-1
-712
-22%
+1
1,008
31%
+2
2,469
76%
(£ billion)
(%)
-2
-131
-24%
-1
-71
-13%
+1
85
16%
+2
217
40%
1 AP comprises S2P and SERPS. Total state pension comprises BSP, AP, GRAD and lump sums.
2 Changes are with reference to central estimate of pension entitlements as at December 2010.
3 Assumes no change in discount rate, which remains 5% (nominal).
Source: ONS using Department for Work and Pensions data
It is worth noting that a change in uprating assumptions of the magnitude of +/-2 per cent is
unlikely to occur without a significant change in the long-term economic environment, such as
persistently higher/lower inflation and/or (nominal) earnings growth. In such circumstances, it is
improbable that the nominal discount rate would remain at the same level, as we have assumed in
this analysis (it would be adjusted to reflect the new economic conditions). This can be explored in
the model. As an example, BSP uprating is increased by 2 per cent and the nominal discount rate
is increased from 5 per cent to 7 per cent, BSP entitlements increase by 60 per cent rather than by
76 per cent (as shown in Table 10).
Table 11 shows the impact of varying the earnings growth assumption for AP with respect to the
central estimate of AP entitlements as at 31 December 2010. As explained in Section 2.1.2,
earnings growth is used in the AP model to revalue entitlements up to SPA. Table 11 shows that a
change of +1 per cent in the earnings growth assumption leads to a 13 per cent increase in AP
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
43
LIMITE EN
entitlements, while a change of -1 per cent leads to a 10 per cent decrease in AP entitlements. The
table also shows the impact of +/-2 per cent change in uprating assumptions, but, as noted above,
this would be unlikely to occur without a significant change in the long-term economic environment,
such as persistently higher/lower inflation and/or (nominal) earnings growth, which would affect the
choice of nominal discount rate to use in the model.
Table 11: Sensitivity analysis for earnings growth (AP only) 1,2,3
United Kingdom and overseas
Change in earnings growth assumption (%)
Change in pension entitlements (£ billion)
Change in pension entitlements (%)
-2
-95
-18%
-1
-53
-10%
+1
69
13%
+2
159
29%
1 AP comprises S2P and SERPS.
2 Changes are with reference to central estimate of pension entitlements as at December 2010.
3 Assumes no change in discount rate, which remains 5% (nominal).
Source: ONS using Department for Work and Pensions data
The mortality rates used by DWP in the BSP and AP models are taken from the ONS’s 2008based national population projections, specifically the central or ‘principal’ population projection.
ONS also produces variants around this central projection, including one based on the assumption
that life expectancy increases more rapidly than expected in future (the ‘high life expectancy’
variant) and another based on the assumption that life expectancy increases less rapidly than
expected (the ‘low life expectancy’ variant). Table 12 shows the effect of using mortality rates
based on the high and low life expectancy variants rather than on the principal projection. This
produces changes in pension entitlements of +/-9 per cent for BSP and +/-6 per cent for AP.
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
44
LIMITE EN
Table 12: Sensitivity analysis for life expectancy assumptions1,2,3
United Kingdom and overseas
High life expectancy
Change in pension entitlements
Change in pension entitlements
Low life expectancy
Change in pension entitlements
Change in pension entitlements
(£ billion)
(%)
BSP
304
9%
(£ billion)
(%)
-298
-9%
AP
Total state pensions
35
341
6%
9%
-31
-6%
-331
-9%
1 AP comprises S2P and SERPS. Total state pension comprises BSP, AP, GRAD and lump sums.
2 Changes are with reference to central estimate of pension entitlements as at December 2010.
3 Assumes no change in discount rate, which remains 5% (nominal).
Source: ONS using Department for Work and Pensions data
The sensitivity analysis presented in this section shows that changes in the assumptions used to
produce estimates of pensions entitlements (or liabilities) produce important changes in the results.
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
45
LIMITE EN
Pensions in the National Accounts: Compiling a complete
picture of UK pensions including unfunded pensions for public
sector employees
Sarah Levy, Pensions Analysis Unit, Office for National Statistics (ONS)
1. Introduction
ONS has begun work to produce, for the first time, an official estimate of the total obligations, or
gross liabilities, of UK pension schemes. The work began in 2009 as part of efforts to address new
international requirements for the National Accounts. These include a ‘supplementary table’ on
pensions which all countries will have to include in their National Accounts.
A team coordinated by ONS’s Pensions Analysis Unit has been set up to produce the UK
supplementary table on pensions. ONS aims to produce the first set of experimental statistics for
the supplementary table on pensions in December 2011, covering the year 2010. The table will
include estimates of obligations for funded and unfunded pension schemes. Funded pensions are
those where benefits are met from a fund built up in advance from contributions and investment
income, and are found mainly in the private sector (the main exception being the Local
Government Pension Scheme). Unfunded pensions are those in which obligations are not
underpinned by a fund; they comprise mainly public sector employee pensions1 and state
pensions. The pension payments made by the government for unfunded pensions are financed
from general taxation and employee contributions.
The obligations to pay future pensions are gross liabilities from the point of view of the pension
schemes. They are entitlements (or assets) from the point of view of the scheme members, so in
producing estimates of total pension obligations, or gross liabilities, ONS will also be producing
estimates of households’ total pension entitlements, or ‘pension wealth’. These entitlements
include rights to state pensions as well as pensions provided through employment.
It should be noted that although we refer to pension schemes’ obligations as ‘liabilities’, there is
some debate about whether this is appropriate. On the one hand, the intention of the
supplementary table is to record all pensions owing to households by private employers and the
government, whether or not there are assets available to fund them; in this sense, they are
liabilities. On the other hand, the amounts owing are not liabilities in the sense of debt, because it
is possible to change the rules of the pension schemes and thereby change the obligations
outstanding (such changes may affect service already accrued by pension scheme members as
well as future service). When faced with unfunded pension obligations which are considered to be
unacceptably high, it is not unusual for governments to do this.
For this reason, pension liabilities are properly defined as ‘contingent pension obligations’ rather
than debt in the Maastrict sense. It is also important to note that ‘contingent pension obligations’
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
46
LIMITE EN
are not the same as ‘contingent liabilities’ as defined by HM Treasury for the purposes of the
Whole of Government Accounts and by the Office for Budget Responsibility in its fiscal
sustainability reports2.
1 There are some unfunded arrangements in the private sector, known as unfunded Employer Financed Retirement
Benefit Schemes (EFRBS) and Unfunded Unapproved Retirement Benefit Schemes (UURBS).
2 HM Treasury (2011a) and Office for Budget Responsibility (2011a), published on 13 July 2011 (see Sources and
further reading). These reports define ‘contingent liabilities’ as liabilities which are associated with events which may
arise in future but are improbable (less than 50 per cent probability); some of these events are also unquantifiable.
Office for National Statistics 2
This article is divided into three parts. Sections 2, 3, 4 and 5 explain what the work is about, what
statistics ONS intends to produce and why they will be useful. Sections 6 and 7 provide detailed
information about one part of the work for which the methodology is at advanced stages of
development: producing figures for unfunded pension schemes for government employees.
Section 8 concludes and describes our future plans.
2. Pensions in the National Accounts: the current position
Information on pensions currently appears in the National Accounts in several places. For instance,
contributions to pension schemes are recorded for both funded and unfunded pensions. These are
attributed to the household sector, which is the beneficiary of nearly all such schemes. They also
feed into the National Accounts aggregate ‘compensation of employees’, which is part of the
income approach to measuring GDP and the calculation of the saving ratio.
Another example is that the household sector balance sheet includes an estimate of assets held in
pension funds and insurance companies, and these assets are also recorded as a liability of the
corporate sector (although the part relating to the Local Government Pension Scheme and other
funded public sector schemes is ultimately the responsibility of Government)3.
However, there is no single place where it is possible to see both balances (stocks) and
transactions (flows) for pensions. Also, the picture is incomplete from a pensions point of view.
Individual personal pensions are excluded because they are not considered part of ‘social
insurance’4, while unfunded pensions are not included in the assets of the household sector. Even
where pension assets are recorded (i.e. for funded pensions), the value shown – in the figure
provided for ‘life assurance and pension funds’ – includes life assurance products as well as
pensions, and the pensions element is not separately identifiable. Moreover, those pension
liabilities which are recorded (for the corporate sector, including funded public sector schemes) are
recorded on the basis that liabilities are equal to the market value of assets, rather than on an
actuarial basis, which is a more appropriate way of estimating liabilities for some schemes (see
Section 3).
This means that, for those interested in pensions aggregates, the National Accounts provide
incomplete information. It is not possible to answer questions like ‘What is the total value of
pension obligations in the UK?’ or ‘What proportions of pension obligations belong to the private
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
47
LIMITE EN
sector and to Government?’ This is also the case for other countries.
However, the population of the UK, in common with the populations of other developed countries,
is ‘ageing’5. More and more people as a proportion of the total are retired and depend – to a
greater or lesser extent – on income from pensions. Although many people have other sources of
income in retirement, pensions (state and private) remain the largest source of retirement income,
and in the UK private pension saving is the main form of saving for retirement6. For this reason,
having a complete picture of pensions aggregates is becoming increasingly important. The way
that pensions are currently reported in the National Accounts is inadequate for this purpose.
3 For further information, see Pension Trends Chapter 14: Pensions in the National Accounts, available at
www.statistics.gov.uk/pensiontrends
4 Pension schemes in social insurance comprise workplace pension schemes and state pensions accrued through
National Insurance contributions. They exclude individual personal pensions, social assistance (such as Pension Credit),
health or long-term care insurance and individual insurance policies. Pensions not qualifying as social insurance
(individual personal pensions) are treated as a form of saving in the National Accounts.
5 See Pension Trends Chapters 2 and 3 for statistics on the ageing population and life expectancy.
6 See Pension Trends Chapters 10, 11 and 12 for statistics on saving for retirement and income sources in retirement.
Office for National Statistics 3
This article shows how the supplementary table on pensions will add to the information currently
available in the core National Accounts, providing a complete picture of National Accounts
pensions aggregates in one place. It should be noted that this article does not attempt to provide
an introduction to the treatment of pensions in the core National Accounts (this is provided in
Pension Trends7); nor does it cover how pensions transactions feature within the sequence of
National Accounts, or how transactions are re-routed (this is explained in Rahman, 2007).
3. ESA2010 and the supplementary table on pensions
ESA2010
As required by EU regulation, the UK National Accounts are compiled according to definitions set
out in the European System of Accounts (ESA), which is the EU-specific interpretation of the
internationally agreed System of National Accounts (SNA). The SNA has recently been revised to
produce SNA2008, and the ESA is being revised to produce ESA2010. A key change in SNA2008
and ESA2010 compared with SNA93 and ESA95 is the treatment of pensions, in particular the
introduction of a ‘supplementary table on pensions schemes in social insurance’ (see Table 1).
The supplementary table on pensions
The supplementary table is designed to provide a complete picture of pensions, with the exception
of individual personal (including stakeholder) pensions, which are excluded because they are not
part of social insurance (see Section 2). It covers state pensions and all workplace private
pensions, which are those shown in the first three columns of Figure 1.
In the supplementary table on pensions, pensions are defined as old age pensions and related
benefits such as survivor, disability and early retirement pensions. Pensions are recorded gross
(without deductions for taxes, service charges etc). The SNA2008 manual8 notes that the
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
48
LIMITE EN
distinction between pension and non-pension benefits is important because “the SNA recognizes
liabilities for some pensions whether there are actually assets set aside to meet the entitlements or
not but recognizes reserves for non-pension benefits only when these actually exist”.
The supplementary table on pensions brings together information shown in the standard or ‘core’
National Accounts (Columns A to F of the table) and information on unfunded pensions, which will
not be in the core accounts but will only appear in the supplementary table (Columns G and H). It
has been argued by a number of countries, including the UK, that unfunded pension liabilities
should not appear in the core accounts because they are not part of national debt.
The columns of the supplementary table also break down the information according to:
who is the ‘pension manager’: private sector (Columns A-C) or Government (Columns D-H);
the type of pension scheme: defined benefit, hybrid and defined contribution (see Box 1); and
where the scheme appears in the National Accounts classification.
The table requires estimates of entitlements, or gross liabilities, to be calculated on an actuarial
basis for defined benefit and other ‘non-defined contribution’ (or ‘hybrid’) pension schemes
including those in the private sector (mainly funded, Column B), the Local Government Pension
Scheme (funded, Column E), central government schemes (unfunded, Column G) and the state
pension system (unfunded, Column H). In the case of pure defined contribution schemes in
Columns A (private sector) and D (public sector), liabilities equal assets at market value, so
actuarial methods for calculating liabilities are not applicable.
7 Pension Trends Chapter 14: Pensions in the National Accounts.
8 SNA2008, paragraph 17.99.
Office for National Statistics 4
Table 1: Supplementary table on pension schemes in social insurance
Recording Core national accounts
Not in the core
national accounts
Pension manager Non-general government General government
Defined benefit schemes for
general government employees2)
Defined
contribution
schemes
Defined
benefit
schemes
and
other1)
nondefined
contribution
schemes
Total
Defined
contribution
schemes
Classified
in
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
49
LIMITE EN
financial
corporations
Classified
in
general
govt 3)
Classified
in
general
government
Social
security
pension
schemes
Total
pension
schemes
Counterparts:
Pension
entitlements
of
nonresident
households4)
Relations
Row
No. Column number A B C D E F G H I J
Opening balance sheet
1 Pension entitlements
Changes in pension entitlements due to transactions
Σ 2.1
to 2.4 2
Increase in pension
entitlements due to
social contributions
2.1
Employer actual
social contributions
2.2
Employer imputed
social contributions
2.3
Household actual
social contributions
2.4
Household social
contribution
supplements5)
3
Other (actuarial)
change of pension
entitlements in social
security pension
schemes
4
Reduction in pension
entitlements due to
payment of pension
benefits
2+3
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
50
LIMITE EN
-45
Changes in pension
entitlements due to
social contributions
and pension benefits
6
Transfers of pension
entitlements between
schemes
7
Changes in pension
entitlements due to
pension scheme
reforms
Changes in pension entitlements due to other flows
8
Changes in
entitlements due to
revaluations6)
9
Changes in
entitlements due to
other changes in
volume 6)
Closing balance sheet
1+ Σ
5 to 9 10 Pension entitlements
Related indicators
11 Output
1) Such other non-defined contribution schemes, often described as hybrid schemes, have both a defined benefit and a defined
contribution
element.
2) Schemes organised by general government for its current and former employees.
3) These are non-autonomous defined benefit schemes whose pension entitlements are recorded in the core national accounts.
4) Counterpart data for non-resident households will only be shown separately when pension relationships with the rest of the world are
significant.
5) These supplements represent the return on members' claims on pension schemes, both through investment income on defined
contribution
schemes' assets and for defined benefit schemes through the unwinding of the discount rate applied.
6) A more detailed split of these positions should be provided for columns G and H based on the model calculations carried out for these
schemes.
The cells shown as █ are not applicable; the cells in XX will contain different data from the core national accounts.
Office for National Statistics 5
Figure 1: Types of private pension provision in the UK
Occupational salary
related
Occupational money
purchase
Group personal pensions
Individual personal
pensions
Defined contribution
Occupational Personal (contract-based)
Employer sponsored Not workplace
DB
Unfunded Funded
Workplace / employer sponsored
Defined benefit
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
51
LIMITE EN
Source: Adapted from Pensions Commission (2004)
Box 1: DB, DC and hybrid pension schemes
Defined benefit (DB) schemes are those in which the rules specify the rate of benefits to be paid. The most
common DB scheme is one in which the benefits are based on the number of years of pensionable service,
the accrual rate and final salary. However, Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) schemes are
becoming increasingly common in the UK. These base the pension on earnings over the whole career,
adjusted by prices or earnings.
Defined contribution (DC) schemes are those in which the benefits are determined by the contributions paid
into the scheme, the investment return on those contributions (less charges), and the annuity purchased on
retirement. They are also known as money purchase schemes.
Hybrid schemes are those offering a choice, or mixture, of DB and DC rights at retirement. In the
supplementary table on pensions, hybrid schemes are referred to as ‘other non-DC schemes’ and are
included with DB schemes.
The rows of the supplementary table on pensions present opening and closing balances for the
year (Rows 1 and 10 respectively). These are both the obligations, or gross liabilities, of pension
schemes and the assets (entitlements) of the household sector. In the table, the opening and
closing balances are labelled ‘pension entitlements’. They are the ‘present value’ of gross liabilities/
entitlements accrued up to the end of the year in question.
All of the transactions which occur during the year are shown in Rows 2 to 9 of the supplementary
table. Some of the transactions are actual cash flows, such as payment of actual contributions and
pension benefits, while others are imputed (such as employer imputed contributions to DB pension
schemes, Row 2.2) or reflect changes in actuarial assumptions used to calculate DB pension
entitlements (Rows 8 and 9) or pension scheme reforms9 (Row 7).
9 Examples of pension scheme reforms are reforms of benefit and/or indexation rules. The impact of such reforms will
only be recorded once the reforms are enacted. In cases of reforms which do not require legislation, like the replacement
of the Retail Prices Index (RPI) with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) for the indexation of public sector employee and
state pensions, the impact will be recorded when the changes are announced. They will only lead to immediate changes
in the figures in the supplementary table on pensions if they affect the entitlements of existing members.
Office for National Statistics 6
European requirements and methodology
ONS will be legally required by the EU to publish the supplementary table on pensions for every
year from 2012, twelve months after the year end. ONS’s intention is to publish experimental
versions of the table for the years 2010 and 2011.
The ESA2010 contains a chapter on pensions (Chapter 17), which sets out how the supplementary
table on pensions must be compiled. Eurostat, the EU statistical agency, and the European Central
Bank (ECB) have developed additional guidelines10 with the aim of ensuring that actuarial
estimates for DB schemes are compiled in a consistent manner by all EU countries, so that people
can compare results across Europe on a like-for-like basis. Box 2 shows the Eurostat requirements
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
52
LIMITE EN
and recommendations for assumptions used to produce actuarial estimates for
governmentmanaged
DB pension schemes in the supplementary table on pensions.
Box 2: Assumptions for calculating actuarial estimates for government-managed schemes
Eurostat/ECB (2011) sets out a number of requirements and recommendations on the assumptions to be
used in calculating actuarial estimates for government-managed DB schemes:
Requirements:
Real discount rate: 3 per cent (stable)
Nominal discount rate: 5 per cent (stable), based on the real discount rate plus inflation
Recommendations:
Inflation: 2 per cent (stable, in line with ECB medium-term inflation target)
Uprating/indexation of pensions in payment: in accordance with country-specific indexation rules, which
may be based on inflation (‘price indexation’), wage growth (‘wage indexation’) or a mixture of the two
Real wage growth (used to model future salary increases for members of DB schemes who have not yet
reached retirement): in line with long-term productivity assumption of Ageing Working Group (AWG) for
EU countries, varying between countries. AWG figures for the UK come from the Office for Budget
Responsibility (the latest long-term productivity figure is 2 per cent11)
Nominal wage growth: real wage growth plus inflation
Demographic assumptions (population, fertility, mortality and migration): based on Europop estimates
and projections for EU countries. Figures are provided by ONS but some adjustments are made
In addition to the actuarial assumptions, in the interests of consistency and comparability across
the EU, Eurostat has recommended that obligations of government-managed DB pension schemes
be estimated using the projected benefit obligations (PBO) approach rather than the accumulated
benefit obligations (ABO) approach. The PBO approach takes into account expected future pay
increases due to career development and general wage growth, whereas the ABO approach does
not. In the UK, all DB pension schemes (for employees in the private and public sectors) use the
PBO method, as this is a requirement of International Accounting Standards 19 (IAS 19).
Eurostat and the ECB have also commissioned the Research Center for Generational Contracts at
Freiburg University to develop a large-scale model which provides aggregate estimates of pension
liabilities of DB schemes based on a comparable actuarial framework. In such actuarial models,
future benefit payments to all pension scheme members are estimated each year and then these
flows over time are discounted to give a single ‘present value’ figure for pension obligations (or
gross liabilities) outstanding.
10 Eurostat/ECB (2011). See Sources and further reading.
11 This figure was published in July 2011 by the Office for Budget Responsibility (2011a).
Office for National Statistics 7
Box 3: The discount rate
The discount rate (r) is the rate which is used to convert future payments into a ‘present value’ at a particular
date. For example, the present value (PV) at time (t) of a payment (P) payable one year in future (at t+1) is
calculated as:
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
53
LIMITE EN
PVt= Pt + 1
(1 + r)
In the case of pensions, there is a stream of payments for many years into the future which are discounted to
calculate the present value.
According to Eurostat/ECB (2011), the choice of discount rate is “one of the most crucial assumptions for
estimating pension entitlements, since its accumulated impact over many decades can be quite high”.
Variations in the discount rate produce big changes in the actuarial estimate (present value) of pension
entitlements, or obligations (see Section 7).
Actuaries calculating obligations of private sector pension schemes in the UK should use the yield on AA
corporate bonds as the discount rate, according to IAS 19. In the past, government pension liabilities have
been calculated using a different approach12, but from 2010/11 the annual ‘resource accounts’ for public
sector unfunded pension schemes (in terms of the supplementary table on pensions, those in Column G) are
being prepared using a variable discount rate based on variable AA corporate bond rates and a marketbased
inflation assumption, which is in line with IAS 19. The discount rate is set by HM Treasury, on advice
from the Government Actuary’s Department (GAD), and the same rate is used by all the public sector
unfunded pension schemes which produce annual resource accounts (see Section 6).
However, the resource accounts are based on different discount rates each year because the yield on AA
corporate bonds is a market rate. This makes the results difficult to interpret: short-term fluctuations caused
by discount rate volatility obscure real changes caused by ‘fundamentals’ such as changes in longevity or
assumptions about real wage growth. An alternative approach is to use a stable discount rate similar to the
‘social time preference rate’ used for cost benefit analysis/project appraisal by the UK Government (HM
Treasury, 2003) or to the Superannuation Contribution Accruing for Past Experience (SCAPE) rate – the
long-term stable discount rate used by HM Treasury to set contribution rates in public service pension
scheme valuations (HM Treasury, 2010).
The pensions chapter of the ESA2010 manual13 stipulates the use of a nominal discount rate based on
suitable ‘risk free’ rate such as the yield on high quality government or corporate bonds (AAA-rated) with
10-year terms or more. For calculating the pension obligations of schemes for which governments are
responsible, Eurostat/ECB (2011) favours a discount rate based on a basket of long-term European
government bonds. It argues that “in order to guarantee comparability across countries, the same discount
rate should be applied to all EU countries and for all government-managed pension schemes (including
social security pension schemes) at whatever level of government” and that “a stable discount rate should be
applied to avoid the noise which arises from frequent changes”. It concludes that the same discount rate
should be used by all 27 EU countries and that this should be a 3 per cent real (or 5 per cent nominal)
discount rate.
Recent developments in the UK point in the same direction, although the rationale is different. A recent
government consultation on the SCAPE rate (HM Treasury, 2010) led to a revision of this rate from 3.5 per
cent (real, in excess of RPI), at which it had been fixed since the late 1990s, to 3 per cent (real, in excess of
CPI). The new rate, which was announced in the March 2011 budget, is based on long-term expectations for
growth in the UK economy.
12 In recent years an adjustment has been made for the long-term RPI assumption. For example, at 31 March 2010, the
real discount rate of 1.8% was calculated from difference between nominal AA corporate bond rates (5.5%) and the
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
54
LIMITE EN
current market expectation of future RPI inflation (3.7%), based on the difference between the yields of indexed and
nonindexed
Treasury stock of the appropriate maturity. The nominal discount rate was then calculated as 1.8% (real
discount rate) plus a different long-term RPI assumption (2.75%), which equals 4.6%.
13 Chapter 17, paragraph 17.167, of the 20 December 2010 draft of the ESA2010 Manual.
Office for National Statistics 8
Large-scale models are ideal in countries where there are few schemes and these schemes cover
the whole population, so that it is possible to use whole-population economic assumptions (e.g. for
wage growth) and demographic assumptions (e.g. mortality rates for men and women). It also
helps if the type of pension scheme is homogeneous so that it is possible to assume that all
pensions entitlements accumulate according to a simple set of rules. The standard Freiburg model
is based on the rules of final salary schemes. Career average re-valued earnings (CARE) schemes
and notional DC schemes are more complicated to model. CARE schemes now account for around
a quarter of the membership of private sector DB pension schemes in the UK14 and may be the
predominant type of scheme for public sector employees in future following the recommendations
of the Independent Public Service Pensions Commission (IPSPC) chaired by Lord Hutton of
Furness, which the government has announced the intention to adopt15.
In practice, because of the fact that pension systems and data sources are different in different EU
countries, the goal of ensuring that actuarial estimates for DB schemes are compiled in a
consistent manner by all EU countries presents some difficulties (see Section 4). However, it has
been possible to agree on key points such as the use of a single, stable discount rate for
government-managed pensions in all EU countries. The discount rate is a key assumption for
producing actuarial estimates of pension scheme obligations (see Box 3).
4. Methods and sources in the UK
ONS has been working since October 2009 on a methodology for compiling estimates for the UK
supplementary table on pensions in line with the approach required by Eurostat. There are,
however, three areas where the nature of the UK pension system and the data sources available
are different from the countries in continental Europe around whose systems Eurostat has built its
recommended methodology:
1. Role of the state. In many continental European countries, pension systems are
dominated by large pension schemes covering all employees (private and public sector) for
which the government is ultimately responsible, even if employers act as facilitators. By
contrast, in the UK the government is responsible for part of total pension provision – (i) the
state pension and (ii) pensions for public sector employees. However, the private sector
(employers and insurance companies) is also a major provider of pensions.
2. Number of schemes. Continental European countries have a small number of pension
schemes covering most of the population. This means that data is relatively easy to collect
and that modelling assumptions can be based on demographic data for the population as a
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
55
LIMITE EN
whole. In the UK, by contrast, there are over 50,000 occupational pension schemes (most
of which have fewer than 12 members), and around 3 million people are contributing to
workplace pensions through individual contracts with insurance companies16. The
demographic profiles cannot be assumed to be the same as those of the population as a
whole. This presents a challenge for data collection and modelling.
3. Type of scheme. In countries like France and Germany, the dominant type of pension is
DB – normally ‘final salary’ type schemes – whereas in the UK, pure DC schemes have
been growing in coverage and are now equally important in terms of numbers of active
members. Moreover, it is no longer possible to assume that DB schemes in the UK fit the
‘final salary’ model, as DB schemes in the public and private sectors are switching to the
CARE model to reduce risk to providers. There are also many different types of ‘hybrid’
scheme, combining elements of DB and DC schemes.
14 Report of ONS’s 2009 Occupational Pension Schemes Survey, Chapter 4. See Sources and further reading.
15 Independent Public Service Pensions Commission (IPSPC) (2011): Final report, see Sources and further reading.
16 The figure for occupational schemes is from the Pensions Regulator (September 2010). The estimate of people with
individual contracts with insurance companies who are contributing to pensions via the workplace (mainly via group
personal and stakeholder pensions) is from the 2010 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (see also footnote 21).
Office for National Statistics 9
The main implication of these differences is that in the UK, large-scale models like that developed
by Freiburg University are less useful for calculating actuarial estimates of DB pension liabilities for
the supplementary table. The UK pension system, with its large number of heterogeneous
schemes, where the private sector is dominant and final salary schemes are in decline, requires
different approaches for Columns B, E and G. The exception is Column H, where such modelling is
appropriate because the state pension is provided in just two ‘schemes’ covering most members of
the UK population. The work on Column H is being carried out by the Department for Work and
Pensions in coordination with ONS, and will be discussed in a future publication.
ONS’s modified approach for Columns B, E and G involves collating information from existing
sources in the form of actuarial valuations and accounts. These are commissioned by scheme
trustees (for private sector schemes) or by the government (for public sector schemes).
In the private sector, trustees are required to conduct actuarial valuations every three years and to
calculate estimates of gross liabilities using a prudent discount rate, taking into account either or
both (i) the yield on assets held by the scheme to fund future benefits and the anticipated future
investment returns, and (ii) the market redemption yields on government or other high-quality
bonds17. These estimates, referred to as ‘technical provisions’18, are the basis for returns to the
Pensions Regulator which feed into our Column B estimates as well as contributing to the estimate
in Column E. Separately, private sector employers (not pension schemes) are required to report
gross pension liabilities in their annual accounts under IAS 19, using a discount rate in line with AA
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
56
LIMITE EN
corporate bond yields.
In the public sector, actuarial valuations should be conducted every three to four years, with the
purpose of estimating the present value of the pension benefits that will be paid in future, and
setting contribution rates to reflect that value. These will be referred to below as ‘triennial
valuations’. The discount rate used is the SCAPE rate, currently set at 3 per cent real (see Box 3).
The schemes for the civil service, NHS employees and teachers publish their valuation reports.
In addition, for the main centrally-administered public service pension schemes, annual ‘resource
accounts’ are produced with advice from the Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) or other
actuaries (see Section 6). IAS 19 applies to the accounts of public sector entities, subject to
adaptations and interpretations agreed by the Financial Reporting Advisory Board and set out in
the Government Financial Reporting Manual (HM Treasury, 2011b).
The triennial valuations and annual accounts already contain much of the information required for
the supplementary table. Where there are gaps, ONS has established that these can, in most
cases, be filled by data collected by the Pensions Regulator and the Financial Services Authority
and estimates from surveys and financial inquiries conducted by ONS and other government
departments.
ONS believes that there is an important advantage of using actuarial valuations and annual
resource accounts in the UK context, where there are many different schemes. The calculations
are made by professional actuaries who take into account information specific to each scheme:
Benefit rules: As well as the main retirement benefits, the actuaries will take account of the
benefits payable in other circumstances such as early retirement due to ill health and survivors’
pensions (those payable to surviving dependents if the member dies).
17 See SI 2005 No. 3377 Regulation 5(4).
18 The Pensions Act 2004 defines ‘technical provisions’ as the amount required to make provision for a pension
scheme’s liabilities, as assessed under actuarial valuation.
Office for National Statistics 10
Members of the scheme: They will use detailed membership data, including information on
individuals’ pay and career history.
Assumptions about the future: Assumptions such as life expectancy or the probability of
early retirement due to ill health reflect the expectations for members of the specific scheme.
For pension systems like that of the UK, the results from collating information from existing sources
compiled with advice from actuaries should be more accurate than those produced by centralised
modelling. However, there is also a disadvantage: the sources calculate actuarial estimates of
liabilities for government-managed pension schemes using different assumptions from those that
Eurostat has stipulated for the supplementary table (see Box 2). The use of different assumptions
can produce very different results (see below, Section 7).
ONS’s view is that the use of different assumptions for wage growth, indexation of benefits and
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
57
LIMITE EN
demographic factors is justifiable where the assumptions reflect the specific rules and
characteristics of each pension scheme. However, for discount rates, there is no argument in
favour of scheme-specific assumptions, and a consistent approach is desirable for reasons of
comparability. For Columns E and G (schemes for government employees), ONS is working with
GAD to convert figures in the triennial valuations and resource accounts of public service pension
schemes onto the basis of a stable 5 per cent discount rate in nominal terms (3 per cent in real
terms). This is discussed further below (Sections 6 and 7).
ONS hopes to be able to achieve a similar result for Column B (private sector schemes) by working
with information collected by the Pensions Regulator. This stage of the work will be discussed in a
later publication. However, it should be noted that if the UK follows the Eurostat guidelines for the
supplementary table which require the discount rate to be the same for all schemes where the
government is the pension manager (3 per cent real or 5 per cent nominal), while the private sector
reports on the basis of market discount rates, it will not be possible to compare the results for
Column B with those for Columns E and G on a like-for-like basis19. Results are extremely
sensitive to differences in the discount rate.
A final issue which particularly affects the UK relates to pure DC schemes – whether occupational
schemes or workplace pension schemes based on individual contracts with insurance companies.
Pure DC pensions are already a large part of UK pension provision, and this type of provision is
expected to grow rapidly from 2012 with the introduction of NEST20.
UK pension provision in pure DC schemes is imperfectly measured by official statistics at present.
Although we have estimates for active members of DC workplace schemes (over 4 million
‘employee jobs’21), there are no records of membership once people’s pension funds have been
converted into annuities. However, this project has established that at end-2009 insurance
companies were responsible for some £870 billion of pension entitlements, of which £246 billion
were in DC workplace pension pots accumulating before retirement and £172 billion was related to
payment of annuities and income drawdown funds; DC pension funds managed smaller amounts.
19 It would be possible to compare the results for Column B with those for Columns E and G on a like-for-like basis if the
results from Column B could be converted onto a stable 3 per cent real (or 5 per cent nominal) discount rate basis.
However, this would be extremely challenging given the number of schemes in Column B, which will be similar to the
number in the Pension Protection Fund universe reported in the 2010 Purple Book (6,850 at end-March 2010).
20 NEST (National Employment Savings Trust) is a new DC trust-based occupational pension scheme which is being
introduced to meet the needs of people who are largely new to pension saving. NEST is part of the government’s 2012
workplace pension reforms. For further information, see www.nestpensions.org.uk and the website of the Department for
Work and Pensions (DWP): www.dwp.gov.uk/policy/pensions%2Dreform/workplace%2Dpension%2Dreforms/
21 This estimate is from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) 2010. ASHE is the only survey of all
workplace pensions. ASHE counts ‘employee jobs’ rather than individuals, but differences between the two are small.
Office for National Statistics 11
For pure DC pensions, it is not necessary to make actuarial estimates because liabilities are equal
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
58
LIMITE EN
to assets at market value by definition. Eurostat/ECB guidelines for compiling the data for Columns
A and D have not yet been finalised, and these columns will be discussed in a future publication.
5. Interpreting the information – how useful will it be?
Government pension obligations
The supplementary table on pensions will show obligations of all funded and unfunded DB pension
schemes which are the responsibility of the government. This means that there will be, for the first
time, a complete picture of such obligations and this picture will be updated annually. Specifically,
the schemes included will be:
Funded, in the core National Accounts:
Column E: the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) and other funded schemes
classified in General Government such as the BBC’s DB scheme, the Transport for London
scheme and schemes with a Crown guarantee such as those for members of formerly
nationalised industries (railways, coal and telecommunications).
Unfunded, not in the core National Accounts:
Column G: centrally-administered pension schemes for public sector employees, of which the
main schemes are those for: civil servants, teachers, National Health Service employees,
members of the Armed Forces, police officers, firefighters, the judiciary, members of the
security services (MI5 and MI6), UK Atomic Energy Authority employees, DFID overseas
employees and those working for the Research Councils.
Column H: the state pension system, comprising the basic state pension and the additional
state pension, which covers most people in the UK and some pensioners resident overseas.
In addition, Column D will show pure DC pension schemes which are sponsored by the UK
government. However, in this case the providers are insurance companies and it is they rather
than General Government who are responsible for the liabilities. An example is the civil servants’
‘Partnership account’, which is provided by the Standard Life, Scottish Widows and Prudential
insurance companies.
At present, estimates of gross liabilities of pension schemes which are the responsibility of the UK
government are not available on consistent, complete and regular bases from any official source.
ONS’s publication Pension Trends22 brings together what information is available, but the only
figures that are regularly updated are those for Column G schemes, most of which publish annual
resource accounts. HM Treasury’s Whole of Government Accounts (WGA), published for the first
time in July 2011 (for the financial year 2009/10), are an important addition because they add the
figures for public sector funded pensions to those for the Column G schemes.
While the resource accounts and the figures published by the WGA are useful data sources, many
users may find them difficult to understand because the estimates of gross liabilities change each
year reflecting short-term discount rate fluctuations. By contrast, Columns E, G and H of the
supplementary table on pensions will be relatively easy to interpret because they take a long-term
view of pension obligations: the use of the stable discount rate (5 per cent in nominal terms, or 3
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
59
LIMITE EN
per cent in real terms) means that year-to-year changes will reflect changes in ‘fundamentals’. This
approach as well as other factors mean that the results presented in the supplementary table will
be different from those published in the WGA reports (see Box 4).
22 Pension Trends Chapter 14: Pensions in the National Accounts.
Office for National Statistics 12
The complete, up-to-date picture of government-managed DB pension liabilities provided by the
supplementary table on pensions will be an important addition to National Statistics. Moreover, it
will be possible to compare the results with those of other EU countries which are preparing
supplementary tables on pensions to similar specifications and standards.
Box 4: Key differences between the supplementary table and WGA approaches
Like ONS’s supplementary table on pensions, HM Treasury’s WGA publications (which are the basis for the
information on pensions in OBR’s fiscal sustainability reports) provide information on the government’s
pension obligations. However, there are some key differences between the WGA approach and that adopted
by ONS for National Accounts purposes. These are:
Discount rate: OBR (2011a) notes that “we cannot easily quantify how much difference the choice of
discount rate makes in aggregate, as the different accounts consolidated into the WGA use a variety of
different discount rates according to their own accounting rules”. This is particularly true for the LGPS, police
and firefighters’ pension schemes, where different discount rates are used in the accounts that are compiled
annually by local authorities, which are the sources used by WGA. ONS’s supplementary table overcomes
this problem through a methodology based on rolling forward discount rates from the triennial valuations for
these schemes and converting them onto the supplementary table basis (5 per cent nominal), rather than
using the annual accounts compiled by local authorities (see Sections 6 and 7).
Gross vs. net liabilities: The WGA presents information for net pension liabilities. These are the same as
gross pension liabilities in the case of unfunded schemes, where there are no assets. However, they are not
the same in the case of funded schemes, where the net figures represent the deficit (assets minus liabilities).
ONS’s supplementary table on pensions shows all liabilities gross, in line with Eurostat requirements.
Scope of accounts: The two approaches are similar in terms of which public sector employee schemes are
included in the accounts (see above). However, for the LGPS, police and firefighters’ pension schemes the
WGA approach excludes the obligations in respect of people who belong to public sector employee schemes
but do/did not work for the public sector. The supplementary table on pensions shows the total obligations of
all schemes. The rationale is that the pensions supplementary table aims to show the total liability that
General Government is responsible for, irrespective of who is the employer. Also, the supplementary table
shows all flows relating to pensions during the year, whereas in the WGA approach any payments and
receipts within the public sector are consolidated out of the accounts.
State pensions: The WGA information published in July 2011 did not include estimates of obligations with
respect to state pensions. ONS’s supplementary table on pensions will do so.
Accrued-to-date concept
The supplementary table on pensions is prepared on an ‘accrued-to-date’ basis, in line with similar
types of information contained in the National Accounts. The totals in Rows 1 and 10 (Columns E,
G and H) may be interpreted as the amount which the government owes in pensions for service to
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
60
LIMITE EN
date. This is similar to the amount that the government would owe if the schemes were to be
wound up at the date of the accounts except that this calculation may be based on the ABO
method, while service to date calculations use the PBO method23.
The table will include what the WGA and OBR reports published in July 2011 refer to as ‘future
liabilities from past activities’ in respect of pensions, since these are considered part of accruedtodate
pension obligations. At present, ‘future liabilities from past activities’ are not included in the
National Accounts, as liabilities are not recorded on an actuarial basis (see Section 2). When the
ESA2010 changes are implemented in the core National Accounts, ‘future liabilities from past
23 At the date of the accounts, PBO takes into account projected salary at retirement or earlier leaving, while ABO is
based on current salary only. See above, Section 3.
Office for National Statistics 13
activities’ in respect of pensions will be included for those pensions which appear in the core
accounts, i.e. for funded (public and private sector) pensions, but not for unfunded pensions
Liabilities of government-managed pension schemes are often thought of as part of a ‘wider
measure of public sector debt’ which goes beyond the Maastricht definition of debt24, although
there is some debate about whether they should be included in debt measures (see Section 1).
Rows 1 and 10 can also be understood as total household pension entitlements (or ‘wealth’) held
with the government at these dates.
However, it is important to note that liabilities calculated on an ‘accrued-to-date’ basis are not an
appropriate indicator of fiscal sustainability. This is because they only take account of the rights
accumulated to date, not those which will be accumulated in the future. Fiscal sustainability is
about current and future cash flows including future entitlements as they build up. Figure 2
illustrates the difference between the two concepts.
Figure 2: Alternative definitions of gross liabilities
Source: European Commission Public Finance Report 2006 quoted in Eurostat/ECB (2011)
Nevertheless, it makes sense to use the same data sources and assumptions – as far as possible
– for modelling fiscal sustainability25. Thus the work that ONS is doing on accrued-to-date liabilities
should form an important input into work by others, such as the OBR, on fiscal sustainability of UK
pensions.
Private sector pension liabilities
The supplementary table on pensions will provide an estimate of total private sector pension
liabilities (gross). Although individual personal (including stakeholder) pension liabilities will not be
in the supplementary table, this type of pension liability has to be estimated as part of the process
of creating the table, and ONS intends to publish it in order to complete the picture.
24 Hobbs, D. (2009), Office for National Statistics: Wider measures of public sector debt: A broader approach to the
public sector balance sheet. Available at www.statistics.gov.uk/articles/nojournal/wider-measures-public-sector-debt.pdf.
25 The procedure to extend the scope of accrued-to-date liabilities to a sustainability analysis is described in Müller et al
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
61
LIMITE EN
(2010).
Office for National Statistics 14
This will be the first time that this information is published for the UK. It will also be possible to see
a split between DB pension liabilities (including those of hybrid schemes) and pure DC pension
liabilities. ONS expects the figures to show three things in particular:
1. The large scale of private sector pension liabilities, including those of insurance companies.
2. The relative (but declining) importance of DB versus DC pension obligations.
3. The considerable variability of private sector pension liability estimates (and therefore
household pension entitlements) over time.
The UK picture is expected to be different from that of many of continental European countries.
However, it will be difficult to compare the estimates for the UK private sector with those of other
European countries.
In the case of DB schemes, this is because the private sector figures in the supplementary
table on pensions will be based on different discount rates, both within each EU country
and between countries; these may vary both in terms of absolute level and the direction of
change from year to year. For instance, the ‘technical provisions’ measure of total DB
pension liabilities in the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) universe26 as at 31 March rose
from £955 billion in 2008 to £1,110 billion in 2009 and then fell to £1,074 billion in 2010.
In the case of DC schemes, it is because liabilities are equal to the market value of assets,
which tend to be volatile – particularly when stock markets are affected by changes in the
economic cycle, as was the case during the recession of 2008-09.
This variability will also make it difficult to compare on a like-for-like basis the estimates of DB
pension liabilities for the private sector (Column B) with those of government-managed schemes
(Columns E to H), where a stable discount rate applies (see Section 4). It would be possible to
make like-for-like comparisons between Columns A and D, which contain DC schemes in the
private and public sectors respectively. However, most government-managed schemes in the UK
are DB schemes.
6. How Column G is compiled
Most of the centrally-administered unfunded pension schemes for public sector employees
(Column G) have annual accounts known as ‘resource accounts’ which disclose information on
pension entitlements/liabilities in line with International Account Standards 19 (IAS 19). The
resource accounts include most of the information required for the supplementary table, although
the calculations are on a different basis from that required by Eurostat for the supplementary table.
Our preferred methodology where resource accounts exist is to use the information in them and
make adjustments to the basis required for the supplementary table. The Government Actuary’s
Department (GAD) has advised ONS on how to do this.
There are two schemes in Column G which do not produce annual resource accounts: those for
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
62
LIMITE EN
firefighters and police officers. In these cases, our preferred option is to use a method based on
rolling forward some figures from the triennial valuations and combining them with data which is
collected annually by government departments (see below) to produce the annual estimates that
are needed for the supplementary table.
These two methods – adjusting the resource accounts and rolling forward the triennial valuations –
are discussed in more detail below. Further technical descriptions are available in a methodology
note prepared by GAD27. First, it is important to point out some general issues:
26 The PPF universe covers private sector DB pension schemes. Readers should note that the figures quoted here are
not on a supplementary table basis, in particular because the PPF universe contains some non-private sector schemes
according to the National Accounts classification system. Further work is needed to put these figures on a supplementary
table basis, and will be described in future publications.
27 GAD (2011a).
Office for National Statistics 15
The methodology uses existing sources and makes adjustments, in particular for the
difference in discount rates between the resource accounts and the supplementary table.
This provides a cost-effective solution without unacceptable compromises of accuracy (the
parameter used for this purpose has been assessed, as described below). However, the
results are not as accurate as performing a full actuarial valuation.
The resource accounts of some schemes do not show separately the impact of changes in
demographic assumptions (Row 9 of the supplementary table), but instead include them
with changes in financial assumptions (Row 8). ONS hopes to obtain further breakdowns
for the civil service pension scheme, which is the only large scheme that does not show
separately the impact of changes in demographic assumptions in its resource accounts, in
order to improve the results for Rows 8 and 9 and other estimates depending on them 28.
The method based on the resource accounts assumes that the main adjustment in financial
assumptions in the resource accounts from year to year is of the real discount rate, not real
wage growth (the other key financial assumption). It also assumes that the proportionate
impact of any changes in demographic assumptions is the same when the supplementary
table discount rate is used as when the resource account discount rate is used. If there are
major changes in real wage growth or demographic assumptions, GAD has recommended
that actuaries be consulted about the implications.
The method based on rolling forward from the triennial valuations – the ‘roll forward
method’ – is not capable of producing results automatically for Rows 7, 8 and 9 of the
supplementary table between triennial valuations. However, figures can be estimated on a
case by case basis where annual changes are known about, and then revised when
information on these changes is disclosed in the next triennial valuation.
All data sources used here are on a financial year basis (1 April to 31 March), so results
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
63
LIMITE EN
have to be adjusted to calendar year for the supplementary table. This is a rough
adjustment based on proportions.
The resource accounts method
The resource accounts are compiled every year for pension schemes of civil servants, teachers,
National Health Service employees, members of the Armed Forces, the judiciary, members of the
security services (MI5 and MI6), UK Atomic Energy Authority employees, DFID overseas
employees and those working for the Research Councils. They conform to the requirements of
IAS 19, including (from 2010/11) the use of a variable nominal discount rate based on AA
corporate bond rates (see Section 3). Although the discount rates vary from one financial year to
the next, the same discount rate is used for all the resource accounts of these schemes in a
particular financial year. This is set by HM Treasury each year and announced in a Public
Expenditure System (PES) note.
The resource accounts contain some information which can be used directly in the supplementary
table, and some information which can be used after adjustment. Table 2 shows how the
supplementary table rows are calculated using the data from the resource accounts and any
adjustments, which are detailed in Appendix 1 (Table A). Table 2 also shows an example: the
results for the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) England and Wales.
28 Rows 8 and 9 feed into the estimates for Row 2.2, which is calculated as a balancing item from other rows; and for
Rows 1 and 10 (because of the adjustment calculated using the duration parameter, which depends on Int3, see below).
Office for National Statistics 16
Table 2: Calculation of supplementary table Column G using resource accounts, on a
2009/10 financial year basis
Row Item Calculation/source Adjustment
applied
TPS England &
Wales (£ million)
Opening balance sheet
Transactions
2 Social contributions Sum of Rows 2.1 to 2.4 14,582
2.1 Employer actual social
contributions
Employer contributions 2009/10 from resource
accounts
3,220
2.3 Household actual social
contributions
Employee contributions 2009/10 from resource
accounts
1,507
2.4 Household social
contribution
supplements
Row 1 × 5% (nominal discount rate for
supplementary table)
9,867
3 Other (actuarial)
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
64
LIMITE EN
accumulation of pension
entitlements in social
security pension funds
Not applicable 0
4 Pension benefits Benefits payable 2009/10 from resource
accounts
6,830
5 Changes in pension
entitlements due to social
contributions and pension
benefits
Row 2 + Row 3 – Row 4 7,752
6 Transfers of entitlements
between schemes (net)
Transfers in 2009/10 – Payments to and on
account of leavers 2009/10 from resource
accounts
-81
7 Changes in pension
entitlements due to other
transactions (eg arising
from negotiated changes
in scheme structure)
Past service cost 2009/10 from resource
accounts (adjusted by Adj1 shown in next
column)
Adj1 (adjustment of
entitlements from
the discount rate
used in the
resource accounts
at 31 March 2009
to the stable
discount rate)
22
Other economic flows
8 Revaluations Estimated on a case by case basis where
necessary, otherwise nil
0
9 Other changes in volume Changes in demographic assumptions 2009/10
from resource accounts ÷ Pension entitlements
at 31 March 2010 from resource accounts ×
Row 10
1,941
Closing balance sheet
10 Pension entitlements at
31 March 2010
Pension entitlements at 31 March 2010 from
resource accounts (adjusted by Adj2 shown in
next column)
Adj2 (adjustment of
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
65
LIMITE EN
entitlements from
the discount rate
used in the
resource accounts
at 31 March 2010
to the stable
discount rate)
206,965
1 Pension entitlements at
31 March 2009
2.2 Employer imputed social
contributions
Balancing item: Row 10 – Row 1 – (Σ Rows 2.1,
2.3, 2.4, 6, 7, 8, 9) + Row 4
197,331
-12
Closing balance of previous year's
supplementary table
Office for National Statistics 17
The roll forward method
For the two schemes in Column G which do not produce annual resource accounts, as well as for
the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) (Column E), our best option at present is to use a
method based on ‘rolling forward’ figures from triennial scheme valuations to produce annual
estimates. This method uses a combination of:
information from the most recent scheme valuation (total liabilities, Standard Contribution
Rate29 and key financial assumptions i.e. nominal discount rates and/or real discount rates
and/or pension increase assumption30); and
information collected annually by the relevant government department31 (employer and
employee contributions, benefits payable and transfers).
This method works in a similar way to the resource accounts method except for Row 2.2 of the
supplementary table, which is not calculated as a balancing item; and Rows 7-9, which cannot be
updated between triennial valuations except on a case by case basis (if information becomes
available indicating that a change has occurred). Table 3 shows how the supplementary table rows
are calculated using the roll forward method and any adjustments. The adjustments are detailed in
Appendix 1 (Table B)32.
An alternative to the roll forward method for the police and firefighters’ schemes and the LGPS
would be to use information from the statutory accounts compiled each year by the employers
(local authorities). This is the approach adopted by the WGA. The accounts that are compiled by
local authority employers use different discount rates (see Box 4). This does not conflict with the
objectives of the WGA, but it would cause problems for ONS’s work on the supplementary table on
pensions as it would be necessary to convert each set of accounts onto a stable discount rate
basis in line with the Eurostat requirements. This would be time consuming and it would also be
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
66
LIMITE EN
difficult to ensure the reliability of the resulting estimates, because it would be necessary to convert
to a stable discount rate basis from many different discount rates. This is not the case with the
resource accounts, which all use the same discount rate in a given financial year.
29 The Standard Contribution Rate is the total contribution rate (employer plus employee contributions) necessary to
cover the cost of benefits which are being accrued by current employees, expressed as a percentage of pensionable
pay. It is disclosed in actuarial valuations (GAD, 2011a).
30 It is only necessary to have two of the three key financial assumptions, as the third can be calculated from them.
31 Communities and Local Government for firefighters and the LGPS and the Home Office for the police.
32 Further information is available in GAD (2011a).
Office for National Statistics 18
Table 3: Calculation of supplementary table Column G using roll forward method, on a
2009/10 financial year basis
Row Item Calculation/source Adjustment applied
Opening balance sheet
1 Pension entitlements at
31 March 2009
Closing balance of previous year's supplementary
table OR total liabilities at 31 March 2009 from
scheme valuation (adjusted for discount rate) if
scheme valuation at this date exists
Adj3 (adjustment of
entitlements from the discount
rate used in the scheme
valuation at 31 March 2009 to
the stable discount rate)
Transactions
2 Social contributions Sum of Rows 2.1 to 2.4
2.1 Employer actual social
contributions
Employer contributions 2009/10 from annual data
collected by relevant department
2.2 Employer imputed social
contributions
Balance, after deducting Rows 2.1 and 2.3, of
pensionable pay times the adjusted Standard
Contribution Rate. Pensionable pay is estimated as
employer contributions 2009/10 ÷ employer
contribution rate
Adj 4 (adjustment to Standard
Contribution Rate during
2009/10 based on the
difference between the discount
rate used in the latest scheme
valuation and the stable
discount rate)
2.3 Household actual social
contributions
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
67
LIMITE EN
Employee contributions 2009/10 from annual data
collected by relevant department
2.4 Household social
contribution
supplements
Row 1 × 5% (nominal discount rate for supplementary
table)
3 Other (actuarial)
accumulation of pension
entitlements in social
security pension funds
Not applicable
4 Pension benefits Benefits payable 2009/10 from annual data collected
by relevant department
5 Changes in pension
entitlements due to social
contributions and pension
benefits
Row 2 + Row 3 – Row 4
6 Transfers of entitlements
between schemes (net)
Transfers in 2009/10 – Payments to and on account of
leavers 2009/10 from annual data collected by
relevant department
7 Changes in pension
entitlements due to other
transactions (eg arising
from negotiated changes
in scheme structure)
Estimated on a case by case basis where necessary,
otherwise nil
Other economic flows
8 Revaluations Estimated on a case by case basis where necessary,
otherwise nil
9 Other changes in volume Estimated on a case by case basis where necessary,
otherwise nil
Closing balance sheet
10 Pension entitlements at
31 March 2010
Row 1 plus sum of Rows 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9
Office for National Statistics 19
The duration parameters
Two parameters have been developed by GAD in order to make the adjustments of the information
from the scheme valuations and resource accounts onto a supplementary table basis:
the ‘duration applicable to liabilities’ (Int4 in the resource account method and Data22 in the
roll forward method, see Appendix 1); and
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
68
LIMITE EN
the ‘duration applicable to Standard Contribution Rate’ (SCR) (Data23, see Appendix 1).
The ‘duration’ measures the effect on the liabilities and the SCR of changes in the discount rate; it
is related to the average time until the pension benefits will be paid.
The duration applicable to liabilities (D) is calculated as:
D = – ln [ Int3 / Data10 ]
ln [ (1 + Int1) / (1 + Int2) ]
where:
ln natural logarithm
Data10 total liabilities at end of year
Int1 real discount rate for the start of year
Int2 real discount rate for the end of year
Int3 liabilities at end of year using previous year’s financial assumptions (Data 10
minus change in financial assumptions)
The duration applicable to the SCR is calculated using the same formula, but Int3 is replaced by
the SCR at the end of the year using the previous year’s financial assumptions and Data10 is
replaced by the SCR at the end of the year.
Further information on the practical challenges of estimating these durations is provided in GAD
(2011b). The GAD note also points out that adjustments using such duration parameters are only
an approximate method, although they are more accurate than simple linear extrapolations. GAD
recommends testing the results by using a range of durations and assessing their impact on the
relevant figures.
Employer imputed social contributions
When compiling the supplementary table on pensions from the resource accounts, employer
imputed social contributions (Row 2.2) are calculated as a balancing item: pension entitlements at
the end of the year minus the pension entitlements at the start year and all flows during the year
(see Table 2). This row is very sensitive to the estimation of pension entitlements. As Row 2.2 is a
component of Rows 2 and 5, these rows are also sensitive to the estimation of the pension
entitlements at the beginning and end of each year.
GAD (2011a) notes that calculating the duration applicable to the liabilities using the information
drawn from the same resource accounts as the data on the level of the entitlements in the start
year and end year helps to provide consistency and reduce the volatility of Row 2.2.
Row 2.2 is perhaps one of the most difficult to interpret in the supplementary table. What is meant
by ‘employer imputed social contributions’? ESA2010 Chapter 17 notes that:
“Any changes in entitlements over the year not included in other rows of the table are
captured in row 2.2. This row covers also any ‘experience effects’ where the observed
Office for National Statistics 20
outcome of pension modelling assumptions (real wage growth rate, discount rate) differs
from the levels assumed”.
In the resource accounts of the unfunded public sector pension schemes, these ‘experience
effects’ are referred to as ‘experience gains and losses’. Experience gains and losses reflect
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
69
LIMITE EN
differences between the assumed rate of inflation and actual inflation during the year, differences
between assumed wage growth and actual increases during the year, and other factors such as
where actual survival rates are lower or higher than the assumed rates.
Row 2.2 also contains the difference between, on the one hand, what the resource accounts refer
to as ‘current service cost’, which is the increase in liabilities resulting from employee service
during the year, and, on the other hand actual cash contributions received during the year. The
figures for current service cost reflect the discount rate used for the supplementary table, while
actual cash contributions received are based on the calculations made for the scheme valuations;
if there is a difference between the two (i.e. if the discount rate used for the supplementary table on
pensions and the SCAPE rate are different), this will be reflected in Row 2.233. Also, actual cash
contributions received may be adjusted upwards or downwards to reflect past events (via the
contribution rate set by the latest scheme valuation).
One interpretation of Row 2.2 is that a large positive amount means that contributions received
during the year are not enough to meet the change in the scheme’s liabilities. It would appear
logical to conclude that actual contributions – which may have been set several years previously in
the last triennial valuation – need to be increased and/or that some of the assumptions need to be
changed to make them more realistic. However, GAD’s advice is that care should be taken before
reaching this conclusion because experience effects are volatile: they may be positive one year but
negative the next. An established pattern of experience effects over several years, however, would
indicate that the assumptions should be reviewed34.
7. Sensitivity analysis for Column G
The figures for the entitlements of public sector employees in unfunded schemes that are
published in the schemes’ resource accounts show big year-on-year variations. Table 4 shows, for
the largest four schemes – those for civil servants, teachers, National Health Service employees
and members of the Armed Forces – how estimates of entitlements (the obligations or liabilities of
schemes) have varied in recent years. The explanations provided in the resource accounts is that
these changes are mainly due to changes in the discount rate, which varies from year to year
because it is based on AA corporate bond rates (see Box 3). From time to time changes in other
financial assumptions also affect estimates of obligations, as do changes in demographic
assumptions.
33 If the discount rate used for the supplementary table is lower than the SCAPE rate, the measured value in the
supplementary table of the increase in liabilities resulting from employee service during the year will be greater than the
contributions actually paid, and this will produce a positive contribution to Row 2.2, particularly for schemes with a large
proportion of active members relative to pensioner members (‘young schemes’).
34 Also, if the discount rate used for the supplementary table and the SCAPE rate are different, amounts shown in Row
2.2 will reflect differences between the discount rate used for the supplementary table and the SCAPE rate.
Office for National Statistics 21
Table 4: Liabilities of largest four unfunded public service pension schemes
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
70
LIMITE EN
United Kingdom £ billion
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
National Health Service 189 249 242 227 329
Teachers 164 208 204 194 258
Civil Service (Great Britain) 101 129 119 116 153
Armed Forces 76 101 97 91 121
Total (four largest schemes) 530 687 663 628 861
% compared with previous year 130% 96% 95% 137%
Real discount rate used (%) 2.8 1.8 2.5 3.2 1.8
Source: Schemes’ annual resource accounts as at 31 March
In the case of Column G of the supplementary table on pensions, variability in estimates of scheme
liabilities due to changes in the discount rate are eliminated by the use of a stable discount rate
(5 per cent in nominal terms), but other assumptions may change. Table 5 shows the central
assumptions used when compiling accounts for Column G schemes on a supplementary table
basis. An important aspect of the work on the supplementary table is to test how sensitive are the
estimates of liabilities to changes in these assumptions. A methodology for doing this has been
developed by GAD.
Table 5: Central assumptions used to compile accounts on supplementary table basis for
Column G schemes
Discount rate (nominal) 5%
Inflation 2%
Assumed future rate of increases in
pensions (nominal)
In line with pension increase policy, i.e.:
- Before change from RPI to CPI*: 2.75%
- Following change: 2%
Wage growth (nominal) Stable 4.25% (equivalent to 2.25% in excess of
long-term inflation assumption of 2%)
Current mortality rates Based on recent experience of pensioners in
public service pension schemes – longer life
expectancy than general population
Future improvements in mortality rates Based on future improvements in mortality rates
assumed in ONS national population projections –
currently 2008-based principal projections
* The change from the Retail Prices Index (RPI) to the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) for indexation of public sector
employee and state pensions was announced in the June 2010 budget. The resource accounts will recognise the change
as at June 2010, so it will appear in the resource accounts for 2010/11. For the sensitivity analysis in this section we
have used the ‘before change’ (RPI) assumption of 2.75% as the central assumption for pension indexation.
The rest of this section discusses what happens to the estimate of pension liabilities when the
assumptions change. Each assumption in turn is varied, while holding the other assumptions
constant. Further information on the methodology used to calculate these ‘sensitivities’ is available
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
71
LIMITE EN
in GAD (2011c). The sensitivities are shown in Tables 6 and 7.
In order to calculate the sensitivities, GAD started by producing a central estimate of pension
entitlements for the four largest schemes (civil servants, teachers, NHS, and Armed Forces) as at
31 March 200835 on a supplementary table basis. This central estimate – £636 billion – was based
35 The March 2008 date was chosen because in order to calculate a central estimate of liabilities on the basis of the
assumptions used in the supplementary table for the purposes of sensitivity analysis, GAD wished to apply the same
‘duration applicable to liabilities’ figure to active members, deferred members and pensioner members. This method
could not be relied upon to produce robust results when Data15 (the difference between nominal discount rate for
Office for National Statistics 22
on the assumptions in Table 5. The absolute increases and decreases shown in Tables 6 and 7 (in
£ billion) relate to this central estimate. However, the percentage changes on either side of the
central estimate could be applied to more recent estimates (GAD 2011c, paragraph 9).
Table 6: Sensitivity analysis for financial assumptions
Nominal discount rate (%) 4.00 4.25 4.50 4.75 5.00 5.25 5.50 5.75 6.00
Change in pension entitlements (£ billion) 105 77 50 25 0 -24 -46 -68 -89
Change in pension entitlements (%) 16 12 8 4 0 -4 -7 -11 -14
Nominal wage increases (%) 3.00 3.25 3.50 3.75 4.00 4.25 4.50 4.75 5.00 5.25
Change in pension entitlements (£ billion) -35 -28 -21 -14 -7 0 7 15 23 31
Change in pension entitlements (%) -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 4 5
Rate of pension indexation (%) 1.50 1.75 2.00 2.25 2.50 2.75 3.00 3.25 3.50 3.75
Change in pension entitlements (£ billion) -80 -65 -49 -33 -17 0 17 35 54 73
Change in pension entitlements (%) -13 -10 -8 -5 -3 0 3 6 8 11
Source: Government Actuary’s Department
Table 6 shows that the estimate of pension liabilities/entitlements is most sensitive to changes in
the discount rate (which is also the most variable financial assumption). A one per cent fall in the
discount rate increases liabilities by 16 per cent, while a one per cent increase in the discount rate
reduces liabilities by 14 per cent. GAD (2011c, paragraph 14) explains why the effect of a change
in the discount rate is not symmetric.
Changes in the rate of pensions indexation also have a large impact on estimates of pension
liabilities/entitlements. The supplementary table on pensions for 2010 will show the impact of the
change from the RPI to the CPI for indexation of public sector employee and state pensions
announced in the June 2010 budget. Changes in the rate of pensions indexation have a greater
impact than changes in nominal wage increases for Column G schemes because changes in the
rate of pensions indexation affect pensioners, deferred pensions and active members (when they
retire) while changes in nominal wage growth only affect the value of pension entitlements of active
members (GAD 2011c).
Table 7: Sensitivity analysis for demographic assumptions
Scenario Lower life
expectancy
Higher life
expectancy
Lower life
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
72
LIMITE EN
expectancy
Higher life
expectancy
Change in assumed life expectancy at age 60 for
current pensioners - 1.0 years + 1.0 years - 1.2 years + 1.4 years
Change in assumed life expectancy at age 60 for
current employees - 1.0 years + 1.0 years - 2.8 years + 3.5 years
Change in pension entitlements3 (£ billion) - 14 + 14 - 27 + 30
Change in pension entitlements3 (%) - 2.2 + 2.2 - 4.2 + 4.8
Changes in the assumption for
current mortality rates1
Changes in the assumptions for
future improvements in mortality
rates2
1 With no change to the assumed future improvements in mortality rates (future improvements in mortality rates are
based on the principal life expectancy scenario of the ONS 2008-based National Population Projections).
2 With no change to the assumed current mortality rates. Lower and higher life expectancy refers to the 'low' and 'high'
life expectancy scenarios of the ONS 2008-based National Population Projections.
3 Combined effect for current pensioners and current employees.
Source: Government Actuary’s Department
supplementary table and assumed rate of increase in pensions) was very different from the real discount rate. The most
recent set of accounts for which the two figures were close was that dated 31 March 2008.
Office for National Statistics 23
Table 7 shows that the estimate of pension liabilities/entitlements is also sensitive to changes in
demographic assumptions, particularly those involving changes in the assumptions about future
mortality rates. The analysis presented here is based on the 'low' and 'high' life expectancy
scenarios of the ONS 2008-based National Population Projections. ONS publishes new National
Population Projections every two years, leading to a revised set of demographic assumptions for
the resource accounts for unfunded public service pension schemes.
8. Conclusion and forward planning
The work being carried out by ONS to meet the requirements of ESA2010 for a supplementary
table on pensions in the UK National Accounts has begun to produce results. Total pension
scheme liabilities (gross) are being calculated for the first time for both funded and unfunded
pensions. The table also documents flows during the year, showing how changes in total liabilities
reflect amounts contributed, benefits paid out, transfers between schemes and any changes in
financial or demographic assumptions.
Although the supplementary table on pensions provides a complete picture of pension provision in
the UK in terms of National Accounts definitions, it excludes individual personal pensions.
However, this information will also be published by ONS. Thus, ONS will be able to provide a
complete estimate of household pension entitlements in the UK (equivalent to the gross liabilities of
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
73
LIMITE EN
pension providers), both on a National Accounts basis and according to broader definitions. These
entitlements will include rights to state pensions as well as pensions provided through employment.
The work to compile the supplementary table on pensions is complex. Some of the challenges
have been described in this article, which documents the process of compiling figures for unfunded
pensions for public sector employees and of testing how sensitive the results are to changes in
financial and demographic assumptions.
ONS plans to publish another article in the autumn describing the process of compiling figures for
state pensions, which is being undertaken by the Department for Work and Pensions. As in the
case of unfunded pensions for government employees, the work on state pensions includes
sensitivity analysis to test how the results change when the underlying assumptions change, and
this will be documented in the article.
Shortly the first experimental estimates for the supplementary table on pensions (for the year 2010)
are produced, in December 2011, ONS will publish a third article presenting the estimates and
describing how the figures in the rest of the table (the columns covering funded pensions) have
been compiled. ONS expects to publish this article in early 2012 (see Table 8).
Table 8: Publication timetable for articles on the development of the National Accounts
supplementary table on pensions
Title of article Publication date
Pensions in the National Accounts: Compiling a complete picture of UK
pensions including unfunded pensions for public sector employees
3 Aug 2011
Compiling estimates of state pension obligations for the National
Accounts (provisional title)
25 Nov 2011
The National Accounts supplementary table on pensions: experimental
estimates for 2010 (provisional title)
Jan/Feb 2012
Office for National Statistics 24
Sources and further reading
European Commission (2009): 2009 Ageing Report – Economic and budgetary projections for the
EU-27 Member States (2008-2060), available at:
http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications/publication14992_en.pdf
Eurostat/European Central Bank (2011): Technical compilation guide on pensions data in National
Accounts, second draft for the Eurostat/ECB Contact Group on the statistical measurement of the
assets and liabilities of pension schemes in general government. Copies available on request.
Government Actuary’s Department (2011a): ‘Public service pension schemes – population of the
supplementary table’, a methodology note dated 14 March 2011. Copies available on request.
Government Actuary’s Department (2011b): ‘Public service pension schemes – Duration applicable
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
74
LIMITE EN
to the liabilities and the Standard Contribution Rate’, 14 March 2011. Copies available on request.
Government Actuary’s Department (2011c): ‘Public service pension schemes – Sensitivity of
measured value of pension entitlements to assumptions’, 14 March 2011. Copies available on
request.
HM Treasury (2003): The Green Book: Appraisal and Evaluation in Central Government. Available
at: www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/data_greenbook_index.htm
HM Treasury (2009): Long-term public finance report – an analysis of fiscal sustainability,
December 2009. Available at http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.hmtreasury.
gov.uk/prebud_pbr09_longtermfinances.htm
HM Treasury (2010): Consultation on the discount rate used to set unfunded public service
pension contributions, December 2010, available at: www.hmtreasury.
gov.uk/consult_unfunded_pensions.htm
HM Treasury (2011a): Whole of Government Accounts: Unaudited Summary Report for the year
ended 31 March 2010, published July 2011. Available at www.hmtreasury.
gov.uk/psr_government_accounts.htm
HM Treasury (2011b): Government Financial Reporting Manual. Available at www.hmtreasury.
gov.uk/frem_index.htm).
Hobbs, D. (2009), Office for National Statistics: Wider measures of public sector debt: A broader
approach to the public sector balance sheet. Available at
www.statistics.gov.uk/articles/nojournal/wider-measures-public-sector-debt.pdf
Independent Public Service Pensions Commission (IPSPC) (2010) Interim report, 7 October 2010.
Available from: www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/indreview_johnhutton_pensions.htm
Independent Public Service Pensions Commission (IPSPC) (2011) Final report, 10 March 2011.
Available from: www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/indreview_johnhutton_pensions.htm
Office for Budget Responsibility (2011a): Fiscal sustainability report, July 2011. Available at
http://budgetresponsibility.independent.gov.uk
Office for Budget Responsibility (2011b): Economic and fiscal outlook, March 2011. Available at
http://budgetresponsibility.independent.gov.uk/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-march-2011/
Office for National Statistics 25
Office for National Statistics Occupational Pension Schemes Annual Report 2009, available at:
www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=1721
Office for National Statistics Pension Trends, available at www.statistics.gov.uk/pensiontrends
Müller, C., Raffelhüschen B. and O. Weddige: ‘Using pension data for policy making - the case of
the German pension reforms’, ECB/Eurostat E-Book of the April 2009 workshop on pensions.
Available at: www.ecb.int/pub/pdf/other/ecbeurostatworkshoponpensions201002en.pdf
Pension Protection Fund/The Pensions Regulator (2010): Purple Book – DB pensions universe risk
profile 2010, available at: www.pensionprotectionfund.org.uk/Pages/ThePurpleBook.aspx
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
75
LIMITE EN
Pensions Commission (2004) Pensions: Challenges and Choices, The First Report of the Pensions
Commission. The Stationery Office: London.
Pensions Commission (2005) A New Pension Settlement for the Twenty-First Century, The
Second Report of the Pensions Commission. The Stationery Office: London.
Rahman, S (2007): ‘The treatment of pensions in the National Accounts’, Economic & Labour
Market Review Vol. 1 No. 10 October 2007. Available at
www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/article.asp?ID=1877&Pos=1&ColRank=1&Rank=1
System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA2008), published jointly by the European Commission, the
International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the
United Nations and the World Bank. New York, 2009.
Office for National Statistics 26
Appendix 1: Adjustments to supplementary table basis
Table A: Adjustments from resource accounts to supplementary table basis used in Table 2
Adjustment Formula Label
For liabilities at 31 March 2009 due
to discount rate
[(1 + Int1) / (1 + Data15a)]Int4 Adj1
For liabilities at 31 March 2010 due
to discount rate
[(1 + Int2) / (1 + Data15b)]Int4 Adj2
where:
Int1 Real discount rate for resource accounts at 31 March 2009
Int2 Real discount rate for resource accounts at 31 March 2010
Data15a Difference between nominal discount rate for supplementary table and assumed rate
of increase in pensions as at 31 Mar 2009
Data15b Difference between nominal discount rate for supplementary table and assumed rate
of increase in pensions as at 31 Mar 2010
Int3 Liabilities as at 31 March 2010 using previous year's financial assumptions
Data 10 Liabilities as at 31 March 2010 from resource accounts
Int4 Duration applicable to liabilities, calculated as:
– ln [ Int3 / Data10 ]
ln [ (1 + Int1) / (1 + Int2) ] and ln stands for natural logarithm
Table B: Adjustments from scheme valuation to supplementary table basis used in Table 3
Adjustment Formula Label
For liabilities at 31 March 2009 due to
discount rate
[(1 + Int5) / (1 + Data15)]Data22 Adj3
For Standard Contribution Rate during
2009/10 due to discount rate
[(1 + Int5) / (1 + Data15)]Data23 Adj4
where:
Int5 Real discount rate used in latest scheme valuation
Data15 Difference between nominal discount rate for supplementary table and assumed
rate of increase in pensions
Data22 Duration applicable to liabilities calculated for the latest scheme valuation (see
below)
Data 23 Duration for the Standard Contribution Rate calculated for the latest scheme
valuation (see below)
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
76
LIMITE EN
RESTRICTED - CONFIDENTIAL - NOT FOR CIRCULATION
Eurostat/ECB Questionnaire on Pension Schemes
Please return by 31st December 2011
Country:
Name of contact:
sarah.levy@ons.gsi.gov.uk
United Kingdom
Sarah Levy
Question 1
Please complete the attached Pensions Supplementary Table, for the latest year(s),
in millions of national currency, for years 2009 and 2010.
The table has been completed in £ million for 2010. This is the first year that the UK has compiled the table.
Question 2
Have there been any major changes in the pension entitlements in your country since the last questionnaire?
(e.g.: changes due to pensions reforms, revised modelling assumptions, new data
sources,…)
Not applicable, as we have not compiled the table before. However, it should be noted that there were two
official announcements in June 2010 : (1) the change in the inflation index to be used for uprating the
additional state pension in payment (Column H), and public sector employee pensions in payment (Columns E
and G) from the RPI to the CPI; this is recorded in Row 7 of these columns. (2) the change in the method for
uprating the basic state pension in payment (Column H) to the 'triple lock' approach - see attached
methodology article published on 2 December 2011; this is recorded in Row 7 of this column.
Question 3
Which data sources have you used to compile the new Supplementary Table?
The main distinctions are between Columns A-C, which use survey and administrative data, versus Columns E
and G, which use data obtained directly from pension scheme valuations and accounts, versus Column H,
which is based on a national model produced by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). See attached
Word document for further details.
Question 4
Which gaps in the Supplementary Table remain and how do you intend to improve the data availability?
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
77
LIMITE EN
COLUMNS A-C : We have not yet incorporated data on the pension liabilities of the Pension Protection Fund
and the Financial Assistance Scheme. Also, in cases of variables for which we do not have information about
DB/DC splits we are estimating using ratios based on the DB/DC splits for other variables. ONS has now made
changes to its MQ5 surveys to improve the estimation of DB/DC splits for future supplementary tables.
COLUMN E: Although we have data for the largest scheme in this column - the Local Government Pension
Scheme (LGPS) England and Wales - and for some of the other schemes, there are still a number of data gaps,
including for the LGPS (Scotland), which has never published a scheme valuation. Therefore this column is
heavily reliant on estimates at present. COLUMN G: There are no data sources for the schemes for police
officers and firefighters (about 15% of the total), so these have had to be estimated. We expect data for the
police and fire schemes to become available in 2012 or 2013.
Question 5
What is the timeliness of the available data sources? Are they sources which will be available annually?
For Columns A to C and H, the data sources are available annually and in a timely manner. For columns E and
G (which rely on data from the pension schemes themselves): where sources are available, most of them are
available annually. However, many are not published in time for us to produce estimates at T+12 months. We
have obtained unpublished, near-final figures for some schemes in Columns E and G; these may be revised
when the final figures are published. There are some exceptions - in particular those schemes for public
sector employees which do not publish annual resource accounts (see attached article published on 3 August
2011); in these cases, we have to use the latest scheme valuation, and this means that the estimates for Rows
7 and 9 may be incomplete in some years (until the next scheme valuation is published, allowing us to revise
these rows for the intervening years).
Question 6
Are the underlying modelling assumptions to compile pension entitlements compatible with national models?
The only national model that exists is for state pensions (Column H). We have used the existing model (owned
by the DWP) and made some adaptations in order to meet Eurostat's requirements for the Supplementary
Table (see attached article published 2 December 2011), so the two models are compatible, but some of the
assumptions are different.
Question 7
Could you please specify the modelling assumptions, e.g. a) discount rate; b) wage rate plus ABO/PBO
wage growth rate method (cohorts, grouping of data, etc.); c) population projections; and d) any other specification
Finally, any information on sensitivity analysis used would be useful.
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
78
LIMITE EN
DISCOUNT RATE: Columns E, G and H use a 5% stable nominal discount rate. Column B uses a market-based
nominal discount rate based on a risk-free rate in the form of 15-year fixed interest Gilt yields (4.4% in
December 2009, 4.0% in December 2010). ABO/PBO: All DB entitlements that are estimated using data from
employee schemes (Columns B, E and G) incorporate the PBO approach because this is the standard
approach used by scheme actuaries in the UK. A similar approach is used for Column H where appropriate
(see attached methodology article published 2 December 2011). POPULATION PROJECTIONS: Data used by
scheme actuaries (for DB employee schemes in Columns B, E and G) is likely to be based on ONS population
projections, but this cannot be verified. Column H uses ONS population projections (2008-based projections).
SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS: See attached article published 3 August 2011 and extract from 2012 article
(UNPUBLISHED).
Question 8
Following your work, do you have any comments/questions on the Supplementary Table
1) We have not yet been able to compile data for Row 11 (output). We hope to be able to do so in future, but we
are struggling to find sources that would allow us to estimate it. Do you have any suggestions? Can it be
modelled? 2) We understand that the service charge should NOT be included in Row 2, following the deletion
of Row 2.5 from the supplementary table in the latest drafts of ESA2010 Chapter 17. Please could you confirm
this?
Question 9
Do you have any other comments on the exercise?
No.
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
79
LIMITE EN
RESTRICTED - CONFIDENTIAL SUPPLEMENTARY TABLE ON
UNPUBLISHED - NOT FOR
PENSIONS
CIRCULATION
UNITED
KINGDOM
Please complete the table in millions of national
currency for the latest available year(s)
Please enter a number, M (not applicable) or L
(not available) in each cell of the table
Please introduce footnotes below the table to
provide helpful comments on your completion of
the table.
Year
201
0
Recordin
g
Pension
manager
Relations
Cod
e
Ro
w
No.
Code
Column
number
Standard national accounts
Non-general
government
Defin
ed
benefi
Defin
t
ed
contri sche
mes
and
butio
1
other
n
)
nonsche
define
mes
d
contri
butio
n
sche
Tota
mes
l
Sch
em
es
Cou
nter
part
s:
Pen
sion
entit
lem
ents
of
resi
dent
hou
sehold
s 4)
Cou
nterparts
:
Pens
ion
entit
leme
nts
of
nonresid
ent
hous
ehol
ds 4)
XP
131
4
XP
TO
T
XP
TO
TR
H
XPT
OT
NR
H
H
I
J
K
Not in the
standard
accounts
General government
Defined benefit
schemes for general
government
employees2)
Defi
ned
cont
ributi
on
sche
mes
XPC
1W
XPB1
W
XPC
B1
W
A
B
C
XP
CG
Class
ified
in
finan
cial
corpo
ration
s
XPB
G12
Clas
sifie
d in
gene
ral
gove
rnme
nt 3)
XPB
G13
D
E
F
Opening balance sheet
9086/12
Clas
sifie
d in
gene
ral
gov
ern
men
t
XP
BO
UT1
3
G
Soc
ial
sec
urit
y
pen
sio
n
sch
em
es
MLG/am
DG G I
Tot
al
Pen
sio
n
80
LIMITE EN
XA
F63
LS
Σ 2.1 to
2.4 –
2.5
XD
61p
XD
611
1
2
2.1
XD
612
1
2.2
XD
613
1
2.3
XD
614
1
XD
619
XD
62p
2+3-4
1
XD
8
2.4
3
4
5
Pension
entitlemen
ts (incl
contingent
pension
entitlemen
ts)
Increase
in pension
entitlemen
ts due to
social
contributi
ons
Employer
actual
social
contributi
ons
Employer
imputed
social
contributi
ons
Househol
d actual
social
contributi
ons
Househol
d social
contributi
on
suppleme
nts5)
Other
(actuarial)
change of
pension
entitlemen
ts in
social
security
pension
schemes
Reduction
in pension
entitlemen
ts due to
payment
of pension
benefits
Changes
in pension
entitlemen
ts due to
social
contributi
ons and
338,5
40
1,60
3,4 6,3
1,263, 1,89
331,6
915, 97, 45,
351
2
M
10
M
053 369 923
Changes in pension entitlements due to transactions
33,38
5
73,29
9
106,
684
15,85
7
29,87
2
45,7
28
14,31
3
14,3
13
6,206
2,153
8,35
8
11,32
3
55,58
7
66,9
10
27,04
9
34,32
8
61,3
77
6,336
38,97
1
45,3
07
9086/12
L
M
62,5
14
270
,00
0
464
,34
8
L
L
M
17,2
80
56,
089
128
,87
8
L
L
3,733
M
6,67
9
24,
725
L
L
M
2,525
M
6,16
0
41,
076
58,
119
L
L
M
16,57
7
M
45,7
53
172
,83
5
302
,07
5
L
L
112
,38
7
112
,38
7
L
L
M
28,3
05
69,
353
171
,61
0
L
L
M
34,2
09
313
,03
4
405
,12
4
L
L
M
M
25,14
9
9,780
M
12,57
4
M
12,57
5
MLG/am
DG G I
L
81
LIMITE EN
pension
benefits
XD
81
XD
82
XK
7
XK
5
XA
F63
LE
1+ Σ 5
to 9
XP1
6
7
Transfers
of pension
entitlemen
ts between
schemes
Change in
entitlemen
ts due to
negotiated
changes in
scheme
structure
9
Changes
in
entitlemen
ts due to
revaluatio
ns6)
Changes
in
entitlemen
ts due to
other
changes in
volume 6)
10
Pension
entitlemen
ts (incl.
contingent
pension
entitlemen
ts
8
11
Output
279
M
40,55
0
548
L
M
28
M
140
0
437
31,57
95,1 32, 93,
0
0
M
0
M
15
954 731
Changes in pension entitlements due to other flows
37,90
1
M
385,7
04
269
78,4
50
0
1,339,
675
L
0
M
M
313,0
19
M
Related indicator
M
L
M
L
L
L
0
78,
450
L
L
1,92
4
0
1,4
90
L
L
852,
083
3,8
43,
357
6,7
33,
839
L
L
L
L
L
M
M
433
M
Closing balance sheet
1,72
5,38
0
L
0
L
0
1) Such other non-defined contribution schemes, often described as hybrid schemes,
have both a defined benefit and a defined contribution element.
2) Schemes organised by general government
predominantly for its current and former employees.
3) These are non-autonomous defined benefit schemes whose pension
entitlements are recorded in the standard accounts.
4) Counterpart data for resident and non-resident households will only be shown
separately when pension relationships with the rest of the world are significant.
5) These supplements represent the return on members' claims on pension schemes, both through investment income on defined
contribution schemes' assets and for defined benefit schemes through the unwinding of the discount rate applied.
6) A more detailed split of these positions should be provided for columns G and H
based on the model calculations carried out for these schemes.
Country
footnote
s (UK)
1
Row 2.5 has been deleted for consistency with the latest draft of ESA2010
Chapter 17. Therefore the service charge is not included in the main body of the
table (Rows 1-10).
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
82
LIMITE EN
Data sources used by ONS to compile the UK Supplementary Table on Pensions
2010
Owing to complexity of the UK pension system, there is no ‘national model’ or single data source
for the supplementary table on pensions. Each column has been compiled using the most
appropriate source available. Articles have been published by ONS in 2011 on the sources for
Columns E, G and H. An article planned for 2012 will cover the data sources used in Columns A and
B.
This document is in two parts. Part 1 lists the sources used in each column, and Part 2 provides a
brief description of the sources used in Columns A and B (sources for the other columns are
described in the published articles).
Part 1
Column
Source data used
A – group
personal
pensions (DC)
FSA data for Rows 1 and 10. HMRC data for actual contributions (Rows 2.1 and
2.3). MQ5 insurance companies survey data for other rows.
A – occupational
pensions (DC)
For Rows 1 and 10 (insured pensions): FSA data. For Rows 1 and 10 (selfadministered pension funds): MQ5 self-administered pension funds survey. For
other rows: MQ5 self-administered pension funds survey or MQ5 insurance
companies survey, as appropriate.
B – occupational
pensions (DB)
PPF Purple Book estimates (aggregating data for some 6,600 schemes) for Row 1
and Rows 7 to 10. A small number of PPF-eligible schemes that are classified in
Column E are excluded. MQ5 self-administered pension funds survey for Rows 2
to 6.
E
Pension scheme valuations (normally published every 3-4 years) and annual
resource accounts. See article published 3 August 2011 for further details. Data
for the LGPS used in Rows 2 to 6 is provided by the Department for Communities
and Local Government (for LGPS England and Wales) and by the Northern Ireland
Local Government Officers’ Superannuation Committee; figures for Scotland are
estimated. For other schemes, information comes from scheme valuations and
annual accounts; in the 2010 table, much of it is estimated.
G
Pension schemes’ annual resource accounts. This column brings together 13 sets
of accounts for unfunded schemes, plus estimates for two schemes (police and
fire). See article published 3 August 2011 for further details.
H
DWP model (see article published 2 December 2011 for further details). Rows 2.1
and 2.3 are adjusted for consistency with actual contributions paid into the
National Insurance Fund, as published in the core National Accounts.
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
83
LIMITE EN
Part 2
Relevant data sources
Financial Services Authority (FSA)
The FSA has administrative data for pension reserves held by insurance companies in respect of private
pensions. The dataset covers reserves for both the accumulation and decumulation phases (the latter
comprises reserves associated with annuities in payment), and for both occupational and personal
pensions. ONS has access to this data for use in the National Accounts. Of personal pensions, only group
personal pensions are included in the supplementary table; individual personal pensions are excluded
because they are not part of pensions in social insurance.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
HMRC publishes tables based on administrative data showing contributions to personal pensions (including
stakeholder pensions) at www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/pensions/menu.htm For the supplementary table, we use
the data for employer-sponsored pensions only (Tables 7.4 and 7.5).
MQ5
MQ5 is a series of annual and quarterly surveys of insurance companies, self-administered pension funds,
investment trusts, unit trusts and property unit trusts run by ONS. Income and expenditure data are
provided for insurance companies (quarterly and annual) and self-administered pension funds (quarterly).
In addition, annual balance sheet data are reported for all sectors.
The PPF Purple Book
The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has a unique dataset that covers funded DB schemes in the private
sector; it uses the dataset to produce an annual publication called the Purple Book. The sample taken for
the Purple Book covered nearly 6,600 schemes in 2009/10, representing 90 per cent of PPF-eligible
schemes and 99.8 per cent of their total liabilities. Most private sector DB schemes are PPF-eligible.
The PPF Purple Book dataset contains estimates of liabilities which are reported by private sector DB
schemes to the PPF on the basis of a standard set of assumptions. This allows the PPF to produce estimates
of total liabilities on a ‘full buy-out’ basis, which uses a Gilts-based discount rate (a risk-free market rate).
These estimates are used in the supplementary table.
However, the full buy-out estimates are only published for the financial year. In order to convert to a
calendar year basis, we use the PPF’s estimate of liabilities on a s179 basis, which is published on a monthly
basis in the PPF’s 7800 index. To produce the closing balance for Column B (Row 10), the ratio of full buyout liabilities to s179 liabilities at the end of the financial year is used to rate up the s179 estimate at the
end of the previous calendar year.
For Rows 7 to 9, figures are estimated in consultation with the PPF, which advises ONS of any changes to
key assumptions and the approximate size of their impact on these rows.
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
84
LIMITE EN
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 01/04/2012 at 20:00
Title: Pensions Seminar in London, England
Categorisation
International Coordination\Pensions
Note for the record
Sanjiv
Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LOND
ON/ONS
To gabriel.quiros@ecb.europa.eu, joseph.a.bonello@gov.mt,
sbr@dst.dk, dgr.vonberg@cbs.nl, international@scb.se,
gandolfo@istat.it, yolanda.gomez.menchon@ine.es,
raoul.depoutot@insee.fr, tanja.mucha@destatis.de,
albert.braakmann@destatis.de, m.pommee@cbs.nl,
cathy.kruger@scb.se, vkounadis@cystat.mof.gov.cy,
Hilkka.Vihavainen@stat.fi, Anita.Heinonen@stat.fi,
gzeitountsian@cystat.mof.gov.cy,
O.Leszczynska@stat.gov.pl, ursula.havel@statistik.gv.at,
michael.wolf@scb.se
cc Sarah Levy/ONS@ONS
01/04/2012 19:04
Subject Pensions Seminar in London, England
Dear colleagues,
As mentioned at last week's CWPS meeting.
On 27 April 2012, the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) will be holding a seminar at the Royal Statistical
Society in London to present the first full set of official statistics on the obligations of UK pension providers,
including the UK government. The seminar will coincide with the first publication of the UK National
Accounts Supplementary Table on Pensions. Please see the attached invitation for details.
Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis. If you wish to attend, please email us at:
pensionsanalysis@ons.gov.uk
Background information is available at www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/allreleases.html?definition=tcm%3A77-228861 and you will also be able to find the UK National Accounts
Supplementary Table on Pensions (2010) here at 09.30 on 27 April 2012.
If you need any further information, please let me know.
Best regards
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
85
LIMITE EN
Sanjiv
Mr Sanjiv Mahajan
Head of International Strategy and Coordination
National Accounts Coordination and Development
Room 2.101
Office for National Statistics
Government Buildings
Cardiff Road
Newport
Wales
NP10 8XG
Work no.
+44 (0) 1633 45 5294
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
86
LIMITE EN
UK pension obligations – the full picture
A seminar presenting the first full set of official statistics on funded and
unfunded pension obligations of UK pension providers
Date: Friday, 27 April 2012
Time: 10.30 to 12.30
Place: Lecture Theatre, Royal Statistical Society, 12 Errol Street, London EC1Y 8LX
This seminar will present the first set of official statistics on the total
obligations of UK pension providers ‐ broken down into private sector
pensions, funded and unfunded pensions for public sector employees,
and state pensions. The information presented will be for 2010, and
has experimental status. It will be published at 09.30 on 27 April 2012.
These statistics are part of ONS work on a supplementary table for the
UK National Accounts within the framework of the European System of
Accounts 2010. The seminar will explain the background and discuss
the methodology used to produce the figures in the table. It will also
consider how the table fits into wider measures of public sector debt in
the UK and its relationship with the broader EU context.
The seminar will be chaired by Joe Grice, Chief Economist, Office for National Statistics
AGENDA
10.15 ‐ 10.30: Registration
10.30 ‐ 11.00: Funded and unfunded pension obligations of UK pension providers – a full
picture. Sarah Levy, Head of Pensions Analysis, Office for National Statistics
11.00 ‐ 11.25: Pensions and wider measures of public sector debt in the UK. David Hobbs,
Head of Accountancy Advice, Office for National Statistics
11.25 ‐ 11.45: Coffee break
11.45 ‐ 12.30: Discussion and feedback session
Panel members:
Paul Johnson, Director, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Reimund Mink, former Senior Adviser, European Central Bank
Sarah Levy, Office for National Statistics
Dave Hobbs, Office for National Statistics
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
87
LIMITE EN
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Phillip Davies on 05/03/2012 at 15:06
Title: [PROTECT] - Fw: PROTECT: Transfer of Royal Mail
pension fund
Categorisation
Production and Analysis\Sector and Financial
Accounts Branch\Miscellaneous
From : Marianthi Dunn/STID/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS
To : Daniel Wisniewski/NAD/MESAG/NEWPORT/ONS, Phillip Davies/NEWPORT/ONS
CC : Jacqui Jones/MQD/SSSG/NEWPORT/ONS, Philip Stokoe/NEWPORT/ONS, Terry-Ann Ware/ONS
Date Sent : 05/03/2012 14:08:50
Subject : [PROTECT] - Fw: PROTECT: Transfer of Royal Mail pension fund
Hi both,
This query came in the GCF in box. As it's linked to financial liabilities can you pls respond to Steve and cc
the GCF inbox.
Regards,
Marianthi Dunn
Gross Capital Formation Branch
Business Indicators and Balance of Payments Division
Office for National Statistics
Tel: (+)44 1633 456390
Fax: (+)44 1633 652716.
http://www.ons.gov.uk/
----- Forwarded by Marianthi Dunn/STID/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS on 05/03/2012 14:03 ----steve.farrington@obr.g
si.gov.uk
02/03/2012 17:21
To:
cc:
Subject:
GCF@ONS
PROTECT: Transfer of Royal Mail pension fund
Hi,
As you can see from the exchange below, we are going to be including the impact of the Royal Mail transfer
in our Budget forecast and we've been checking with your colleagues about the likely classification treatment
of the switch in the pblic sector accounts. However, as Philip mentions at the bottom of his e-mail, that still
leaves open the question of the treatment in the National Accounts - specifically I wanted to check if you
thought it likely that there might be an impact on higher level series - the obvious example I'm thinking of is
the transfer of BNFL liabilities in 2005 which caues the large ofsetting spikes in general government and
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
88
LIMITE EN
business investment. My reading of Phil's e-mail is that this is unlikely to be the case this time around but
can you shed anymore light on this as clearly it has the potential to have a significant effect on our published
forecast?
thanks very much,
steve
Stephen Farrington | Economic Forecast | Office for Budget Responsibility | 020 7271 2443
From: Pavandeep Dhami
Sent: 15 February 2012 10:53
To: Stephen Farrington
Subject: FW: [PROTECT] - Re: RESTRICTED: Transfer of Royal Mail pension fund
From: Philip Stokoe [mailto:philip.stokoe@ons.gsi.gov.uk]
Sent: 15 February 2012 08:39
To: Pavandeep Dhami
Cc: David Bailey; James.Ebdon@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk
Subject: [PROTECT] - Re: RESTRICTED: Transfer of Royal Mail pension fund
Hi Pav,
Guidance in this area is indeed, pretty clear, and the subject of payments to government from the transfer of
pension obligations comes with its own section of the Manual of Government Deficit and Debt (MGDD),
which I have attached.
This guidance will inform the ONS treatment, and the clarity provided has undoubtedly been one of the
reasons why HMT has not felt the need, up until now, to ask for a formal ONS view.
Selected quotes:
III.6.1.2 Transfer of employers' pension obligations to government
..................
9. For various reasons, government, as owner of the public corporations, may intend to "clean" their balance
sheets, for instance with a view to privatising these corporations, as investors would be reluctant to purchase
the corporation encumbered by these obligations.
10. As a result of the transfer of the pension obligations to government, the employer’s pension scheme is
suppressed and the pension obligations are transferred to the government into the general social security
scheme or into an unfunded scheme for government employees (where the employees have a status similar
to civil servants). The new scheme is unfunded (referred to as “Pay As You Go system”). In the case of a
previously funded scheme, the transfer involves a change in the organisation of the pension scheme.
.....................
12. The common point is that, as counterpart to the future commitments taken by government, government
receives a “lump sum” that is assumed to cover the future burden of the pensions that will be paid by
government. This “lump sum” is an amount determined at the time of transfer of obligations, which may
however be paid in several or many instalments over time.
.................
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
89
LIMITE EN
III.6.1.3 The key issue in national accounts
14. In general economic terms, the transaction between the public corporation and general government can
be considered as a transfer of a liability in the sense of "future and certain obligations", with, as counterpart,
a transfer of cash (or other financial assets). ...........However, ESA95 does not record obligations for
unfunded pension schemes as assets of households nor as liabilities of government. This often makes it
difficult for national accountants to determine how to record the lump sum payments and the future payments
of pensions after the transfer of responsibility from the public corporations to government as there is no
specific liability in national accounts in the balance sheet of government, even when this liability was
previously recorded in the balance sheet of the corporation.
................
16. Payments received by a government from a public corporation in the context of the transfer of obligations
under either unfunded or funded pension schemes that the corporation operates for its own employees, into
an unfunded scheme operated by government, are treated as unrequited transactions, classified as capital
transfers (codified D.99 in ESA95), recorded as government revenue and therefore have a positive impact on
government surplus or deficit (EDP B.9). The pension obligations taken over by government are not recorded
in the form of an ESA95 liability.
17. However, this improvement in the government surplus or deficit will be offset in the future by the effective
payment of pension benefits, recorded as government expenditure, to the beneficiaries of the scheme
previously managed by the public corporation. Therefore, normally, the transfer of pension obligations is
globally neutral for general government surplus / deficit (or very close to neutrality) over time.
18. In general the transaction value is equal to the actuarial value of the pension obligations taken on by
government. However it is possible that the payment received is significantly different from the actuarial
value. Two cases can be analysed:
The payment may be significantly greater than the actuarial value. In this case the excess of the
payment over the pension obligations should be treated as a withdrawal of equity (coded as F5 in
national accounts) by government from the public corporation.
The payment may be significantly less than the actuarial value. In this case the payment is recorded in
its entirety as a capital transfer received by government.
19. As regards the time of recording, the capital transfer, and therefore the impact on government surplus or
deficit, is recorded when government becomes legally responsible for the payment of the future pension
benefits to the employees previously covered by their employer scheme. It is recorded for the amount agreed
as payment from the corporation to government, unless the payment exceeds the actuarial value of the
pension obligations.
So, although ONS have not formally been asked for a view, the guidance above is pretty clearly describing
what we understand is proposed for the Royal Mail Pension Scheme, such that your proposed treatment
appears correct.
N.B. This is my personal view, not a formal ONS classification decision - We will probably seek to
confirm this formally, probably via a NACC Authorisation, as soon as HMT confirm the finalised details of
what is happening and when.
The broader impact on the National Accounts is not quite as straightforward as a transfer from the private to
the public sector, (not least as the Royal Mail Pension Plan is almost certainly a Public Financial Corporation
anyway) but will appear in the National Accounts as a transfer from the Financial Corporations sector to the
Government sector - and specifically from the Pension Funds and Insurance Corporations sub-sector to the
Government sector - I'm no expert on exactly how this will appear, but I think the transaction will appear as a
big figure in the Accumulation Accounts in Blue Book in the Financial Corporations sector (Blue Book Table
4.1.7) and the Pension Funds and Insurance Corporations sub-sector (Table 4.4.7) - big D.9 transactions
aren't unheard of - the D.91 tax on MFIs due to the FSCS and collapse of B&B is in there in 2008, but
unusual.
Given the size of the impact, we will be releasing an article at some point explaining it all - we just haven't
decided when!
Hope this helps - happy to discuss!
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
90
LIMITE EN
Phil
Phil Stokoe | National Accounts Classification | Public Sector Economic Division | Office for National
Statistics | Government Buildings | Cardiff Road | Newport | Wales | NP10 8XG | Room 2.164 | Phone: 01633
455805 | Internal Extension: 5805
Pavandeep.Dhami@obr.gsi.gov.uk
14/02/2012 17:35
To Philip Stokoe/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS, David Bailey/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS
cc James.Ebdon@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk
Subject RESTRICTED: Transfer of Royal Mail pension fund
Phil/David
As you are likely already aware, we intend to include the impact of the
Royal Mail transfer in our March forecast.
I understand the Eurostat guidance on these kinds of transactions is
quite clear. Based on discussions with the Treasury, we are likely to
treat the transaction as follows:
On the
*
not
affect
*
PSNB.
*
result
*
result
day of transfer:
The transferred liabilities are contingent and therefore do
deficit or debt.
The transferred assets will result in a one-off reduction in
PSND will also fall, but by a smaller amount than PSNB, as a
of the gilts and cash being transferred to Government.
The Central Government Net Cash Requirement will fall by as a
of the cash transferred from RMPP.
Following the transfer and in subsequent years:
*
PSNB (and therefore PSND) will increase by the annual payments
to Royal Mail pensioners, less income from assets or savings on debt
interest as a result of asset sales.
*
Sales of fixed assets and illiquid financial assets will
reduce
PSND.
*
On sale of liquid financial assets will have no further
benefit
to PSNB or PSND, but any variance between the transfer and disposal
value will impact on PSND.
*
Cancellation of gilts, should that occur, would not impact on
any fiscal aggregates.
I appreciate that you cannot - and indeed have not been asked to provide formal clarification of how you will treat this transactions.
However, as I am sure you will also appreciate, it would be highly
embarrassing for ourselves, given the sums involved, if the eventual
treatment significantly differed from the above.
So I am asking for some kind of reassurance that this is along the right
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
91
LIMITE EN
tracks and would be thankful for any informal steer you could offer.
The other side of the coin, for which we are far more uncertain, is how
this may potentially be treated in the National Accounts. If the fiscal
numbers essentially treat this as a capital grant from the private to
public sector, might there be some noticeable movements in the
investment figures between business and government investment, or some
other strange treatment that we should attempt to capture in our
economic forecast?
I am due to discuss this with the OBR's Budget Responsibility Committee
tomorrow evening and would be even more grateful if you could provide an
initial response prior to that point.
Happy to discuss
Pav
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
92
LIMITE EN
III.6 Payments to government from transfer of pension
obligations
III.6.1 Background to the issue
1. This concerns lump sum payments to government in the context of the transfer of
pension obligations.
III.6.1.1 Employers' pension schemes
2. In several Member States, corporations, including public corporations, may set up
specific pension schemes for their own staff which they manage directly. They are
referred to as “non-autonomous employers’ pension schemes” in ESA95. These
corporate pension schemes are not treated in national accounts as social security
schemes, i.e. the flows of contributions (or injections of funds by employers) and
pension benefits are not part of government revenue or expenditure (except if
government organises such a scheme for its own employees). Therefore the flows are
allocated to the sector in which the employer organising the scheme is classified. See
ESA95 4.88 b and c. (unfunded schemes set up by employers for their employees).
3. In this context, employers may set up unfunded or funded schemes. The main
difference is whether “segregated reserves” exist.
4. A non-autonomous funded pension scheme organised by an employer for its own staff
is funded in the case where the employer builds up a segregated reserve – because of
legal obligations, specific regulations, contractual clauses, accounting standards or
only on a voluntary basis - for the explicit and exclusive purpose of paying pensions to
their employees, ex-employees or their dependants. Consequently, the book value of
this reserve as reported in the employer’s balance sheet is likely to represent a
predominant part of the actuarial value of the pension obligations.
5. This reserve ensures a strong protection of the pension rights of the beneficiaries,
notably in the case of bankruptcy of the employer, or in the case of mergers. The
reserve is invested in assets that are identifiable in the balance sheet of the
corporation.
6. In ESA95, this obligation is recorded as AF.612 (“Net equity of households in pension
funds reserves”). Depending on the nature of the fund, the liability is valued differently
in national accounts. If it is a defined-benefit funded scheme, it is the present value of
the promised pension benefits. If it is a defined-contribution funded scheme (named
“money purchase schemes” in ESA95), it is the market value of the corresponding
assets invested on markets. For public corporations the first case is the most frequent.
In the balance sheet of the corporation, generally the reserve is recorded at book
value. Note that if, at a point in time, the book value of the segregated reserve is not a
predominant part of the actuarial value of the pension obligations, the scheme is still
considered as funded if it is obvious that the firm is acting in order to reach such a
target in the medium term.
7. By contrast, in a non-autonomous unfunded pension scheme, employers make only
the commitment to ensure the payment of a defined level of pension benefits. The
pension rights of the employees, that are normally legally recognised, are based in this
case on the commitment made by the firm and its capacity to face the payment
obligations at the time they are due.
General Government and public corporations
III
Manual on Government Deficit and Debt 137
III.6.1.2 Transfer of employers' pension obligations to government
8. The case of transfer to government of a funded scheme that will remain funded after
the transfer is not treated here. In this case, the rules stated in part 1 of this Manual
(see I.3) as regards the classification of funded pension schemes would strictly apply.
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
93
LIMITE EN
9. For various reasons, government, as owner of the public corporations, may intend to
"clean" their balance sheets, for instance with a view to privatising these corporations,
as investors would be reluctant to purchase the corporation encumbered by these
obligations.
10. As a result of the transfer of the pension obligations to government, the employer’s
pension scheme is suppressed and the pension obligations are transferred to the
government into the general social security scheme or into an unfunded scheme for
government employees (where the employees have a status similar to civil servants).
The new scheme is unfunded (referred to as “Pay As You Go system”). In the case of
a previously funded scheme, the transfer involves a change in the organisation of the
pension scheme.
11. Note that various arrangements might be observed in the context of this transfer of
pension obligations. Government could take responsibility for the payment of all the
future pensions to existing employees of the corporation or only to a certain group of
those employees. It could also take responsibility for only part of the future pensions.
Government could pay additional amounts to pensioners in order to guarantee them a
level of pensions on the basis of a current arrangement more advantageous than the
new scheme they join.
12. The common point is that, as counterpart to the future commitments taken by
government, government receives a “lump sum” that is assumed to cover the future
burden of the pensions that will be paid by government. This “lump sum” is an amount
determined at the time of transfer of obligations, which may however be paid in several
or many instalments over time.
13. This amount paid to government is often an actuarial estimate of the present value of
the future related government disbursements, which will commonly be reflected in the
accounts of the public corporation where they are prepared in line with international
standards. However it is possible that the lump sum is higher or lower than the present
value of future pension payments, which would then need to be further analysed.
III.6.1.3 The key issue in national accounts
14. In general economic terms, the transaction between the public corporation and general
government can be considered as a transfer of a liability in the sense of "future and
certain obligations", with, as counterpart, a transfer of cash (or other financial assets).
On an economic basis, the "real" net worth of both agents has not changed because of
the transaction. The increase in cash of general government is compensated in
economic terms by the increase in its liabilities towards the future retired employees. In
parallel, the decrease in assets (cash or other financial assets) held by the public
corporations is compensated by the decrease in its liabilities towards the same future
retired employees. However, ESA95 does not record obligations for unfunded pension
schemes as assets of households nor as liabilities of government. This often makes it
difficult for national accountants to determine how to record the lump sum payments
and the future payments of pensions after the transfer of responsibility from the public
corporations to government as there is no specific liability in national accounts in the
balance sheet of government, even when this liability was previously recorded in the
balance sheet of the corporation.
15. This chapter explains the treatment that has been considered as relevant in the current
national accounts framework.
138
III.6.2 Treatment in national accounts
16. Payments received by a government from a public corporation in the context of the
transfer of obligations under either unfunded or funded pension schemes that the
corporation operates for its own employees, into an unfunded scheme operated by
government, are treated as unrequited transactions, classified as capital transfers
(codified D.99 in ESA95), recorded as government revenue and therefore have a
positive impact on government surplus or deficit (EDP B.9). The pension obligations
taken over by government are not recorded in the form of an ESA95 liability.
17. However, this improvement in the government surplus or deficit will be offset in the
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
94
LIMITE EN
future by the effective payment of pension benefits, recorded as government
expenditure, to the beneficiaries of the scheme previously managed by the public
corporation. Therefore, normally, the transfer of pension obligations is globally neutral
for general government surplus / deficit (or very close to neutrality) over time.
18. In general the transaction value is equal to the actuarial value of the pension
obligations taken on by government. However it is possible that the payment received
is significantly different from the actuarial value. Two cases can be analysed:
The payment may be significantly greater than the actuarial value. In this case the
excess of the payment over the pension obligations should be treated as a
withdrawal of equity (coded as F5 in national accounts) by government from the
public corporation.
The payment may be significantly less than the actuarial value. In this case the
payment is recorded in its entirety as a capital transfer received by government.
19. As regards the time of recording, the capital transfer, and therefore the impact on
government surplus or deficit, is recorded when government becomes legally
responsible for the payment of the future pension benefits to the employees previously
covered by their employer scheme. It is recorded for the amount agreed as payment
from the corporation to government, unless the payment exceeds the actuarial value of
the pension obligations.
20. However, the arrangement between the corporation and government might foresee a
set of payments after the legal transfer and not a single payment. Where the payments
are spread over many years in the future, as capital transfers they should be recorded
when they are due to be paid in future years. However in the case where the payments
are spread over 2 or 3 years (even if pension payments may extend over many years),
it would be more appropriate to record the total in national accounts as a single
payment when government becomes legally responsible for future pensions, with the
part to be paid in future years treated as a transaction in financial instrument AF.7
(accounts receivable of government).
21. In some cases, the arrangement could foresee a transfer of pension obligations in
several steps, covering each time a proportion of the employees. For each transfer, the
corresponding agreed payment should be considered and any timing difference with
the effective payment would be recorded as a financial transaction.
III.6.3 Rationale of the treatment
22. The treatment is based on the fact that ESA95, like SNA93, currently does not
recognise a liability, in the sense of a financial instrument, for the obligations relating to
pensions in the context of an unfunded scheme.
23. Under these conditions, it has not been considered possible that government incurs a
liability as counterpart of the amount paid by the public corporation and representing
the present value of these obligations, which should therefore be recorded as a
General Government and public corporations
III
Manual on Government Deficit and Debt 139
financial transaction without an impact on government deficit/surplus. From a general
point of view, while the existence of new future commitments taken by government in
exchange for the cash paid by the firm is acknowledged, the conditions in the ESA95
for the recognition of unfunded pension-related liabilities are not met. It may also be
noted that some transactions recorded as transfers in national accounts may imply
specific obligations for the receiver. For instance, an investment grant is generally paid
only under the condition that the cash is used for acquiring certain capital goods. It is
notably the case for grants from EU Structural Funds.
24. The payment is recorded as a capital transfer (D9) on the basis of the one-off
occurrence (as evidenced by the list given in ESA95 for "other capital transfers" in
4.165) and the high value of the transaction.
25. The above treatment was developed under the expectation that the payment would be
identical to, or very close in size to, the actuarial value of the pensions to be paid in
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
95
LIMITE EN
future years. However it may be that the payment is in fact significantly different from
the actuarial value. Where the payment is greater than the actuarial value, the excess
is treated as a withdrawal of equity by the government. In the case where the payment
is lower than the actuarial value, no further transactions are recorded. This is
equivalent to a “net” recording, since the underlying flows could be shown gross (with
matching capital transfers in each direction between the government and corporation),
however for pragmatic reasons of simplicity a net recording is preferred.
26. This payment could not be treated as an exceptional social contribution paid on behalf
of the employees. This may be observed on an individual basis only where some
employees voluntarily move from one employer to another, which involves the
renunciation of a social insurance scheme and implies the transfer of past contributions
to the new scheme in order to reconstitute new rights. But in the case under review,
the transfer does not result from an individual decision. In addition, this would have the
effect of artificially increasing the fiscal burden during the fiscal year in which the
transaction takes place.
27. In the specific case of a funded scheme organised previously by the employer, there is
no transfer of a liability to government. Actually, again because ESA95 does not
recognise liabilities for future pensions in the case of an unfunded scheme, at the time
the pension obligations are transferred to the government, the liability AF.612
disappears as the scheme is effectively transformed into an unfunded scheme, without
any change in the rights acquired by the participants. This is an unquestionable feature
of the new pension for the corporation’s employees, unless government allocates the
assets received from the corporation into a segregated reserve with the explicit and
exclusive aim of ensuring the majority of the future pension benefit payments. As
already stressed, government usually merges these specific obligations into the
general social security obligations (or the scheme organised for civil servants in some
cases) such that it becomes fully inappropriate to continue recording the specific
liability of the corporation towards its employees in the national accounts.
28. Under these conditions, there is no transfer of a liability corresponding to the
obligations previously borne by the corporation and the disappearance of the liability
AF.6 must be recorded in the account of the corporation at the time of the transfer.
29. The disappearance of this liability is recorded as an “other change of volume of assets”
(K.10) in both accounts of households and of the corporation. Under these conditions,
the pension obligations no longer take the form of a financial instrument at the time of
the transfer of the scheme to the government and, therefore, the transfer of the
financial assets from the corporation to the government is recorded as an unrequited
transaction, i.e. a capital transfer improving government deficit/surplus as there is an
increase in government revenue (capital transfer received).
140
30. According to the ESA95 treatment of the time of recording of capital transfers, a
transfer payment made over many years should be recorded in the periods when the
payments are due to be made. However, where a transfer payment is spread over only
a few years, and therefore gives the impression that it has been artificially split for
financing reasons, the entire transfer payment should be recorded when the
government takes responsibility for future pension payments.
III.6.4 Accounting examples
III.6.4.1 Initial unfunded pension scheme
A public corporation transfers to the government its obligations related to pensions for its
staff that the corporation has organised on its own in the form of an unfunded pension
scheme. Government accepts to pay future pensions and in exchange receives a cash
payment of 1000. In a future given year (t+*), pensions paid to retired staff from the public
corporation amount to 50.
Year t
General government Public corporation (NFC)
Capital account
ΔA ΔL ΔA ΔL
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
96
LIMITE EN
D.9 +1000 D.9 -1000
B.9 +1000 B.9 -1000
Financial account
ΔA ΔL ΔA ΔL
F.2 +1000 F.2 -1000
B.9 +1000 B.9 -1000
Year t+* (adaptable to any year other than t)
General government Households
Current/Capital account
U/ΔA R/ ΔL U/ΔA R/ ΔL
D.621 50 D.621 50
B.9 -50 B.9 +50
Financial account
ΔA ΔL ΔA ΔL
F.2 -50 F.2 +50
B.9 -50 B.9 +50
General Government and public corporations
III
Manual on Government Deficit and Debt 141
III.6.4.2 Initial funded pension scheme
The conditions of the transfer are similar but the scheme was organised in the form of a
funded pension scheme. The government accounts are similar to the case of an unfunded
scheme. Accounts of the corporation are different for year t while the accounts of
households are now affected.
Year t
General government Public corporation
Opening balance sheet
ALAL
Assets 1000
AF.612 1000
Capital account
ΔA ΔL ΔA ΔL
D.9 +1000 D.9 -1000
B.9 +1000 B.9 -1000
Financial account
ΔA ΔL ΔA ΔL
F.2 +1000 F.2 –1000
B.9 +1000 B.9 -1000
Other change in volume
ΔA ΔL ΔA ΔL
AF.612 -1000
B.10.2. +1000
Closing balance sheet
ALAL
F.2 1000 F.2
142
Households
Opening balance sheet
AL
AF.612 1000
Other Change in volume
ΔA ΔL
AF.612 -1000 B.10.2 -1000
Closing balance sheet
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
97
LIMITE EN
AL
III.6.4.3 Initial unfunded pension scheme where lump sum payment is greater than
value of pension obligations
A public corporation transfers to the government its obligations related to pensions for its
staff that the corporation has organised on its own in the form of an unfunded pension
scheme. The pension obligations have an actuarial value of 900. Government accepts to
pay future pensions and in exchange receives a cash payment of 1000. In a future given
year (t+*), pensions paid to retired staff from the public corporation amount to 50.
Year t
General government Public corporation (NFC)
Capital account
ΔA ΔL ΔA ΔL
D.9 +900 D.9 -900
B.9 +900 B.9 -900
Financial account
ΔA ΔL ΔA ΔL
F.2 +1000 F.2 -1000
F.5 -100 F.5 -100
B.9 +900 B.9 -900
General Government and public corporations
III
Manual on Government Deficit and Debt 143
Year t+* (adaptable to any year other than t)
General government Households
Current/Capital account
U/ΔA R/ ΔL U/ΔA R/ ΔL
D.621 50 D.621 50
B.9 -50 B.9 +50
Financial account
ΔA ΔL ΔA ΔL
F.2 -50 F.2 +50
B.9 -50 B.9 +50
III.6.4.4 Initial unfunded pension scheme where the lump sum payment is spread
over two years
A public corporation transfers to the government its obligations related to pensions for its
staff that the corporation has organised on its own in the form of an unfunded pension
scheme. The pension obligations have an actuarial value of 1000. Government accepts to
pay future pensions and in exchange receives a cash payment of 1000 spread equally
over two years (year t and year t+1).
Year t
General government Public corporation (NFC)
Capital account
ΔA ΔL ΔA ΔL
D.9 +1000 D.9 -1000
B.9 +1000 B.9 -1000
Financial account
ΔA ΔL ΔA ΔL
F.2 +500 F.2 -500
F.7 +500 F.7 +500
B.9 +1000 B.9 -1000
144
Year t+1
General government Households
Financial account
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
98
LIMITE EN
ΔA ΔL ΔA ΔL
F.2 +500 F.2 +500
F.7 -500 F.7 -500
B.9 0 B.9 0
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
99
LIMITE EN
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 31/01/2012 at 07:12
Title: Table 29 - Differences between Dec 2010
Commission Proposal and Supplementary Table
Questionnaire
R
R
e
p
o
n
e
Re
esssp
po
on
nssse
e
Note for the record
Sarah Levy
30/01/2012 16:36
To:
cc:
Subject:
Ismael.AHAMDANECH-ZARCO@ec.europa.eu
Robert Dunn/ONS@ONS, Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LOND
[RESTRICTED] - Re: UK supplementary table on pensions 20
Hola Isma
Thank you for your response. I can see why you have taken this decision, and I don't disagree with it - but
with such a major change, it really would have been helpful to email the Contact Group on Pensions about it.
We will now have to revise the UK 2010 table to include it.
I can see that the final version of the Technical Compilation Guide that you published on 17th January
includes Row 2.5 in the table on page 33, but I can see no accompanying text explaining it or providing
guidance on how to compile it. I assume that, because it was a last-minute change, you did not have time to
incorporate such text.
Could you email the Contact Group on Pensions alerting us all to the change and explaining what it means?
I think this is important in order to avoid the risk of some EU countries doing it one way and others the other
way, which would produce inconsistency.
Best wishes,
Sarah Levy
Head of Pensions Analysis
Household and Labour Market Division
Office for National Statistics
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8XG
Tel: 01633 455457
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
100
LIMITE EN
Ismael.AHAMDANECHZARCO@ec.europa.eu
To Sarah Levy/ONS@ONS
30/01/2012 15:45
cc
Subject RE: [RESTRICTED] - Re: UK supplementary table on
pensions 2010
Hola Sarah,
yes, you are right, but then we had an internal discussion and we decided that row 2.5 should be in. The
reason is what I said before. In fact, I think that it is the best solution, because these charges have to be
taken into account somehow, and row 2.5 is the best place. So the charges will be included in the tables,
separately in that row.
Sorry for the confusion I have created. Do you agree with our approach?
Un abrazo,
Isma
From: Sarah Levy [mailto:sarah.levy@ons.gsi.gov.uk]
Sent: Monday, January 30, 2012 4:14 PM
To: AHAMDANECH ZARCO Ismael (ESTAT)
Subject: [RESTRICTED] - Re: UK supplementary table on pensions 2010
Thanks, Isma
But we still have the problem that Row 2.5 is no longer included in the most recent versions of the
table, as you agreed in November, e.g. your email of 18th November in which you said:
"Hola Sarah,
I have to leave now, I will call you tomorrow. You are right, we need to
fix that mismatch, and I think the best option is, as you suggest, to
delete row 2.5 of Annex II.
Thanks for spotting that¡¡,
Isma"
Given that this is the case, we have assumed that the service charge should not be included in Row
2 (because Row 2 = sum of Rows 2.1 to 2.4). But the question is, are we right to assume this, or
should it be included in Row 2 even if it is not shown separately?
If the latter,
(a) would it be included in Row 2.2 or 2.4?
Or
(b) would Row 2 be calculated as: Row 2.1 + Row 2.2 + Row 2.3 + Row 2.4 + service charge (not
shown separately).
Thank you.
Sarah Levy
Head of Pensions Analysis
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
101
LIMITE EN
Household and Labour Market Division
Office for National Statistics
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8XG
Tel: 01633 455457
Ismael.AHAMDANECH-ZARCO@ec.europa.eu
30/01/2012 14:55
To Sarah Levy/ONS@ONS
cc
Subject RE: [RESTRICTED] - Re: UK supplementary table on pensions 2010
Hola Sarah¡¡,
ya estoy contigo. Now, I switch to english. For me, row 11 is no so important since it is a memo item.
The important thing for me is row 2.5. Why? Because if you want to know the change in pension
entitlements, you need to have an estimation of the cost of managing the pension fund: somebody
has to pay that, and these are the contributors. So, in fact, the change in entitlements is equal to
contributions minus payments minus service cost (in fact, row 11 and 2.5 should be the same). You
can take a look to the SNA 2008 and see that they follow the same approach (chapter 17.5).
Regarding the estimation, I think you should so it as the summ of the cost: salaries of managing
employees plus other costs such as rent of buildings, IT,...
Please, tell me if this helps you. We can discuss even by phone if you wish.
Un abrazo,
Isma
From: Sarah Levy [mailto:sarah.levy@ons.gsi.gov.uk]
Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2012 7:48 PM
To: AHAMDANECH ZARCO Ismael (ESTAT)
Subject: [RESTRICTED] - Re: UK supplementary table on pensions 2010
Hola Isma
We are planning to publish our first UK Supplementary Table on Pensions, for the year 2010, on 27
April 2012. This is the table that I sent you on 21 December in the workbook "Pensions
Questionnaire_2011_UK". The table will be accompanied by an article explaining how we have
arrived at the estimates. As I will be writing this article in the next few weeks, I would be grateful if
you could send me any comments you may have on the table.
In particular, please could you respond to my queries under Question 8 of the 'Questions'
spreadsheet in the "Pensions Questionnaire_2011_UK" workbook?
Also, we are organising a seminar in London on the morning of 27 April to present and discuss the
2010 table. I will send you an invitation shortly, in case you may be interested in attending.
Best wishes,
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
102
LIMITE EN
Sarah
Sarah Levy/ONS
21/12/2011 17:32
To Ismael.AHAMDANECH-ZARCO@ec.europa.eu
cc Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS
Subject [RESTRICTED] - UK supplementary table on pensions 2010
Dear Ismael
Please find attached the first experimental Supplementary Table on Pensions for the UK, for the year 2010. I
also attach some accompanying documentation.
We are pleased to have produced our first table by the deadline of 31 December 2011, and we would
welcome any comments you may have on it.
Please note that the Table and other unpublished material are marked 'RESTRICTED'. Please treat them as
confidential and not for publication or circulation.
Deseandote una feliz navidad y todo lo mejor para el 2012!
Un abrazo,
Sarah Levy
Head of Pensions Analysis
Household and Labour Market Division
Office for National Statistics
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8XG
Tel: 01633 455457
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
103
LIMITE EN
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 20/01/2012 at 09:51
Title: Meeting of the CWP on Statistics, 17 January 2012 German position on ESA2010, Annex B, Table 29 of the
transmission programme "Pension schemes in social
insurance" - Comments from Sarah Levy
R
R
e
p
o
n
e
T
o
R
e
p
o
n
e
Re
esssp
po
on
nssse
eT
To
oR
Re
esssp
po
on
nssse
e
Note for the record
Sarah Levy
19/01/2012 11:59
To:
cc:
Subject:
Alan.Napier@dwp.gsi.gov.uk
Kevin.Hughes@dwp.gsi.gov.uk, Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/
[PROTECT] - Supplementary Table on Pensions in the Nationa
Dear Alan
I have tried to phone you a few times this morning, but you are not at your desk. Could you give me a call,
please?
I understand from my colleague Sanjiv Mahajan, who works in National Accounts international coordination,
that you have received an email from the German Ministry of Economics arguing that the Supplementary
Table on Pensions in the National Accounts - Table 29 in the European System of Accounts 2010
(ESA2010) should be voluntary and asking you to express an opinion.
I understand that you have drafted a response, but I am not sure if you have sent it yet? I am not sure if you
are aware of the UK view (which does not support the German position), and the work done so far? In brief:
The project to build the Supplementary Table on Pensions has a long history, with ONS acting as the UK
representative for the past five or six years (because this is part of National Accounts work).
We have been working to compile the table since 2009 and DWP's Forecasting Division has been actively
engaged in the work for the past year.
The project sits within the broader ONS work to meet the requirements of ESA2010. The Germans are now
challenging the requirement in respect of Table 29. However, the UK position is to try to meet all
ESA2010 requirements unless we have a good reason for not doing so - which is not the case for the
Supplementary Table on Pensions.
We have already published two articles on the project and submitted our first experimental table (for 2010) to
Eurostat. Following some additional quality assurance that we are doing in February-March - we are
committed to publishing the 2010 results in April 2012.
We expect to be the first EU country to publish the table, but we look forward to seeing results for other EU
countries in due course. A key benefit of the project is to be able to compare results between countries.
Making the table voluntary would reduce the likelihood of this happening.
Please give me a call when you have a moment to discuss.
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
104
LIMITE EN
Best wishes,
Sarah Levy
Head of Pensions Analysis
Household and Labour Market Division
Office for National Statistics
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8XG
Tel: 01633 455457
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
105
LIMITE EN
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 25/01/2012 at 09:35
Title: Technical Compilation Guide for Pension Data in
National Accounts
Categorisation
International Coordination\Pensions
Note for the record
Frederique.ROUARD@
ext.ec.europa.eu
20/01/2012 09:01
To:
IRroji@instat.gov.al, ursula.havel@statistik.gv.at, Hans.DeDyn
ueli.schiess@bfs.admin.ch, natasav@dzs.hr, solcics@dzs.hr, gsarris@cystat.mof.gov.cy, ondrus@
mariagnese.branchi@ecb.int, Werner.Roeger@ec.europa.eu, tonu.mertsina@stat.ee, anapat@sta
sgalmes@bde.es, eeva.hamunen@stat.fi, lotta.sjoblom@stat.fi, paula.koistinen-jokiniemi@stat.fi, j
michael.c.brennan@cso.ie, paddy.mcdonald@cso.ie, Stefan.Jansen@hagstofa.is, anbaldas@istat
xhevriefetahu@hotmail.com, edina.kozic@bhas.ba, Gabija.Ramsaite@stat.gov.lt, john.haas@state
joseph.p.vella@gov.mt, vanessa.dimech@gov.mt, e.veldhuizen@cbs.nl, mpoe@cbs.nl, kns@ssb.n
draganp@stat.gov.rs, pedro.oliveira@ine.pt, alina.predescu@insse.ro, Martin.Daniels@scb.se, ma
mojca.skrlec@gov.si, Frantisek.Bernadic@statistics.sk, anders.nordin@sogeti.lu, GULSER.DEMIR
tihomira.dimova@unece.org
cc:
Gallo.Gueye@ec.europa.eu, Silke.STAPEL@ec.europa.eu, Je
Leonidas.AKRITIDIS@ec.europa.eu, Kristine.VASARIETE@ec.europa.eu, Crina.CHEREJI@ec.eu
Subject:
Technical Compilation Guide for Pension Data in National Acco
Dear Members of the NAWG ,
For your information, the European Commission (Eurostat) and the ECB have released the Technical
Compilation Guide for Pension Data in National Accounts. The Guide, produced by the two
institutions, is a handbook for compilers and users of data on pension schemes in social insurance.
It aims at supporting National Statistical Institutes, Central banks and other compilers within the
European Union, to derive position and flow data for pension entitlements. The guide is also a
useful tool to help users to understand the data.
The "Technical Compilation Guide for Pension Data in National Accounts" is available on:
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/product_details/publication?p_product_code
=KS-RA-11-027
Best wishes
Ms Frédérique ROUARD
European Commission
National Accounts methodology,
Sector accounts, Financial indicators
EUROSTAT C1 BECH Building E2/826
5, rue Alphonse Weicker - L2721 Luxembourg
Tel: (+352) 4301-31962
Fax: (+352) 4301-33029
E-mail:Frederique.ROUARD@ext.ec.europa.eu
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
106
LIMITE EN
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 24/01/2012 at 20:33
Title: Meeting of the CWP on Statistics, 17 January 2012 German position on ESA2010, Annex B, Table 29 of the
transmission programme "Pension schemes in social
insurance".
R
R
e
p
o
n
e
T
o
R
e
p
o
n
e
Re
esssp
po
on
nssse
eT
To
oR
Re
esssp
po
on
nssse
e
Note for the record
Sanjiv Mahajan
24/01/2012 12:44
To:
cc:
Subject:
Sarah Levy/ONS@ONS
[PROTECT] - Re: Fw: Supplementary Table on Pensions in th
Dear Sarah,
Thanks - hits the right tone.
Sanjiv
Sarah Levy
24/01/2012 11:31
To:
LINDSEY.LEWIS@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK, JOHN.MC
Miriam.Bennett-Houlton@fco.gsi.gov.uk, Will.Garton@fco.gsi.gov.uk, Christopher.Ho
Alessandro.Hillman@fco.gsi.gov.uk, Liz.Tillett@dwp.gsi.gov.uk, Frank.Carson@hmtr
Bridget.Micklem@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk, Julian.Brown@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk
cc:
KEVIN.HUGHES@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK, Alan.Nap
Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS, Ole Black/EEPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ON
Subject:
[PROTECT] - Fw: Supplementary Table on Pensi
Dear colleagues
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
107
LIMITE EN
I am sending you - for your information - an email that I sent to Alan Napier last week clarifying our position
on European System of Accounts Table 29 (pension schemes in social insurance). When I emailed Alan I did
not have the full list of people involved, so apologies for the delay in cc'ing you.
If you have any questions or wish to discuss, please get in touch.
Regards,
Sarah Levy
Head of Pensions Analysis
Household and Labour Market Division
Office for National Statistics
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8XG
Tel: 01633 455457
----- Forwarded by Sarah Levy/ONS on 24/01/2012 11:16 ----Sarah Levy/ONS
19/01/2012 11:59
To Alan.Napier@dwp.gsi.gov.uk
cc Kevin.Hughes@dwp.gsi.gov.uk, Sanjiv
Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS
Subject [PROTECT] - Supplementary Table on Pensions in the
National Accounts
Dear Alan
I have tried to phone you a few times this morning, but you are not at your desk. Could you give me a call,
please?
I understand from my colleague Sanjiv Mahajan, who works in National Accounts international coordination,
that you have received an email from the German Ministry of Economics arguing that the Supplementary
Table on Pensions in the National Accounts - Table 29 in the European System of Accounts 2010
(ESA2010) should be voluntary and asking you to express an opinion.
I understand that you have drafted a response, but I am not sure if you have sent it yet? I am not sure if you
are aware of the UK view (which does not support the German position), and the work done so far? In brief:
The project to build the Supplementary Table on Pensions has a long history, with ONS acting as the UK
representative for the past five or six years (because this is part of National Accounts work).
We have been working to compile the table since 2009 and DWP's Forecasting Division has been actively
engaged in the work for the past year.
The project sits within the broader ONS work to meet the requirements of ESA2010. The Germans are now
challenging the requirement in respect of Table 29. However, the UK position is to try to meet all
ESA2010 requirements unless we have a good reason for not doing so - which is not the case for the
Supplementary Table on Pensions.
We have already published two articles on the project and submitted our first experimental table (for 2010) to
Eurostat. Following some additional quality assurance that we are doing in February-March - we are
committed to publishing the 2010 results in April 2012.
We expect to be the first EU country to publish the table, but we look forward to seeing results for other EU
countries in due course. A key benefit of the project is to be able to compare results between countries.
Making the table voluntary would reduce the likelihood of this happening.
Please give me a call when you have a moment to discuss.
Best wishes,
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
108
LIMITE EN
Sarah Levy
Head of Pensions Analysis
Household and Labour Market Division
Office for National Statistics
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8XG
Tel: 01633 455457
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
109
LIMITE EN
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 20/01/2012 at 09:46
Title: Meeting of the CWP on Statistics, 17 January 2012 German position on ESA2010, Annex B, Table 29 of the
transmission programme "Pension schemes in social
insurance".
R
R
e
p
o
n
e
Re
esssp
po
on
nssse
e
Note for the record
Sanjiv Mahajan
20/01/2012 08:24
To:
Matthew Shearing/ONS@ONS
cc:
Subject:
Re: Fw: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Proble
And Regional AccountsNotes Link
Dear Matthew,
I have spoken to, and agreed, that Sarah Levy will follow up the detail with DWP staff direct via her channels.
Our approach remains unchanged - the DWP comments are reflecting possibly they think the work is for
them and not reflecting ONS are in the lead and the impact on them is limited and handled through the
Pensions Group we have in place to produce the Suplementary Table. We have completed much of the work
and will be publishing in April 2012.
Hope this helps.
Sanjiv
Matthew Shearing
18/01/2012 13:38
To:
Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@O
cc:
ALAN.NAPIER@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK
Subject:
Fw: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance
Problem in view of the proposal for a Regulation on the European System Of Nationa
Regional Accounts
Sanjiv, grateful if you could respond please, copying those included below.
Thanks
Matthew Shearing | Head of International Relations | National Statistician's Office | UK Statistics Authority |
Tel: +44 (0)1633 455739 Mob: +44 (0)7801 522812 | Email:matthew.shearing@statistics.gsi.gov.uk |
www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/national-statistician/index.html
----- Forwarded by Matthew Shearing/ONS on 18/01/2012 13:37 -----
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
110
LIMITE EN
ALAN.NAPIER@DWP.GSI.G
OV.UK
18/01/2012 13:21
To Matthew Shearing/ONS@ONS
cc LINDSEY.LEWIS@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK,
JOHN.MCCALLION1@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK,
KEVIN.HUGHES@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK,
MARIA.MEYER@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK,
VICTORIA.WEBB1@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK
Subject RE: FW: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance Problem in view of the proposal for a Regulation on the
European System Of National And Regional Accounts
Matthew
Sorry to come at you as a "copy recipient", but can I confirm that we would prefer the table to be
dropped altogether?
I'm acutely conscious that we would need to rely on schemes themselves to provide the
information and its collection would be a considerable burden - and well beyond anything we
would need for domestic regulatory purposes.
Alan Napier | EU & International Team | Pensions Protection & Stewardship Division | Department for Work &
Pensions | 7th Floor | Caxton House |Tothill Street | LONDON | UK | SW1H 9NA | Tel: (+44(0)2074497386
(ext.64386))|Email:alan.napier@dwp.gsi.gov.uk
 Consider the environment - please.
-----Original Message----From: Matthew Shearing [mailto:matthew.shearing@statistics.gsi.gov.uk]
Sent: 13 January 2012 19:00
To: Lewis Lindsey STRATEGY INTERNATIONAL
Cc: Napier Alan PENSIONS PRIVATE; International; Hughes Kevin PENSIONS PRIVATE;
Miriam.Bennett-Houlton@fco.gsi.gov.uk; Will.Garton@fco.gsi.gov.uk; Sanjiv Mahajan
Subject: Re: FW: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Problem in view of the proposal for
a Regulation on the European System Of National And Regional Accounts
Hi Lindsey,
Thanks for that. My reply to Miriam earlier was as follows:
"Having spoken to our national accounts expert, the UK can in part support the German proposal in
respect of the revision to ESA not establishing an obligation to report these data. But we will need to
discuss with our German colleagues the stipulation that it be left to Member States to include these
figures in the framework of their national accounts. We are concerned that this may lead to figures
that may not be comparable being released as European statistics, especially with only a partial
coverage of Member States reflecting the different stages of statistical developments in this domain.
The goal for any European statistics is to ensure that figures should be released when they are
comparable and with as full coverage as possible between MS.
I am positive on the possibilities that we can discuss this with our German colleagues with a mutually
beneficial outcome for both UK and Germany. We will begin this process on Monday. "
So, we will consider the issues before supporting the German initiative to not have the
requirement obligatory, but in fact we will not be seeking to push it any further than the
German's.
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
111
LIMITE EN
Regards,
Matthew
Matthew Shearing | Head of International Relations | National Statistician's Office | UK Statistics
Authority | Tel: +44 (0)1633 455739 Mob: +44 (0)7801 522812 |
Email:matthew.shearing@statistics.gsi.gov.uk | www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/nationalstatistician/index.html
LINDSEY.LEWIS@DWP.G
SI.GOV.UK
13/01/2012 17:28
To Matthew Shearing/ONS@ONS
cc International@ONS, ALAN.NAPIER@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK, KEVIN.HUGHES@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK,
Miriam.Bennett-Houlton@fco.gsi.gov.uk, Will.Garton@fco.gsi.gov.uk
Subj FW: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Problem in view of the proposal for a Regulation
ect on the European System Of National And Regional Accounts
Hello Matthew,
We were asked for our view on pension schemes within European level national
accounts by UKRep - see email chain below.
We are concerned that we will not be able to comply with the requirement, and that
this will incur cost on both us and business.
Kind Regards,
Lindsey
Lindsey Lewis
International Unit
Department for Work and Pensions
Tel. +44 (0)20 73404028 (ext. 23028)
mailto:lindsey.lewis@dwp.gsi.gov.uk
______________________________________________
From: Lewis Lindsey STRATEGY INTERNATIONAL
Sent: 13 January 2012 16:13
To:
'Miriam.Bennett-Houlton@fco.gsi.gov.uk'; 'Will.Garton@fco.gsi.gov.uk'
Cc:
Napier Alan PENSIONS PRIVATE; Mccallion John STRATEGY PRIVATE PENSIONS;
'Frank.Carson@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk'; 'Bridget.Micklem@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk'; 'Julian.Brown@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk';
Tillett Liz STRATEGY INTERNATIONAL; 'Christopher.Hobley@fco.gsi.gov.uk'; 'Alessandro.Hillman@fco.gsi.gov.uk'; Hughes
Kevin PENSIONS PRIVATE
Subject:
RE: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Problem in view of the proposal for a Regulation on the
European System Of National And Regional Accounts
Hello Miriam,
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
112
LIMITE EN
I've asked our analysts to look at the table and they confirm that this would be very
difficult for the UK to comply with and would represent a significant additional data
collection burden for us. (Some parts are probably not possible for us to collect).
So we should definitely support the German proposal to make this a voluntary
requirement on this basis, alongside the principle that we should avoid placing
additional reporting burdens on Member States except where absolutely necessary.
Will - is there a UK National Statistics Authority official who leads on this overall? If
so, would you be able to make sure that he/she is in the loop on this issue?
Many thanks.
Kind Regards,
Lindsey
Lindsey Lewis
International Unit
Department for Work and Pensions
Tel. +44 (0)20 73404028 (ext. 23028)
mailto:lindsey.lewis@dwp.gsi.gov.uk
-----Original Message----From: mailto:Miriam.Bennett-Houlton@fco.gsi.gov.uk]
Sent: 13 January 2012 10:12
To: Napier Alan PENSIONS PRIVATE; Mccallion John STRATEGY PRIVATE PENSIONS;
Frank.Carson@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk; Bridget.Micklem@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk;
Julian.Brown@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk; Tillett Liz STRATEGY INTERNATIONAL
Cc: Christopher.Hobley@fco.gsi.gov.uk; Alessandro.Hillman@fco.gsi.gov.uk;
Will.Garton@fco.gsi.gov.uk
Subject: FW: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Problem in view of the proposal for a
Regulation on the European System Of National And Regional Accounts
Dear all,
Please see the below request for support from my German oppo on pensions. London, please could
you advise whether we can support this?
Copied to Will Garton, who attends the Statistics working group.
Miriam
-----Original Message----From: .BRUEEU SOZ-2 Barth, Bruno [mailto:soz-2-eu@brue.auswaertiges-amt.de]
Sent: 12 January 2012 17:57
Subject: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Problem in view of the proposal for a
Regulation on the European System Of National And Regional Accounts
Dear colleagues,
May I draw your attention to a serious problem we have with the attached proposal for a Regulation
on the European System of National and Regional Accounts currently discussed in the Working
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
113
LIMITE EN
Party on Statistics. The next and probably final meeting of the Working Party is scheduled for 17
January.
The problem concerns the pension schemes in social insurance. The Regulation stipulates the
binding requirement for Member States to deliver table 29 of Annex B "pension schemes in social
insurance".
Germany is against the binding requirement. Instead, we propose to make the delivery of table 29
VOLUNTARY. I attach our written opinion on table 29 which substantiates our reservation and
proposes to make the delivery of table 29 voluntary.
It would be extremely helpful for us, if your delegations could approach your Ministries responsible
for Pension Insurance to support the German position and to organise as much support as possible.
The German Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is not responsible for the Regulation but for
Pension Insurance so that you might have to contact your Ministry responsible for the Working Party
on Statistics.
Thank you very much for your support.
Kind regards
Bruno
Bruno Barth
Social Affairs Counsellor
Permanent Representation of Germany to the EU Rue Jacques de Lalaing 8-14 B-1040 Brussels
Tel: +32(0)2 787 1322
Mobil: +32(0)473 737208
Fax: +32(0)2 787 2322
E-Mail: bruno.barth@diplo.de
***********************************************************************************
Visit http://www.fco.gov.uk for British foreign policy news and travel advice and
http://blogs.fco.gov.uk to read our blogs.
This email (with any attachments) is intended for the attention of the addressee(s) only. If you are
not the intended recipient, please inform the sender straight away before deleting the message
without copying, distributing or disclosing its contents to any other person or organisation.
Unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted. Any views or opinions expressed
in this e-mail do not necessarily reflect the FCO's policy. The FCO keeps and uses information in
line with the Data Protection Act 1998. Personal information may be released to other UK
government departments and public authorities.
All messages sent and received by members of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and its
missions overseas may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded in accordance with the
Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice) (Interception of Communications) Regulations 2000.
*********************************************************************************** << File: German opinion
on Annex B Table 29 Pension schemes in social insurance - WorkingGroup Statistics.doc >> <<
File: Document in all languages.htm >> << File: Annex B english text.pdf >> << File: Proposal of
the regulation english version.pdf >>
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
114
LIMITE EN
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 15/01/2012 at 13:51
Title: Meeting of the CWP on Statistics, 17 January 2012 German position on ESA2010, Annex B, Table 29 of the
transmission programme "Pension schemes in social
insurance".
R
R
e
p
o
n
e
T
o
R
e
p
o
n
e
Re
esssp
po
on
nssse
eT
To
oR
Re
esssp
po
on
nssse
e
Note for the record
Matthew Shearing
13/01/2012 19:00
To:
LINDSEY.LEWIS@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK
cc:
ALAN.NAPIER@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK, International@ONS, KEV
Will.Garton@fco.gsi.gov.uk, Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS
Subject:
Re: FW: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Proble
And Regional AccountsNotes Link
Hi Lindsey,
Thanks for that. My reply to Miriam earlier was as follows:
"Having spoken to our national accounts expert, the UK can in part support the German proposal in respect
of the revision to ESA not establishing an obligation to report these data. But we will need to discuss with our
German colleagues the stipulation that it be left to Member States to include these figures in the framework
of their national accounts. We are concerned that this may lead to figures that may not be comparable being
released as European statistics, especially with only a partial coverage of Member States reflecting the
different stages of statistical developments in this domain. The goal for any European statistics is to ensure
that figures should be released when they are comparable and with as full coverage as possible between
MS.
I am positive on the possibilities that we can discuss this with our German colleagues with a mutually
beneficial outcome for both UK and Germany. We will begin this process on Monday. "
So, we will be supporting the German initiative to not have the requirement obligatory, but in fact
we will be seeking to push it a bit further.
Regards,
Matthew
Matthew Shearing | Head of International Relations | National Statistician's Office | UK Statistics Authority |
Tel: +44 (0)1633 455739 Mob: +44 (0)7801 522812 | Email:matthew.shearing@statistics.gsi.gov.uk |
www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/national-statistician/index.html
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
115
LIMITE EN
LINDSEY.LEWIS@DWP.GSI.
GOV.UK
13/01/2012 17:28
To Matthew Shearing/ONS@ONS
cc International@ONS, ALAN.NAPIER@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK,
KEVIN.HUGHES@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK, Miriam.BennettHoulton@fco.gsi.gov.uk, Will.Garton@fco.gsi.gov.uk
Subject FW: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Problem
in view of the proposal for a Regulation on the European
System Of National And Regional Accounts
Hello Matthew,
We were asked for our view on pension schemes within European level national accounts
by UKRep - see email chain below.
We are concerned that we will not be able to comply with the requirement, and that this will
incur cost on both us and business.
Kind Regards,
Lindsey
Lindsey Lewis
International Unit
Department for Work and Pensions
Tel. +44 (0)20 73404028 (ext. 23028)
mailto:lindsey.lewis@dwp.gsi.gov.uk
______________________________________________
From: Lewis Lindsey STRATEGY INTERNATIONAL
Sent: 13 January 2012 16:13
To:
'Miriam.Bennett-Houlton@fco.gsi.gov.uk'; 'Will.Garton@fco.gsi.gov.uk'
Cc:
Napier Alan PENSIONS PRIVATE; Mccallion John STRATEGY PRIVATE PENSIONS; 'Frank.Carson@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk';
'Bridget.Micklem@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk'; 'Julian.Brown@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk'; Tillett Liz STRATEGY INTERNATIONAL;
'Christopher.Hobley@fco.gsi.gov.uk'; 'Alessandro.Hillman@fco.gsi.gov.uk'; Hughes Kevin PENSIONS PRIVATE
Subject:
RE: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Problem in view of the proposal for a Regulation on the European
System Of National And Regional Accounts
Hello Miriam,
I've asked our analysts to look at the table and they confirm that this would be very difficult
for the UK to comply with and would represent a significant additional data collection
burden for us. (Some parts are probably not possible for us to collect).
So we should definitely support the German proposal to make this a voluntary requirement
on this basis, alongside the principle that we should avoid placing additional reporting
burdens on Member States except where absolutely necessary.
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
116
LIMITE EN
Will - is there a UK National Statistics Authority official who leads on this overall? If so,
would you be able to make sure that he/she is in the loop on this issue?
Many thanks.
Kind Regards,
Lindsey
Lindsey Lewis
International Unit
Department for Work and Pensions
Tel. +44 (0)20 73404028 (ext. 23028)
mailto:lindsey.lewis@dwp.gsi.gov.uk
-----Original Message----From: mailto:Miriam.Bennett-Houlton@fco.gsi.gov.uk]
Sent: 13 January 2012 10:12
To: Napier Alan PENSIONS PRIVATE; Mccallion John STRATEGY PRIVATE PENSIONS;
Frank.Carson@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk; Bridget.Micklem@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk;
Julian.Brown@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk; Tillett Liz STRATEGY INTERNATIONAL
Cc: Christopher.Hobley@fco.gsi.gov.uk; Alessandro.Hillman@fco.gsi.gov.uk;
Will.Garton@fco.gsi.gov.uk
Subject: FW: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Problem in view of the proposal for a
Regulation on the European System Of National And Regional Accounts
Dear all,
Please see the below request for support from my German oppo on pensions. London, please could
you advise whether we can support this?
Copied to Will Garton, who attends the Statistics working group.
Miriam
-----Original Message----From: .BRUEEU SOZ-2 Barth, Bruno [mailto:soz-2-eu@brue.auswaertiges-amt.de]
Sent: 12 January 2012 17:57
Subject: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Problem in view of the proposal for a
Regulation on the European System Of National And Regional Accounts
Dear colleagues,
May I draw your attention to a serious problem we have with the attached proposal for a Regulation
on the European System of National and Regional Accounts currently discussed in the Working
Party on Statistics. The next and probably final meeting of the Working Party is scheduled for 17
January.
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
117
LIMITE EN
The problem concerns the pension schemes in social insurance. The Regulation stipulates the
binding requirement for Member States to deliver table 29 of Annex B "pension schemes in social
insurance".
Germany is against the binding requirement. Instead, we propose to make the delivery of table 29
VOLUNTARY. I attach our written opinion on table 29 which substantiates our reservation and
proposes to make the delivery of table 29 voluntary.
It would be extremely helpful for us, if your delegations could approach your Ministries responsible
for Pension Insurance to support the German position and to organise as much support as possible.
The German Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is not responsible for the Regulation but for
Pension Insurance so that you might have to contact your Ministry responsible for the Working Party
on Statistics.
Thank you very much for your support.
Kind regards
Bruno
Bruno Barth
Social Affairs Counsellor
Permanent Representation of Germany to the EU Rue Jacques de Lalaing 8-14 B-1040 Brussels
Tel: +32(0)2 787 1322
Mobil: +32(0)473 737208
Fax: +32(0)2 787 2322
E-Mail: bruno.barth@diplo.de
***********************************************************************************
Visit http://www.fco.gov.uk for British foreign policy news and travel advice and
http://blogs.fco.gov.uk to read our blogs.
This email (with any attachments) is intended for the attention of the addressee(s) only. If you are
not the intended recipient, please inform the sender straight away before deleting the message
without copying, distributing or disclosing its contents to any other person or organisation.
Unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted. Any views or opinions expressed
in this e-mail do not necessarily reflect the FCO's policy. The FCO keeps and uses information in
line with the Data Protection Act 1998. Personal information may be released to other UK
government departments and public authorities.
All messages sent and received by members of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and its
missions overseas may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded in accordance with the
Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice) (Interception of Communications) Regulations 2000.
*********************************************************************************** << File: German opinion
on Annex B Table 29 Pension schemes in social insurance - WorkingGroup Statistics.doc >> <<
File: Document in all languages.htm >> << File: Annex B english text.pdf >> << File: Proposal of
the regulation english version.pdf >>
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
118
LIMITE EN
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 12/01/2011 at 13:32
Title: Inflation and discount rates in National Accounts
Pensions Supplementary Table
Categorisation
International Coordination\Pensions
Note for the record
Sarah Levy
11/01/2011 11:59
To:
SHAUN.BUTCHER@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK, PENNY.SINCLAIR@
ANTHONY.HARRIS1@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK, ARUMUGAM.NAGENDRAM@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK, Gul
Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS, David Hobbs/OFD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS, Ch
cc:
Subject:
[UNCLASSIFIED] - Re: Inflation and discount rates in National
Dear colleagues
I am trying to resolve the issue of how to record the change from the RPI to the CPI in the pensions
supplementary table (see my email to you of 17 December). We seem to have ended up with some different
views. I don't think there is a 'right answer' but we do need to decide which approach to follow in order to be
consistent - so I am setting out the choices and my preferred solution below. I would be grateful if you could
let me know if you object to this solution, bearing in mind that there is no ideal way to resolve this.
1.
Michael Scanlon of GAD has set out two ways in which the change from RPI to CPI for public
service pension indexation could be treated, arguing that method (1) - using the same real discount rate implies a change in the nominal discount rate which should be reflected in row 8 of the supplementary table,
while method (2) - using the same nominal discount rate - implies a change in the real discount rate, which
would not appear anywhere in the table. For details, see note attached to my email of 17 December, which is
re-attached below.
2.
Ismael Ahamdanech-Zarco of Eurostat's reaction to GAD's note was that the first approach using the
real discount rate is better because with the second approach we are "missing something", i.e there is an
implied change in the real discount rate which is not recorded anywhere in the table.
3.
Shaun Butcher, DWP Forecasting Division, argued that changes to the assumed rate of increase of
pensions due to the change from RPI to CPI should not have any impact on the discount rate, nominal or
real. Discount rates reflect things like governments' long-term borrowing costs, while differences between
real and nominal are linked to GDP deflators (not RPI or CPI). By contrast, the change from RPI to CPI is
relevant for decisions about uprating of pensions (future pension increases).
My view is that Shaun's solution is the one that is most compatible with the aims of the pensions
supplementary table, including the aim of using stable long-term discount rates which reflect things like social
time preference rates, long-term borrowing costs and GDP deflators across Europe.
Also, this solution is the least likely to cause problems of inconsistency with other EU countries, as the
guidance asks us to use either 3% real or 5% nominal discount rates and does not envisage any changes in
these owing to country-specific changes in inflation (or, for that matter, inflation indices). Ismael said in his
reply that he did not wish to amend the guidance, so if we were to adopt either of Michael’s suggested
approaches (which impact on either the 3% real or 5% nominal discount rate) we would risk not being
comparable with other EU countries.
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
119
LIMITE EN
Therefore, unless anyone has strong objections, I suggest that we adopt this approach, which means that
the change from RPI to CPI would appear in the supplementary table as movements a, b, c and d outlined in
GAD's note, and there would be a fall in pension entitlements between the start and end of the year in which
the change from RPI to CPI takes place.
Please let me know your views, and also if I have missed or misunderstood anything.
Best wishes,
Sarah Levy
Head of Pensions Analysis
Household and Labour Market Division
Office for National Statistics
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8XG
Tel: 01633 455457
If pension statistics are important to your work, please respond to our Work Programme Consultation at
www.ons.gov.uk/about/consultations/work-programme-consultation/index.html
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
120
LIMITE EN
Treatment of change from RPI to CPI
In June 2010, the Government announced that public service pension indexation would be in line
with CPI rather than RPI from April 2011. It will be necessary to take account of this announcement
in the Supplementary table on pension schemes in social insurance. This note illustrates two
different ways in which this announcement could be treated, as follows:
• Using the same real discount rate before and after the announcement
• Using the same nominal discount rate before and after the announcement
Each illustration covers the year in which this announcement is recognised in the Supplementary
table. They set out the financial assumptions at the start and end of the year and discuss the
impact on the rows of the Supplementary table.
Illustration 1: Same real discount rate
At start year
At end year
The following table
illustrates possible
financial assumptions
using the same real
discount rate in excess
of increases in
pensions at the start
year and end year.
Financial assumption
Nominal discount rate
Assumed rate of increase
of RPI
Assumed rate of increase
of CPI
Assumed rate of increase
of pensions1
Discount rate in excess of
increases in pensions2
5¾%
2¾%
5%
2¾%
2%
2%
2¾%
2%
3%
3%
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
121
LIMITE EN
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 12/01/2011 at 13:32
Title: Inflation and discount rates in National Accounts
Pensions Supplementary Table
Categorisation
International Coordination\Pensions
Note for the record
Sarah Levy
11/01/2011 11:59
To:
SHAUN.BUTCHER@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK, PENNY.SINCLAIR@
ANTHONY.HARRIS1@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK, ARUMUGAM.NAGENDRAM@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK, Gul
Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS, David Hobbs/OFD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS, Ch
cc:
Subject:
[UNCLASSIFIED] - Re: Inflation and discount rates in National
Dear colleagues
I am trying to resolve the issue of how to record the change from the RPI to the CPI in the pensions
supplementary table (see my email to you of 17 December). We seem to have ended up with some different
views. I don't think there is a 'right answer' but we do need to decide which approach to follow in order to be
consistent - so I am setting out the choices and my preferred solution below. I would be grateful if you could
let me know if you object to this solution, bearing in mind that there is no ideal way to resolve this.
1.
Michael Scanlon of GAD has set out two ways in which the change from RPI to CPI for public
service pension indexation could be treated, arguing that method (1) - using the same real discount rate implies a change in the nominal discount rate which should be reflected in row 8 of the supplementary table,
while method (2) - using the same nominal discount rate - implies a change in the real discount rate, which
would not appear anywhere in the table. For details, see note attached to my email of 17 December, which is
re-attached below.
2.
Ismael Ahamdanech-Zarco of Eurostat's reaction to GAD's note was that the first approach using the
real discount rate is better because with the second approach we are "missing something", i.e there is an
implied change in the real discount rate which is not recorded anywhere in the table.
3.
Shaun Butcher, DWP Forecasting Division, argued that changes to the assumed rate of increase of
pensions due to the change from RPI to CPI should not have any impact on the discount rate, nominal or
real. Discount rates reflect things like governments' long-term borrowing costs, while differences between
real and nominal are linked to GDP deflators (not RPI or CPI). By contrast, the change from RPI to CPI is
relevant for decisions about uprating of pensions (future pension increases).
My view is that Shaun's solution is the one that is most compatible with the aims of the pensions
supplementary table, including the aim of using stable long-term discount rates which reflect things like social
time preference rates, long-term borrowing costs and GDP deflators across Europe.
Also, this solution is the least likely to cause problems of inconsistency with other EU countries, as the
guidance asks us to use either 3% real or 5% nominal discount rates and does not envisage any changes in
these owing to country-specific changes in inflation (or, for that matter, inflation indices). Ismael said in his
reply that he did not wish to amend the guidance, so if we were to adopt either of Michael’s suggested
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
122
LIMITE EN
approaches (which impact on either the 3% real or 5% nominal discount rate) we would risk not being
comparable with other EU countries.
Therefore, unless anyone has strong objections, I suggest that we adopt this approach, which means that
the change from RPI to CPI would appear in the supplementary table as movements a, b, c and d outlined in
GAD's note, and there would be a fall in pension entitlements between the start and end of the year in which
the change from RPI to CPI takes place.
Please let me know your views, and also if I have missed or misunderstood anything.
Best wishes,
Sarah Levy
Head of Pensions Analysis
Household and Labour Market Division
Office for National Statistics
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8XG
Tel: 01633 455457
If pension statistics are important to your work, please respond to our Work Programme Consultation at
www.ons.gov.uk/about/consultations/work-programme-consultation/index.html
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
123
LIMITE EN
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 19/12/2010 at 16:30
Title: Inflation and discount rates - request for advice
Categorisation
International Coordination\Pensions
Note for the record
Sarah Levy
17/12/2010 17:21
To:
cc:
Subject:
Ismael.AHAMDANECH-ZARCO@ec.europa.eu
Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS
[UNCLASSIFIED] - Re: Inflation and discount rates - request fo
Dear Ismael
We are making good progress on Columns G and H of the Pensions Supplementary Table, but we have
come upon the following difficulty about which I need to ask your advice. It relates to inflation and discount
rates.
Your guidance says that we can use either a 3% real discount rate or a 5% nominal discount rate for the
estimates in the Supplementary Table, as these would give virtually the same result. However, the UK
government recently announced that from April 2011 the inflation index used to calculate public sector
pensions would change from the Retail Price Index (RPI) to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Historically, the
CPI has been lower than the RPI.
This means that pension liabilities will be recalculated by scheme actuaries to reflect a change in the rate of
pension increases. We have been trying to work out where this change would appear in the Supplementary
Table. In doing so, we have realised that when the inflation assumption changes we cannot assume that
both methods (3% real discount rate and 5% nominal discount rate) give the same result. In fact, this
assumption only applies if there are no major changes in inflation assumptions.
As the attached note demonstrates, we have two alternatives for the Supplementary Table in 2011:
I.
We use the 3% real discount rate assumption, in which case the result of the change from RPI to
CPI is cancelled out in Rows 7/8 and liabilities remain the same at the end of the year as at the start of
the year (other things being equal). OR
II.
We use the 5% nominal discount rate assumption, in which case the result of the change from RPI to
CPI is a fall in pension liabilities between the start of the year and the end of the year, which is reflected
in a decrease in row 7/8 of the table.
The attached note, which has been written for us by a colleague at the Government Actuary's Department
(GAD), sets out the issues in more detail.
We would like your advice on what to do. Would you prefer us to use one method or the other?
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
124
LIMITE EN
I think it would also be important to clarify this issue in the Technical Compilation Guide, as other countries
may face similar problems when there is a significant change in inflation assumptions and it would be
important to have a consistent approach across the EU.
Wishing you a good holiday and a Happy New Year,
Sarah Levy
Head of Pensions Analysis
Household and Labour Market Division
Office for National Statistics
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8XG
Tel: 01633 455457
If pension statistics are important to your work, please respond to our Work Programme Consultation at
www.ons.gov.uk/about/consultations/work-programme-consultation/index.html
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
125
LIMITE EN
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 20/10/2010 at 14:30
Title: Pensions Supplementary Table
Categorisation
International Coordination\Pensions
Note for the record
Sarah Levy
18/10/2010 18:07
To:
cc:
Subject:
Ismael.AHAMDANECH-ZARCO@ec.europa.eu
Peter.Parlasca@ec.europa.eu, Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/L
RE: Pensions Supplementary TableNotes Link
Hola Ismael
Thank you for sending me the draft of the Technical compilation guide on pensions data. I have read
Chapters 1-5 so far, and I have found them very helpful. I am attaching a list of my specific comments.
One general comment: I am pleased to see the new guidance on the discount rate in Chapter 5, which
responds to the concerns expressed by ourselves and others. The other sections covering modelling
assumptions are also useful, and I look forward to further discussion of the details at the workshop in
November.
Un abrazo,
Sarah Levy
Head of Pensions Analysis
Household and Labour Market Division
Office for National Statistics
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8XG
Direct line : 01633 455457
Main switchboard: 0845 601 3034
www.statistics.gov.uk/pensiontrends/
Ismael.AHAMDANECHZARCO@ec.europa.eu
08/10/2010 14:42
To:
cc:
Subject:
Sarah Levy/ONS@ONS
Peter.Parlasca@ec.europa.eu
RE: Pensions Supplementary Table
Hola Sarah,
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
126
LIMITE EN
Indeed it´s a good idea. I´m sending you the draft, but please take into account
that it is a draft and that some mistakes (not serious anyway) can remain yet.
On the other hand, please, if possible, send me any possible comments by 18th of
October. Do not hesitate to contact me if you need any other thing.
Buen fin de semana,
Isma
-----Original Message----From: Sarah Levy [mailto:sarah.levy@ons.gsi.gov.uk]
Sent: Friday, October 08, 2010 1:02 PM
To: AHAMDANECH ZARCO Ismael (ESTAT)
Subject: RE: Pensions Supplementary Table
Thanks, Ismael
We are pushing ahead now with developing estimates for the UK's
Supplementary Table, and it would be very useful to have some extra
guidance at this point. I know that Peter is going to present the draft
pensions compilation guide on 9/10th November, but I wonder if you have an
early draft that you could send me now? This might help to clarify some of
the questions we have, so that we do things right and do not have to make
expensive corrections later.
It might also help you and Peter in developing the compilation guide,
because if it does not answer our questions, we could feed this information
back to you for inclusion in the guide.
Thank you again,
Sarah Levy
Head of Pensions Analysis
Household and Labour Market Division
Office for National Statistics
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8XG
Direct line : 01633 455457
Main switchboard:
0845 601 3034
www.statistics.gov.uk/pensiontrends/
Ismael.AHAMDANECH-ZARCO@e
c.europa.eu
To:
Sarah
08/10/2010 09:21
cc:
Subject:
RE: Pensions
Levy/ONS@ONS
Supplementary Table
Hi Sarah,
Yes it´s me. Peter Parlasca is the head of the team, but I´m the
responsible for this isue.
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
127
LIMITE EN
Best,
isma
-----Original Message----From: Sarah Levy [mailto:sarah.levy@ons.gsi.gov.uk]
Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2010 7:43 PM
To: AHAMDANECH ZARCO Ismael (ESTAT)
Subject: RE: Pensions Supplementary Table
Dear Ismael
John Verrinder says you are the person to talk to. Have you taken over from
John? Or is it Peter Parlasca, whose name I can see on the agenda for the
workshop on 9-10th November? Could you tell me who is the right person to
contact to discuss a few issues re the Supplementary Table, either when I
am in Luxembourg or by email before then?
Thank you.
Sarah Levy
Head of Pensions Analysis
Household and Labour Market Division
Office for National Statistics
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8XG
Direct line : 01633 455457
Main switchboard:
0845 601 3034
www.statistics.gov.uk/pensiontrends/
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
128
LIMITE EN
Title: Pensions Seminar
Categorisation
International Coordination\Pensions
Note for the record
Ismael.AHAMDANECHZARCO@ec.europa.eu
14/07/2010 09:48
To:
thorsten.haug@destatis.de, thomas.luh@destatis.de, caricchi@
ammalmeida@bportugal.pt, Ahristov@NSI.bg, Aharrison1@worldbank.org, anne.mulkay@nbb.be,
Aidan.Synnott@cso.ie, bio@dst.dk, Clyde.Caruana@gov.mt, ddamianou@cystat.mof.gov.cy, Dario
didier.blanchet@insee.fr, Dominique.Durant@banque-france.fr, fabrice.lenglart@insee.fr, francois.
Gabriele.Semeraro@bancaditalia.it, Christopher.Garland@ec.europa.eu, georgeta.mondiru@insse
germain.stammet@bcl.lu, Gillian.Phelan@centralbank.ie, guy.schuller@statec.etat.lu, h.lub@dnb.n
huszarg@mnb.hu, Janusz.Jablonowski@mail.nbp.pl, Jens.Gruetz@destatis.de, joao.nogueiramart
Johann.Bjorgvinsson@statice.is, John.Verrinder@ec.europa.eu, jonas.edblom@scb.se, Kamil.DYB
caruanak@centralbankmalta.org, Karl.Schwarz@statistik.gv.at, Liene.Gintere@csb.gov.lv, louprad
Marc.origer@statec.etat.lu, MTeresa.Ferreira@ine.pt, M.Madejski@stat.gov.pl, marjana.klinar@go
marta.rodriguez@ecb.europa.eu, mikk.medijainen@stat.ee, MDimcheva@nsi.bg, Josemaria.Olivar
Paula.Koistinen-Jokiniemi@stat.fi, malizia@istat.it, razvan.miroescu@bnro.ro, reimund.mink@ecb.
Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS, Sarah Levy/ONS@ONS, SCorres@bankofgreece.g
Tomas.Paulauskas@stat.gov.lt, ulrich.burgtorf@bundesbank.de, veronika.stastna@czso.cz, zuzan
cc:
Denis.Leythienne@ec.europa.eu, Peter.Parlasca@ec.europa.e
Subject:
Pensions seminar
Dear colleagues,
Please note that a seminar on pension schemes will be held in Luxembourg on 9/10 November
2010. The main objective is to further prepare for the compilation and transmission of the future table
on pensions which should be part of the revised ESA transmission programme.
The agenda will be circulated in due time.
Please, if you are no longer responsible for this issue, contact me to drop your e-mail adress from
the contact list.
Best regards,
Ismael Ahamdanech Zarco
European Commission
Eurostat.Unit C5: Government and sector accounts;
Financial indicators
Office E3/818, Bech Building.
Rue Alphonse Weicker, 5.L-2920, Luxembourg
Phone: (+352)430138893
Fax: (+352)430134389
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
129
LIMITE EN
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 29/01/2010 at 18:37
Title: ECB Monthly Bulletin article 'Entitlements of
households under government pension schemes in the euro
area - Results on the basis of the new system of national
accounts'
Categorisation
International Coordination\Pensions
Note for the record
Marta.Rodriguez@ecb.i
nt
27/01/2010 16:45
To:
caricchi@istat.it, ammalmeida@bportugal.pt, Ahristov@NSI.bg
anne.mulkay@nbb.be, asuncion.rubio@bde.es, Aidan.Synnott@cso.ie, bio@dst.dk, Clyde.Caruan
ddamianou@cystat.mof.gov.cy, Dario.florey@bfs.admin.ch, didier.blanchet@insee.fr, Dominique.D
fabrice.lenglart@insee.fr, francois.lequiller@oecd.org, Gabriele.Semeraro@bancaditalia.it, acristob
georgeta.mondiru@insse.ro, Gsarris@cystat.mof.gov.cy, germain.stammet@bcl.lu, Gillian.Phelan@
guy.schuller@statec.etat.lu, h.lub@dnb.nl, hee@ssb.no, huszarg@mnb.hu, Janusz.Jablonowski@
Jens.Gruetz@destatis.de, joao.nogueiramartins@ec.europa.eu, Johann.Bjorgvinsson@statice.is, j
Kamil.DYBCZAK@ec.europa.eu, caruanak@centralbankmalta.org, Karl.Schwarz@statistik.gv.at, L
louprado@ine.es, lgordo@bde.es, Marc.origer@statec.etat.lu, MTeresa.Ferreira@ine.pt, M.Madejs
marjana.klinar@gov.si, mikk.medijainen@stat.ee, MDimcheva@NSI.bg, Paula.Koistinen-Jokiniemi
razvan.miroescu@bnro.ro, rnws@cbs.nl, Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS, Sar
SCorres@bankofgreece.gr, Tomas.Paulauskas@stat.gov.lt, ulrich.burgtorf@bundesbank.de, veron
zuzana_durcenkova@nbs.sk
cc:
Reimund.Mink@ecb.int, John.Verrinder@ec.europa.eu, Ismae
ZARCO@ec.europa.eu
Subject:
ECB Monthly Bulletin article 'Entitlements of households under
the euro area - Results on the basis of the new system of national accounts'
Dear colleagues,
On behalf of Reimund Mink, please find attached, for your information, the
article entitled ‘Entitlements of households under government pension
schemes in the euro area – Results on the basis of the new system of
national accounts’ . The article has been published on the 2010 January's
edition of the ECB Monthly Bulletin.
Best regards,
Marta Rodríguez
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
130
LIMITE EN
85
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
131
LIMITE EN
ECB
Monthly Bulletin
January 2010
ARTICLES
Entitlements of households
under government pension
schemes in the euro area –
results on the basis of
the new System
of National Accounts
This article presents the results obtained when household entitlements under government pension
schemes in the euro area are recorded on the basis of the System of National Accounts, 2008
(2008 SNA). While the treatment of government pension schemes in the core accounts has hardly
changed, the 2008 SNA provides an international statistical standard for compiling supplementary
data on pension entitlements under unfunded defi ned-benefi t schemes managed by the general
government and also social security schemes. The rough magnitude of unfunded entitlements
vis-à-vis general government is known owing to various studies undertaken by international
organisations such as the IMF, the OECD and the World Bank. However, the 2008 SNA makes
provision for more detailed information in terms of pension entitlements as outstanding amounts,
their accumulation and the impact of pension reforms. It increases the transparency of household
and general government fi nance, allows a better comparison across countries and economic areas
and is particularly relevant in view of the far-reaching implications of population ageing in the
euro area and many industrial economies.
Household entitlements under government pension schemes as presented in this article cannot
be used as an indicator to assess the fi scal sustainability of unfunded pension schemes. For that
purpose the concept of pension entitlements needs to be extended to include entitlements that
will be accrued in the future, while at the same time comparing these “claims” with future social
contributions and tax payments.
1 INTRODUCTION AND POLICY CHALLENGES
Owing to increasing life expectancy and low
birth rates, the population in the euro area is
ageing and is expected to decline. According to
the central scenario prepared by Eurostat, life
expectancy at birth in the euro area is projected
to increase in the period from 2008 to 2060 by
7.5 years for men (from 77.5 years in 2008 to
85.0 years in 2060) and by 6.1 years for women
(from 83.4 years in 2008 to 89.5 years in 2060).
As shown in Chart 1, this implies a continuation
of the gradual convergence of the life expectancy
of men and women. As regards the birth rate in
the euro area, although it is expected to rise
slightly, from 1.55 births per woman in 2008 to
1.67 births per woman in 2060, this is still
substantially below the rate of 2.1 births per
woman that would be needed for each generation
to replace itself.1
To assess the policy challenges arising from the
above demographic projections for the fi nancing
of pay-as-you-go government pension schemes,
it is useful to analyse the implications by taking
stock of pension entitlements already accrued to
date, from both a national accounts perspective
and a forward-looking economic perspective.
1 See also European Commission and the Economic Policy
Committee, “2009 Ageing Report: economic and budgetary
projections for the EU-27 Member States (2008-2060)”,
European Economy, No 2, 2009.
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
132
LIMITE EN
ENTITLEMENTS OF HOUSEHOLDS
UNDER GOVERNMENT PENSION SCHEMES
IN THE EURO AREA – RESULTS ON THE BASIS
OF THE NEW SYSTEM OF NATIONAL ACCOUNTS
Chart 1 Projected life expectancy at birth
in the euro area
(age in years)
2010 2020 2030 2040 2050 2060
life expectancy at birth, men
life expectancy at birth, women
70
75
80
85
90
95
70
75
80
85
90
95
Source: European Commission and the Economic Policy
Committee (2009), 2009 Ageing Report: economic and budgetary
projections for the EU-27 Member States (2008-2060), European
Economy No 2, 2009.
STC/2010/007
86
ECB
Monthly Bulletin
January 2010
From a forward-looking economic perspective,
according to the 2009 Ageing Report by the
European Commission and Economic Policy
Committee, government expenditure on
pensions in the euro area is projected to rise from
the level of 11.1% of GDP in 2007 to 13.9% of
GDP in 2060, with signifi cant differences across
the euro area countries. In conjunction with
the euro area’s weak structural fi scal position,
this overall rise in ageing-related costs in an
environment in which potential GDP growth is
declining to some extent would contribute to
signifi cant risks to the long-term sustainability
of public fi nances identifi ed in the Sustainability
Report 2009.2 Reducing these risks requires
the implementation of the so-called threepronged
strategy agreed upon by the Stockholm
European Council in 2001 which consists of
(i) fostering fi scal consolidation, (ii) increasing
productivity and employment and (iii) reforming
social security systems including pensions.
The above-mentioned stocktaking approach is
based on the recording of pension entitlements
which pensioners and employees have accrued
through their past social contributions. These
household pension entitlements are obligations
of general government. Even though they are
not recorded as government debt, governments
are expected to fulfi l their commitments to
(current and future) pensioners. In the light of
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
133
LIMITE EN
the projected demographic developments, it is
of interest to record the size of these obligations
and monitor their development over time.
It must be stressed that gauging general
government accrued-to-date pension obligations
does not suffi ce in itself to allow an assessment of
the sustainability of public fi nances. This is
because the evolution of future contributions to
pay-as-you-go government pension schemes is not
taken into account. Notwithstanding, if recorded
systematically and over a long time horizon, data
on accrued obligations may contribute usefully to
assessing, inter alia, to what extent the size of
pension obligations changes in response to reforms
of government pension schemes, e.g. increases in
the statutory retirement age. According to the
literature, the size of these accrued-to-date pension
entitlements of households or obligations of
general governments is very signifi cant, although
differing widely across countries.3
The recently adopted 2008 SNA recommends
that the accrued-to-date pension entitlements of
households be recorded under unfunded defi nedbenefi
t schemes managed by government and
social security schemes in a supplementary table
on pensions.4 Moreover, the European System
of Accounts, which is currently being revised,
will be amended in line with this approach.
These amendments aim to allow pension data
of countries with different types of pension
scheme to be compared, especially in the case
of major economic areas, such as the euro
area, the United States and Japan. Against this
background, the aim of this article is to survey
the changes in the 2008 SNA with respect to
accrued-to-date pension entitlements and to
present estimates for the euro area prepared
by the European Commission (Eurostat)/ECB
Task Force on Pensions established by the
Committee for Monetary, Financial and Balance
of Payments Statistics.5
The article is structured as follows. Section 2
provides an overview of how pension
2 See European Commission, “Sustainability Report 2009”,
European Economy, No 9, 2009.
3 For a survey of estimates, including those of the OECD and IMF,
see R. Holzmann, P. Palacios and A. Zviniene, “On the economics
and scope of implicit pension debt: an international perspective”,
Empirica, No 28, 2001, pp. 97-129. The studies surveyed date back
to the mid-1990s and fi nd implicit pension liabilities of between
200% and 350% of GDP for individual euro area countries.
4 The 2008 SNA, the most important international statistical standard,
is an updated version of the System of National Accounts, 1993
(1993 SNA). It is the fi fth version of the SNA, the fi rst of which
was published over fi fty years ago, and it was adopted by the United
Nations Statistical Commission in 2008 and 2009. The 2008 SNA was
prepared under the auspices of the Inter-Secretariat Working Group on
National Accounts (ISWGNA), which consists of fi ve organisations:
Eurostat, the IMF, the OECD, the United Nations Statistics Division and
regional commissions of the United Nations Secretariat and the World
Bank. The 2008 SNA is published jointly by the fi ve organisations.
It is available at the website of the United Nations Statistics Division
(http://unstats.un.org/unsd/sna1993/snarev1.asp).
5 The estimates refer to accrued-to-date pension entitlements of
households vis-à-vis unfunded employment-related government
pension schemes, including social security schemes. See also
R. Mink, M. Rodriguez, E. Barredo and J. Verrinder, “Refl ecting
pensions in National Accounts – Work of the Eurostat/ECB Task
Force”, a paper prepared for the 30th General Conference of the
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
134
LIMITE EN
International Association for Research in Income and Wealth
(IARIW), August 2008.
STC/2010/007
87
ECB
Monthly Bulletin
January 2010
ARTICLES
Entitlements of households
under government pension
schemes in the euro area –
results on the basis of
the new System
of National Accounts
entitlements of households are currently recorded
in national accounts and introduces the new
way of recording pension data recommended in
the 2008 SNA. Section 3 presents estimates of
pension entitlements under government pension
schemes in the euro area in comparison with
data provided for the United States. It describes
these data from the perspective of households
and also from a general government perspective.
Section 4 briefl y considers the projections
published in the 2009 Ageing Report for all
EU Member States. Their methodological basis
is also compared with the concept of accrued-todate
pension entitlements. Section 5 concludes.
2 PENSION ENTITLEMENTS OF HOUSEHOLDS
UNDER GOVERNMENT SCHEMES,
AS COMPARED WITH HOUSEHOLD ASSETS
Pension entitlements of households can be
recorded either as fi nancial assets in the national
accounts or as contingent assets.6 Those treated
as fi nancial assets constitute fi nancial claims that
benefi ciaries have vis-à-vis either their employer
or a pension manager designated by the employer
to pay pension benefi ts earned as part of a
compensation agreement concluded between the
employer and the employee. Those treated as
contingent assets usually represent “conditional
claims” on unfunded pension schemes managed
by general government, including social security
schemes. As counterparts, they are recorded as
contingent liabilities of the government,
the obligations of which cover these
contingencies together with government debt.
SOCIAL INSURANCE PENSION SCHEMES
Under social insurance pension schemes,
benefi ciaries are obliged or encouraged to take
out insurance to cover their risks and needs in
old age. The most important pension benefi t
covered by social insurance pension schemes
is income in retirement, but other contingencies
may also be covered. For example, pensions
may be payable to widows and widowers,
or to people who have suffered an injury at work
and are no longer able to work. Social assistance
benefi ts may be provided independently of
participation in a social insurance scheme.
A third form of pension is that provided under
individual insurance policies.
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
135
LIMITE EN
As shown in Box 1, there are different types
of social insurance pension scheme in the
euro area: they may be managed by general
government, as is predominantly the case, or by
non-government entities; they may be designed
as employment-related pension schemes, such
as defi ned-contribution, defi ned-benefi t or
hybrid schemes, or as social security schemes.
Employment-related schemes may be funded or
unfunded, while social security schemes tend to
be fi nanced on a pay-as-you-go basis, through
social contributions or government transfers.
In the System of National Accounts, 1993
(1993 SNA), obligations to provide pension
benefi ts were recognised as liabilities for
employment-related defi ned-contribution and
funded defi ned-benefi t schemes, but not for
unfunded defi ned-benefi t and social security
schemes. The recently adopted 2008 SNA
recommends that pension entitlements under
unfunded defi ned-benefi t schemes managed by
general government and social security schemes be
recorded as supplementary data.7 This will allow
pension data of countries with different types of
pension scheme to be compared, especially in the
case of major economic areas, such as the euro
area, the United States and Japan.
Social security pension schemes and unfunded
defi ned-benefi t schemes managed by general
government are particularly important for the
euro area. Accordingly, there is an interest in
comprehensive information on accrued-to-date
government obligations that will need to be
fi nanced in future, in view of demographic
developments and the foreseeable fi scal burden
owing to ageing populations.
6 As contingent assets and liabilities do not give rise to unconditional
obligations either to make payments or to provide other objects
of value, they are not recorded as fi nancial assets and liabilities
in the national accounts. For details, see paragraph 2.29 of the
2008 SNA.
7 For details, see Chapter 17 of the 2008 SNA.
STC/2010/007
88
ECB
Monthly Bulletin
January 2010
Box 1
SOCIAL INSURANCE, SOCIAL ASSISTANCE AND INDIVIDUAL INSURANCE POLICIES
Social insurance is the predominant form of pension scheme in the euro area, covering social
security pension schemes (classifi ed as belonging to the general government sector) which, in
many cases, are organised for major parts of the population, and employment-related pension
schemes established by employers, including government, for their own employees.1 The
distinction between social security schemes and employment-related schemes varies considerably
from country to country, with the consequence that the coverage and, therefore, the national
perception of what the term “social security” means also vary considerably, especially between
European and non-European countries.
In contrast to social insurance benefi ts, social assistance benefi ts are payable without qualifying
contributions having been made to a social insurance scheme.
Individual insurance policies are policies that benefi ciaries take out in their own names without
being members of a scheme organised collectively for groups of employees, as in the case of
social insurance.
Employment-related social insurance pension schemes may be managed by general
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
136
LIMITE EN
government or by non-government entities, and they may be funded or unfunded. Funded
schemes fi nance pension benefi ts by drawing down segregated and earmarked assets. Their
design calls for them to hold assets equal to their liabilities. These schemes can be exactly
funded, under-funded or over-funded, depending on the size of the accumulated assets in
relation to the pension entitlements. Unfunded schemes fi nance current pension payments with
the ongoing contributions paid by future pensioners and/or other ongoing revenue, such as
taxes or transfers; unfunded schemes may nevertheless hold assets (for liquidity reasons, for
example, or as buffer funds).
1 Chapter 17 of the 2008 SNA describes the recording of pension schemes in the form of social insurance, social assistance and individual
insurance schemes. A new chapter on pensions will also be part of the revised European System of Accounts.
Social insurance pension schemes
Characteristics Social insurance
The benefi ciary is obliged or encouraged to take out insurance against contingencies (old age, unemployment,
illness, long-term care) by intervention of a third party.
Social security Employment-related social insurance
Form of organisation Organised by general government via social security
schemes
Organised by employers on behalf of their employees
and their dependants or by others on behalf of a
specifi ed group
Type of social insurance Social security pension
schemes
Other social security Employment-related
pension schemes
Other employmentrelated
social insurance
Sector Social security funds Sector or sub-sector of employer or pension funds
STC/2010/007
89
ECB
Monthly Bulletin
January 2010
ARTICLES
Entitlements of households
under government pension
schemes in the euro area –
results on the basis of
the new System
of National Accounts
DIFFERENT RECORDING OF DEFINEDCONTRIBUTION
AND DEFINED-BENEFIT SCHEMES
Institutional differences across countries with
respect to pension schemes (e.g. a relatively
large proportion of defi ned-contribution schemes
in the United States, the Netherlands and
the United Kingdom, as opposed to relatively
large social security and government-managed
unfunded defi ned-benefi t schemes in most
euro area countries) result in signifi cant
differences across the national accounts,
making international comparisons diffi cult.
In particular, household pension entitlements
in countries with mainly defi ned-contribution
schemes are recorded as household assets, while
rather small amounts of pension entitlements are
recorded in countries in which pension schemes
are predominantly organised as governmentmanaged
unfunded schemes, as in Germany,
France and Italy.
Looking at the data currently reported in
household balance sheets on life insurance and
pension assets, euro area countries with a large
proportion of defi ned-contribution schemes
show rather high ratios of household life
insurance and pension assets as a percentage
of household gross disposable income (GDI)
(see Table 1). The opposite is the case for euro
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
137
LIMITE EN
area countries with social security pension
schemes for the majority of the population
and also unfunded defi ned-benefi t schemes
managed by general government.
In the euro area, defi ned-contribution pension
entitlements (including life insurance products)
totalled €4.8 trillion in 2008, covering 80% of
household GDI (see also Table 5) or 11% of
household assets, held predominantly with
pension funds.8 In the United States, life
insurance and pension assets amounted to
USD 10.4 trillion in 2008, which corresponds
8 See Table 3.3 under the Euro area accounts sub-section of the
Euro area statistics section in this issue of the Monthly Bulletin.
Employment-related pension schemes are broken down further into defi ned-contribution pension
schemes and defi ned-benefi t pension schemes. In a defi ned-contribution scheme, the benefi ts
are defi ned exclusively in terms of the level of the fund built up from the contributions made
over the employee’s working life and the increases in value that result from the investment of
these funds. These schemes are organised like accounts owned by the scheme participants, as
the level of benefi ts on retirement depends on the balance in the defi ned-contribution scheme
account. The entire risk of the scheme to provide an adequate income in retirement is thus
borne by the employee. In a defi ned-benefi t scheme, the benefi ts payable to the employee on
retirement are determined through the use of a formula, either alone or in combination with a
guaranteed minimum amount payable. This formula typically considers the length of service
and some measure of fi nal or average pay. The risk of a defi ned-benefi t scheme to provide an
adequate income in retirement is borne by the employer. Hybrid schemes with both a defi nedbenefi
t and a defi ned-contribution element are usually classifi ed as defi ned-benefi t schemes.
Table 1 Household life insurance
and pension assets
(percentages of household GDI at the end of the year)
Country/area 1999 2007 2008
Euro area 64.4 84.0 79.7
of which: Germany 64.2 82.8 84.8
France 69.6 96.7 94.5
Italy 33.6 54.1 51.3
The Netherlands 296.0 324.4 268.7
United Kingdom 261.5 247.9 201.8
United States 138.4 129.2 98.0
Japan 103.3 119.5 .
Sources: ECB, European Commission (Eurostat), UK Offi ce
for National Statistics, US Federal Reserve Board, US Bureau
of Economic Analysis, Bank of Japan, Economic and Social
Research Institute and the Cabinet Offi ce of the Government of
Japan.
Notes: End-of-year fi gures. Data include life insurance and
pension assets; they refer predominantly to defi ned-contribution
schemes.
STC/2010/007
90
ECB
Monthly Bulletin
January 2010
to 98% of household GDI or some 16% of
household assets.
In the euro area, the annual growth rate of
household life insurance and pension assets
declined from 10% in 2005 to 6% in 2007,
mainly on account of diminishing holding gains
(see Chart 2). In 2008 the assets decreased by
more than 1%. This was relatively moderate
in comparison with the 8% drop in euro
area household fi nancial assets, mainly as a
result of valuation losses in the course of the
fi nancial crisis.
By contrast, US household fi nancial assets
dropped by about 17% in 2008. Most of the loss
in assets was accounted for by shares and other
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
138
LIMITE EN
equity, which fell by 27% in 2008. Pension fund
assets in the United States also declined sharply,
falling by 22% in 2008. This relatively large
negative impact on household life insurance and
pension assets in the United States, as compared
with the rather moderate decline in the euro area,
is related to the fact that defi ned-contribution
schemes in the United States are far more
exposed to the fi nancial crisis via their heavy
fi nancial investment in equity than schemes in
the euro area, which hold mainly debt securities.
In general, the growth rates of US household
life insurance and pension assets have been
more volatile than those of corresponding
investments of euro area households since 2000
(see Chart 3).
A BROADER VIEW OF HOUSEHOLD PENSION
ENTITLEMENTS
In order to make it possible to provide a
comprehensive view on social insurance pension
entitlements, the 2008 SNA recommends that a
supplementary table be compiled in which all
pension entitlements are recorded in balance
sheets on an accrued-to-date basis. Entitlements
Chart 3 Household assets in the euro area
and in the United States
(multiples of annual household GDI)
non-financial assets
life insurance and pension assets
shares and other equity
long-term deposits and debt securities
short-term deposits and debt securities
Euro area household assets
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
US household assets
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Sources: ECB, US Bureau of Economic Analysis and US
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
139
LIMITE EN
Federal Reserve Board.
Note: Household non-fi nancial assets in the euro area refer to
residential real estate and in the United States to residential real
estate and tangible assets.
Chart 2 Household life insurance and
pension assets, and financial assets
(annual percentage changes)
-25
-20
-15
-10
-5
0
5
10
15
20
25
-25
-20
-15
-10
-5
0
5
10
15
20
25
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
euro area financial assets
euro area life insurance and pension assets
US financial assets
US life insurance and pension assets
Sources: ECB and US Federal Reserve Board.
STC/2010/007
91
ECB
Monthly Bulletin
January 2010
ARTICLES
Entitlements of households
under government pension
schemes in the euro area –
results on the basis of
the new System
of National Accounts
under unfunded defi ned-benefi t schemes
managed by government are not recorded
in the standard national accounts, but in this
supplementary table. The same applies to social
security pension entitlements.
The supplementary table on social insurance
pension schemes provides a framework for
compiling and presenting balance sheet,
transaction and other fl ow data for all pension
entitlements from the perspective of both debtors
(pension funds) and creditors (households).
The table shows stock and fl ow data for specifi c
pension schemes, such as government-managed
unfunded defi ned-benefi t schemes and social
security pension schemes, that are not fully
recorded in the standard national accounts.
In principle, the supplementary table covers the
pension part of social insurance only. Social
assistance, health or long-term care insurance
and individual insurance policies (related to
pensions) are not included. However, it contains
elements of social assistance that are covered
indistinguishably within pension schemes that
are generally organised as social insurance.
Entitlements for survivors (e.g. dependent
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
140
LIMITE EN
spouses, children and orphans), as well as
benefi ts for disability and invalidity are included
in the supplementary table if they are an integral
part of the pension scheme.
Table 2 presents the supplementary table as
included in Chapter 17 of the 2008 SNA.
The rows show the opening and closing balance
sheet positions of the various social insurance
pension schemes, and also the transactions
and other fl ows during an accounting period.
In essence, the table reconciles the opening
and closing positions of pension entitlements
(rows 1 and 10) for all social insurance
pension schemes that exist in an economy.
Transactions shown in the table are social
contributions received (row 2), pension
benefi ts paid (row 4), transfers of pension
entitlements (row 6) and consequences of
pension reforms (row 7). Other economic
fl ows cover revaluations and other changes in
volume (rows 8 and 9) during an accounting
period. The columns distinguish between
different types of pension scheme according
to various criteria – the principle of recording
(in the standard national accounts, or not in
the standard accounts), the pension manager
and the sector of the scheme (government or
non-government), and the type of the scheme
(defi ned-contribution, defi ned-benefi t or social
security) – with separate columns (G and H)
for the “non-standard account” schemes –
unfunded government-managed defi ned-benefi t
and social security pension schemes. Column J
shows all household pension entitlements.
Only the items in the table that are shaded
in yellow add to the transaction data on
social contributions and pension benefi ts that
are already recorded. The additional fl ow
data are essential to derive data on pension
entitlements. They comprise data on imputed
social contributions paid by employers
(row 2.2) and household supplementary
contributions (row 2.4), other actuarial
changes in social security pension entitlements
(row 3) and changes arising from revaluations
and other changes in volume. Together with
the transaction data on both employers’
and household actual social contributions
(rows 2.1 and 2.3) and pension benefi ts
(row 4), which are also recorded in the
standard national accounts, they permit a full
and consistent set of stock and fl ow data to be
compiled for pension schemes, as shown in
columns G and H.
In the absence of data from other sources or
reporting agents, national statistical institutes, in
cooperation with other national agencies, perform
the actuarial calculations underlying columns G
and H on pension schemes managed by
government. This is a new task for statisticians,
which requires extensive experience in handling
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
141
LIMITE EN
fi nancial models for pension annuities and life
insurance.
STC/2010/007
92
ECB
Monthly Bulletin
January 2010
3 ENTITLEMENTS TO GOVERNMENT PENSIONS
IN THE EURO AREA
SUPPLEMENTARY DATA ON PENSION SCHEMES
MANAGED BY GOVERNMENT
In order to obtain a complete picture of the
pension entitlements of households in the
euro area, data on transactions and other
economic fl ows in the course of 2007
as well as outstanding positions in
pension entitlements at the end of 2006
(the opening amounts) and the end of 2007
were estimated with the assistance of the
European Commission (Eurostat)/ECB Task
Force on Pensions (see Box 2). These estimates
were based on national pension models, and
also on benchmark calculations provided by
Table 2 Supplementary table on pension schemes in social insurance
Recording Standard national accounts
Pension manager Non-general government
Defi nedcontribution
schemes
Defi ned-benefi t schemes
and other 1) non-defi nedcontribution
schemes
Total Defi nedcontribution
schemes
Row No Column number A B C D
Opening balance sheet
1 Pension entitlements
Changes in pension entitlements due to transactions
2 Increase in pension entitlements due to
social contributions
2.1 Employer actual social contributions
2.2 Employer imputed social contributions
2.3 Household actual social contributions
2.4 Household social contribution supplements 5)
3 Other (actuarial) changes in pension
entitlements in social security pension
schemes
4 Reduction in pension entitlements due to
payment of pension benefi ts
5 Changes in pension entitlements due to
social contributions and pension benefi ts
6 Transfers of pension entitlements between
schemes
7 Changes in pension entitlements due to
pension scheme reforms
Changes in pension entitlements due to other fl ows
8 Changes in pension entitlements due to
revaluations 6)
9 Changes in pension entitlements due to other
changes in volume 6)
Closing balance sheet
10 Pension entitlements
Notes:
1) Other non-defi ned-contribution schemes, often described as hybrid schemes, have both a defi ned-benefi t and a defi ned-contribution element.
2) Schemes organised by general government for its current and former employees.
3) These are non-autonomous defi ned-benefi t schemes the pension entitlements of which are recorded in the standard national accounts.
4) Counterpart data for non-resident households will only be shown separately when pension relationships with the rest of the world are signifi cant.
STC/2010/007
93
ECB
Monthly Bulletin
January 2010
ARTICLES
Entitlements of households
under government pension
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
142
LIMITE EN
schemes in the euro area –
results on the basis of
the new System
of National Accounts
the Forschungszentrum Generationenverträge
(Research Centre for Generational Contracts at
Freiburg University).
Table 3 provides an overview of these
benchmark calculations, covering about 54%
of the government-managed unfunded defi nedbenefi
t schemes and 73% of the social security
schemes in 2007. According to these estimates,
pension entitlements under government-managed
unfunded defi ned-benefi t schemes accounted
for about 79% and pension entitlements under
social security schemes for 415% of household
GDI at the end of 2007 (see also Table 5).
These results are broadly in line with the
fi ndings in the literature on estimating the
size of accrued-to-date pension entitlements.
Differences relate mainly to the reference
Standard national accounts Not in the standard national accounts Total
pension
schemes
Counterparts:
pension
entitlements
of resident
households 4)
General government
Defi ned-benefi t schemes for general government employees 2) Social security
Classifi ed in fi nancial pension schemes
corporations
Classifi ed in general
government 3)
Classifi ed in general
government
EFGHIJ
Opening balance sheet
Changes in pension entitlements due to transactions
Changes in pension entitlements due to other fl ows
Closing balance sheet
5) These supplements represent the return on members’ claims on pension schemes through investment income on defi nedcontribution
schemes’ assets and, for defi ned-benefi t schemes, through the unwinding of the discount rate applied.
6) A more detailed split of these positions should be provided for columns G and H based on the model calculations carried out for these
schemes. The cells shown as are not applicable; the cells in will contain different data from the standard national accounts.
STC/2010/007
94
ECB
Monthly Bulletin
January 2010
year, the proportion of pension schemes
included in the estimates, the denominator
(household GDI in this case, but GDP in
other studies), as well as methodological
specifi cations that follow the new international
standards, and macroeconomic assumptions.
Moreover, the approach applied in this article
provides a coherent set of stock and fl ow data,
as outlined in Table 2. In 2007, the reference
year of the estimates presented in this article,
accrued pension entitlements in the euro area
totalled about 490% of annual household GDI
(330% of GDP), with government-managed
unfunded defi ned-benefi t schemes amounting
to about 79% of household GDI (52% of GDP)
and pension entitlements under social security
schemes for 415% of household GDI (278%
of GDP).
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
143
LIMITE EN
Estimates of accrued contingent pension
entitlements have been provided for France and
Germany in recent years. The estimates for
France, which were carried out by INSEE,
put implicit social security pension entitlements
at 259% of GDP in 2003. The fi gure is broadly
in line with the results published in a study by
the Banque de France, in cooperation with the
US Bureau of Economic Analysis. According to
the calculations undertaken for Germany by
DESTATIS, social security pension entitlements
amounted to about 230% of GDP in 2005.
The entitlements derived for social security
pension schemes in these country studies
compare well with the estimates provided for
the euro area (278% of GDP in 2007).
Preliminary estimates for pension schemes
established for civil servants have been carried
out recently in some country studies. For the
euro area, they amounted to 52% of GDP
in 2007.9
These estimates should be considered from two
perspectives, namely that of households and
that of the government. From the household
perspective, they provide additional information
on household assets, including contingent
pension entitlements. From the government’s
perspective, they add to the data on government
liabilities, including contingent pension
obligations. However, as set out in Box 3, these
9 See R. Holzmann et al. 2001; D. Blanchet and S. Le Minez,
“Assessing implicit pension liabilities for the French pension
system: a micro-founded approach”, a paper prepared for
the 30th General Conference of the IARIW, August 2008;
D. Durant and M. Reinsdorf, “Implicit social security and
pension wealth in household assets in the US and France”,
a paper prepared for the 30th General Conference of the
IARIW, August 2008; and A. Braakmann, J. Grütz and T. Haug,
“Das Renten- und Pensionsvermögen in den Volkswirtschaftlichen
Gesamtrechnungen”, Statistisches Bundesamt, Wirtschaft und
Statistik 12/2007, pp. 1167-79.
Table 3 Pension entitlements under government-managed pension schemes in the euro area
(percentages of annual household GDI in 2007; projected-benefi t-obligation valuation 1) )
Position
Column No
Government-managed
unfunded defi ned-benefi t
schemes
Social security pension
schemes
GH
Pension entitlements (opening balance sheet) 77.4 406.0
Increase in pension entitlements due to social contributions 4.1 29.7
Other (actuarial) change of pension entitlements -2.3
Reduction in pension entitlements due to payment of
pension benefi ts 3.0 14.4
Changes in pension entitlements due to social contributions
and pension benefi ts 1.1 13.1
Changes in pension entitlements due to pension reforms -0.0 -4.1
Pension entitlements (closing balance sheet) 78.5 415.0
Memo: Pension entitlements (closing balance sheet)
in EUR billions 2,270 17,404
Sources: ECB and Research Centre for Generational Contracts, Freiburg University.
Notes: The row and column numbers refer to the corresponding row and column numbers in Table 2.
1) See Box 2 for details on the valuation methods.
STC/2010/007
95
ECB
Monthly Bulletin
January 2010
ARTICLES
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
144
LIMITE EN
Entitlements of households
under government pension
schemes in the euro area –
results on the basis of
the new System
of National Accounts
fi gures do not allow a direct assessment of fi scal
sustainability, which would need to be based
on a more comprehensive approach, including
revenue projections.
Similar actuarial calculations have been carried
out by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis for
private and government-managed defi nedbenefi
t schemes and for social security pension
schemes in the United States.10 Currently, both
defi ned-benefi t and defi ned-contribution schemes
play important roles in fi nancing retirement for
households.11 While government-managed
unfunded defi ned-benefi t schemes are virtually
non-existent in the United States, pension
entitlements from private defi ned-benefi t
pension schemes add the equivalent of about
80% of US household GDI to US household
assets (see also Table 5, row 5). Moreover, US
household have contingent social security
pension entitlements of about 160% of
household GDI (see also Table 5, row 10).12
In order to account for the uncertainty surrounding
the actuarial estimates of contingent pension
entitlements of euro area households, sensitivity
analyses were carried out. The calculations shown
10 See M. B. Reinsdorf and D. G. Lenze, “Defi ned benefi t pensions
and household income and wealth”, Survey of Current Business,
August 2009; and D. Durant and M. Reinsdorf, op. cit.
11 In the US private sector, newly established pension schemes
are almost always defi ned-contribution schemes. The number
of private sector defi ned-benefi t schemes is declining very
slowly but remains above 40,000. The population covered
is ageing rapidly, so that benefi t payments are rising faster
than contributions. Moreover, the United States also has over
2,500 defi ned-benefi t pension schemes for employees of state
and local governments, while the federal government manages
about 40 defi ned-benefi t schemes for its employees.
12 Social security is covered in the estimates for the United States. It is
a social insurance programme, not a social assistance programme.
It is not very different from social security in Europe, except
that the benefi ts are generally lower relative to average earnings
because of the expectation that the retiree will also have income
from employer schemes or from individual insurance schemes.
Table 4 Sensitivity analysis of household entitlements under government pension schemes
in the euro area
(percentages of household GDI)
Real wage growth rate as a percentage
Real discount rate as a percentage 1 1.5 2
Schemes G H G H G H
2.6 79.2 419.1 83.9 446.3 89.2 477.2
2.8 76.6 404.6 81.1 430.2 86.1 459.3
3.0 74.2 390.8 78.5 415.0 83.2 442.4
3.2 71.9 377.8 75.9 400.7 80.4 426.5
3.4 69.7 365.5 73.5 387.2 77.8 411.6
Sources: ECB and Research Centre for Generational Contracts, Freiburg University.
Notes: Pension entitlements as percentages of household GDI; end-2007; projected-benefi t-obligation valuation; sensitivity analysis based
on varying the real discount rate and real wage growth; baseline scenario: a real discount rate of 3% and real wage growth of 1.5%;
G – government-managed unfunded defi ned-benefi t schemes; H – social security pension schemes.
Chart 4 Sensitivity analysis by varying
the real discount rate and the real wage
growth rate
(percentages of household GDI)
Government-managed unfunded defined-benefit schemes
and social security pension schemes
-75
-50
-25
0
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
145
LIMITE EN
25
50
75
-75
-50
-25
0
25
50
75
2.6 2.8 3.0 3.2 3.4
real wage growth rate at 1%
real wage growth rate at 1.5%
real wage growth rate at 2%
Sources: ECB and Research Centre for Generational Contracts,
Freiburg University.
Notes: Pension entitlements as deviations from the baseline
scenario as percentages of household GDI; end-2007;
projected-benefi t-obligation valuation; sensitivity analysis
based on varying the percentage of the real discount rate
(x-axis) and the real wage growth rate; baseline scenario:
a real discount rate of 3% and a real wage growth rate of 1.5%.
STC/2010/007
96
ECB
Monthly Bulletin
January 2010
in Table 4 and Chart 4 are based on various
model assumptions, with a baseline scenario
assuming a long-term real discount rate of 3%
and an annual real wage growth of 1.5%. To
check the robustness of the results, the baseline
assumptions were changed as indicated in the
table and in the chart. For these calculations, the
projected-benefi t-obligation (PBO) method was
applied (see Box 2).
As shown in Chart 4, the impact of a change
in the real discount rate on the amount of
pension entitlements is substantially higher
than that of changes in the real wage growth.
The calculations based on the PBO valuation
lead to stocks of pension entitlements
that are usually 10% to 20% higher than
entitlements valued on the basis of the accrued
benefi t obligations (ABO). Moreover, the
sensitivities in the case of PBO valuation are
more pronounced than in the case of ABO
valuation. Hence, accrued-to-date pension
entitlements related to government-managed
pension schemes amounted to between 430%
and 570% of household GDI in the euro area at
the end of 2007.
Box 2
ACTUARIAL ESTIMATES OF PENSION ENTITLEMENTS
All pension entitlements of households are assessed as part of the extended household balance
sheet in the national accounts (showing assets and contingent assets) at a certain point in time,
usually at the year-end. The pension entitlements under unfunded social insurance are recorded
in gross terms, meaning that no accrued-to-date obligations of households refl ecting future
social contributions to fi nance the pension entitlements are taken into account; instead only the
accrued-to-date pension entitlements for current and future pension benefi ts are covered, i.e.
the pension entitlements accrued by current workers (including deferred pension entitlements)
and the remaining pension entitlements of existing pensioners. As for all national accounts data,
the data are measured ex post, as they include only the current values of the entitlements that
arise from already accrued pension rights. The method is based on observable past events and
transactions, such as membership of the pension scheme and contributions paid. However, these
ex post measures also rely on some assumptions in the modelling process. The probability that
current contributors may die or become disabled before reaching pensionable age needs to be
estimated. The approach also covers future changes to the (defi ned) pension benefi ts owing to
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
146
LIMITE EN
any legislation enacted prior to the year for which pension entitlements are calculated. Finally,
the method requires assumptions about future developments, notably the development of the
discount rate for future pension disbursements.
As with all other assets, the pension entitlements are entered into the extended household
balance sheet at their value on the balance sheet date. Since actuarial values for pension
entitlements related to unfunded social insurance in the euro area are typically not made
available by the manager of the pension scheme, compilers of national accounts have to
estimate the actuarial value.
The real discount rate applied has a relatively large impact on the overall amount estimated.
Sensitivity analyses using several different discount rates (or discount rate differentials) are
strongly recommended. Three choices may be considered for a discount rate to be applied
STC/2010/007
97
ECB
Monthly Bulletin
January 2010
ARTICLES
Entitlements of households
under government pension
schemes in the euro area –
results on the basis of
the new System
of National Accounts
A COMPREHENSIVE VIEW OF HOUSEHOLD
PENSION ENTITLEMENTS AND GOVERNMENT
PENSION OBLIGATIONS
The data provided in balance sheets for the euro
area and in these preliminary compilations allow
a more comprehensive picture of household
assets – including household contingent pension
assets – and liabilities, to be drawn. Household
wealth is broken down into non-fi nancial
assets (housing) and fi nancial assets. Table 5
illustrates that household assets in the euro area
(excluding contingent pension entitlements)
were more than seven times annual household
GDI at the end of 2007; the same calculation
for the United States shows that household
entitlements were more than eight times
larger than annual household GDI. Contingent
pension entitlements of households in the euro
area are larger than those in the United States –
at approximately fi ve times and two times
annual household GDI respectively. There are
to government-managed pension schemes: (i) a discount rate based on the yield on (central)
government bonds; (ii) a discount rate based on the yield on high quality corporate bonds; and
(iii) a risk-free rate refl ecting the time value of money. The preferred discount rate is the yield
on central government bonds (or, exceptionally, high quality corporate bonds). These should,
ideally, have a residual maturity of the same order as the pension entitlements (e.g. 30 years,
which corresponds to the average length of pension entitlement payments).
Another important aspect is the assumption about real wage growth used in the calculations of
entitlements under defi ned-benefi t pension schemes, where the level of pensions is determined
by applying a formula to the member’s salary. One approach is to assume that there is no
future real wage growth – the accrued-benefi t-obligation method. The alternative approach is
to make an explicit non-zero assumption for wage growth – the projected-benefi t-obligation
method – which would take account of expected promotions and other factors driving
real wages.
Table 5 Household assets, liabilities, net worth and contingent pension entitlements
in the euro area and the United States
(multiples of household GDI; end-2007)
Item Euro area United States
Assets 7.3 8.3
Non-fi nancial assets 4.4 2.8
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
147
LIMITE EN
Financial assets 3.0 5.5
Of which:
Life insurance and pension assets (as currently reported) 0.8 1.3
Of which:
Pension entitlements under private defi ned-benefi t schemes 1) . 0.8
Liabilities 0.9 1.4
Net worth (assets minus liabilities) 6.4 6.9
Memo items:
Contingent pension entitlements 4.9 1.6
Under government-managed defi ned-benefi t schemes 2) 0.8 0.0 3)
Under social security pension schemes 4.2 1.6 4)
Sources: ECB, European Commission (Eurostat), Research Centre for Generational Contracts, Freiburg University, US Bureau of
Economic Analysis and US Federal Reserve Board.
1) For the euro area, data are not yet available; for the United States, data refer to end-2006.
2) Government-managed defi ned-benefi t schemes are predominantly unfunded in the euro area, but are predominantly funded in the
United States.
3) Government-managed unfunded defi ned-benefi t schemes are practically non-existent in the United States although the pre-1983 federal
government scheme was unfunded and still supports many retirees.
4) US households have contingent social security pension entitlements.
STC/2010/007
98
ECB
Monthly Bulletin
January 2010
practically no pension entitlements recorded
under US government-managed unfunded
defi ned-benefi t schemes, but many under social
security pension schemes.
From the fi gures shown in Table 5 information
can be derived on government pension obligations
arising from government-managed pension
schemes at the end of 2007. Table 6 provides an
overview of gross government debt in the euro
area and in the United States as conventionally
measured. It shows that government debt was
between 60% and 70% of GDP (see Table 6).
If all contingent pension liabilities are taken
into account, government obligations in the
euro area at the end of 2007 were more than
fi ve times higher than gross government debt
(see Table 6). The associated increase in
government obligations is less signifi cant in the
United States.
ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF PENSION REFORMS
ON ENTITLEMENTS UNDER GOVERNMENT
PENSION SCHEMES
The calculations presented above may have
substantial implications for future rates of
benefi ts, taxes and social contributions. Reforms
of government-managed defi ned-benefi t pension
schemes are on the agenda of most governments in
the euro area as these schemes are far more strongly
affected by demographic changes than defi nedcontribution
pension schemes. A demographic
change that reduces the number of contributors
relative to the benefi ciaries will require a reduction
in average pension benefi ts if contribution rates
are to remain constant. Alternatively, for constant
pension benefi ts, contribution rates (or tax
payments) would have to be increased. To avoid
an unbalanced burden either on benefi ciaries or on
contributors, different strategies of pension reform
are typically considered.
Reforms may take the form of adjusting the
existing scheme arrangements with regard to the
level of pension benefi ts and social contributions
(parametric reforms). Alternatively, fundamental
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
148
LIMITE EN
changes may be made to the structure of the
fi nancing of pension benefi ts (systemic reforms).
They may be carried out by setting up a new
scheme for new contributions or new contributors,
while largely maintaining the current scheme
for accrued entitlements. Policy simulations
based on pension models are useful for broadly
assessing the impact of parametric pension
reforms by modifying parameters and input data
for existing schemes. In this context, several
important determining factors of the accrued
pension entitlements can be identifi ed. The levels
of pension benefi ts actually paid are regarded as
quite important as they are a direct determinant of
the stock of pension entitlements. The retirement
age is an additional determining factor. Other
factors are the indexation of pension benefi ts, as
well as reductions in future pension benefi ts on
account of pension reforms already enacted.
Table 6 General government debt and contingent pension entitlements in the euro area
and the United States
(multiples of GDP; end-2007)
Item Euro area United States
Maastricht debt 0.7 0.6 1)
Memo items:
Contingent pension obligations 3.3 1.1
Government-managed defi ned-benefi t schemes 2) 0.5 0.0 3)
Social security pension schemes 2.8 1.1 4)
Debt including contingent pension obligations 4.0 1.7
Sources: ECB, European Commission (Eurostat), Research Centre for Generational Contracts, Freiburg University, US Bureau of
Economic Analysis and US Federal Reserve Board.
1) Currency and deposits, loans and debt securities incurred by general government (consolidated).
2) Government-managed defi ned-benefi t schemes are predominantly unfunded in the euro area, but are predominantly funded in the
United States.
3) Government-managed unfunded defi ned-benefi t schemes are practically non-existent in the United States.
4) US households have contingent social security pension entitlements.
STC/2010/007
99
ECB
Monthly Bulletin
January 2010
ARTICLES
Entitlements of households
under government pension
schemes in the euro area –
results on the basis of
the new System
of National Accounts
In several euro area countries, pension reforms
have been carried out in recent years by, inter
alia, gradually raising the statutory retirement
age. If the effective retirement age rises in line
with the increase in the statutory retirement
age, pension benefi ts will decrease as eligible
individuals will draw pension payments for a
shorter period of time. In parallel, the payment
of pension contributions over a longer period
adds to the revenue of pension schemes.
According to policy simulations, the impact
of raising the effective retirement age for the
euro area by one year would lower pension
entitlements by 2.7%, and by 5.2% if it is
increased by two years (relative to the baseline
scenario shown in Table 4). A further aspect to
be considered when modelling such an increase
in the retirement age is that the outcome of
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
149
LIMITE EN
the reform depends also on the behavioural
assumptions regarding new benefi ciaries with
respect to changes in the retirement age, the
penalty for early retirement and legislation on,
for example, granting disability benefi ts.
4 PROJECTIONS OF THE IMPACT OF AGEING
POPULATIONS ON GOVERNMENT PENSION
EXPENDITURE – THE 2009 AGEING REPORT
In April 2009 the ECOFIN Council endorsed
the 2009 Ageing Report for the EU-27 Member
States (2008-2060), which had been prepared by
the European Commission and the Economic
Policy Committee on the basis of commonly
agreed demographic and macroeconomic
assumptions. As explained in Box 3, the concept
of implicit pension liabilities, as applied in the
Ageing Report, differs from that of estimating
accrued-to-date pension entitlements in the
national accounts as it projects total age-related
government expenditure including pensions
over a long horizon.
Both concepts are linked to each other:
accrued-to-date pension entitlements are
compiled ex post taking into consideration all
“claims” accrued by current workers and the
remaining pension entitlements of existing
pensioners. In this respect, they are only a
sub-set of implicit pension liabilities. Implicit
pension liabilities also include, in addition to
pension entitlements that have accrued to date,
inter alia, pensions to be paid to people who
are not yet in the labour market, some of whom
have not even been born yet. To this extent,
implicit pension liabilities are a forwardlooking
concept that is based on a broader set
of projections.13
13 The amount of such implicit liabilities may be much higher
than the amount of accrued-to-date pension entitlements.
In an empirical study undertaken with data for the social security
pension scheme in Germany, these implicit pension liabilities
(open-system gross pension obligations) were calculated at 622%
of GDP in 2006 of which less than half were accrued-to-date
pension obligations. Future social contributions and taxes added
up to 535% of GDP in 2006 leading to a relatively low balancing
item, the “fi nancing gap” of approximately 88% of GDP. See
C. Müller, B. Raffelhueschen and O. Weddige, “Measuring
pension liabilities and the perspective of sustainability: the case
of the reformed German statutory pension scheme”, Discussion
Paper No 39, Research Centre for Generational Contracts,
Freiburg University, September 2009.
STC/2010/007
100
ECB
Monthly Bulletin
January 2010
Box 3
PENSION ENTITLEMENTS ACCRUED TO DATE AND IMPLICIT PENSION LIABILITIES
The concepts of accrued-to-date pension entitlements and implicit pension liabilities, as applied
in the 2009 Ageing Report for the EU-27 Member States (2008-2060), are linked to each other.
Accrued-to-date contingent pension entitlements are compiled on the basis of a national accounts
concept. They are derived ex post as they only include the pension entitlements accrued by
current workers and the remaining pension entitlements of existing pensioners.
Pension entitlements accrued to date are a component of a broader defi nition of implicit pension
liabilities. They represent only a fraction of the pensions to be paid in the future. According
to the 2009 Ageing Report, government pension expenditure in the euro area is projected to
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
150
LIMITE EN
increase by 2.8 percentage points to nearly 14% of GDP by 2060 if it is assumed that policies
remain unchanged.1 These future payments can be divided into four groups: (a) for each year,
pensions have to be paid to people who have already retired today. Given the mortality of
pensioners, this group of payments is expected to progressively decline in importance and will
become zero upon the death of the last people who have already retired today; (b) pensions have
to be paid in future to people working today, in relation to the entitlement they have already
acquired up to the present moment. This share of payments will increase for several years, as
people currently working will progressively retire; it will then decrease in line with mortality;
(c) pensions have to be paid to people already in the labour market, in relation to the entitlements
they will accumulate from the present moment until their retirement; and (d) pensions have to
be paid in the distant future to people who are not yet in the labour market, some of whom are
yet to be born.
Accrued-to-date pension entitlements, as measured in national accounts, correspond to (a) and
(b) if account is taken of the necessary modelling assumptions such as the discount rate or wage
growth. The concept that is relevant for assessing sustainability, by contrast, corresponds to (a) to
(d), together with the related government revenues. However, implicit pension liabilities are also
derived by making corresponding assumptions related to the discount rate and other parameters
of pension models.
Accordingly, accrued-to-date pension entitlements are based on a backward-looking actuarial
estimation, even though the estimation requires projections on the future development of interest
rates, wages and the population. By contrast, implicit pension liabilities are a forward-looking
concept based on a broader set of projections, and they are set to be used in the EU’s new
medium-term budgetary objectives. For reasons of consistency, it is appropriate to harmonise
the data input for calculations of accrued-to-date contingent pension entitlements and also for
projections of government pension expenditure.
In practice, there are cases in which the results derived for accrued-to-date pension
entitlements and for implicit pension liabilities appear to point in different directions. Countries
may have large accrued-to-date contingent pension entitlements, but their implicit pension
liabilities are not expected to increase in the future. These countries have mature pension systems,
so that large accrued-to-date contingent pension entitlements have been accumulated over time.
1 The results of the 2009 Ageing Report are described in Box 7 of the June 2009 issue of the Monthly Bulletin.
STC/2010/007
101
ECB
Monthly Bulletin
January 2010
ARTICLES
Entitlements of households
under government pension
schemes in the euro area –
results on the basis of
the new System
of National Accounts
5 CONCLUSION
As described in the article, the 2008 SNA foresees supplementary data on pension entitlements of
households under government pension schemes, as will the European System of Accounts, which is
currently being revised. Following this approach, the European Commission (Eurostat)/ECB Task Force on
Pensions has already undertaken preparatory work to provide estimates of these pension entitlements under
unfunded defi ned-benefi t schemes managed by government and under social security schemes. In the
absence of data from other sources or reporting agents, the national statistical institutes have carried out
these estimates in cooperation with other national agencies. This was a rather new and challenging task,
requiring extensive experience in actuarial fi nance. The data compiled in accordance with the new, globally
agreed and harmonised methodology confi rm that accrued-to-date contingent pension entitlements are very
signifi cant in the euro area, even exceeding the portfolio of all fi nancial
assets or that of non-fi nancial assets owned by households. They total approximately 490% of
households’ annual gross disposable income or 330% of GDP). In terms of government obligations, they are
about fi ve times higher than government debt. The results are in line with those of earlier studies reviewed
by the World Bank for a wide range of countries, including several euro area countries, and with estimates
calculated by the national statistical offi ces of Germany and France.It must be stressed that the compilation
of general government accrued-to-date pension obligations does not allow an assessment of the
sustainability of public fi nances. This would only be possible if the evolution of future contributions to the
pension schemes were fully accounted for. Nevertheless, if recorded systematically
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
151
LIMITE EN
over a long time horizon, data on accruedto-date pension obligations may contribute usefully to gauging,
inter alia, to what extent the size of pension obligations changes in response to reforms of government
pension schemes,e.g. increases in the statutory retirement age. Given the size of the ageing-related fi scal
burden, it is necessary for countries to fi nd an intergenerational balance between securing appropriate
pensions in the future and maintaining the social security burden for members of the labour force within
tolerable limits. The same also applies to other types of government obligations in the form of health care
and long-term care. The implementation of the so-called three-pronged strategy agreed
upon by the Stockholm European Council in 2001 is essential. It comprises (i) fostering fi scal
consolidation, (ii) increasing productivity and employment and (iii) reforming social security
systems including pensions.
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
152
LIMITE EN
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 17/11/2011 at 18:08
Title: Table 29 - Differences between Dec 2010
Commission Proposal and Supplementary Table
Questionnaire
R
R
e
p
o
n
e
Re
esssp
po
on
nssse
e
Note for the record
Sanjiv Mahajan
17/11/2011 17:33
To:
cc:
Subject:
Sarah Levy/ONS@ONS
Ismael.AHAMDANECH-ZARCO@ec.europa.eu
Re: Questionnaire on Pension SchemesNotes Link
Dear Ismael and Sarah,
Thank you to you both for trying to get to the bottom of the differences.
I have this point amongst others noted to be raised at the CWPS session next Wed.
I will pick up emails on Mon am but not thereafter until Wed eve.
Have a good evening.
Best regards.
Sanjiv
Sarah Levy
17/11/2011 17:15
To:
cc:
Subject:
Ismael.AHAMDANECH-ZARCO@ec.europa.eu
Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@O
Re: Questionnaire on Pension SchemesNotes L
Gracias, Isma
This sounds like a good solution. I'm on leave tomorrow - back in the office on Monday.
All the best,
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
153
LIMITE EN
Sarah Levy
Head of Pensions Analysis
Household and Labour Market Division
Office for National Statistics
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8XG
Tel: 01633 455457
Ismael.AHAMDANECHZARCO@ec.europa.eu
17/11/2011 17:00
To:
cc:
Subject:
Sarah Levy/ONS@ONS
Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@O
RE: Questionnaire on Pension Schemes
Hola Sarah,
I have to leave now, I will call you tomorrow. You are right, we need to fix that mismatch, and I think the best
option is, as you suggest, to delete row 2.5 of Annex II.
Thanks for spotting that¡¡,
Isma
From: Sarah Levy [mailto:sarah.levy@ons.gsi.gov.uk]
Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2011 5:35 PM
To: AHAMDANECH ZARCO Ismael (ESTAT)
Cc: Sanjiv Mahajan
Subject: Re: Questionnaire on Pension Schemes
Isma
I don't understand this.
The table you have just sent me is from what you call "the Commission proposal", dated 20
December 2010. However, it does not match Table 17.5 in the draft Chapter 17 of the ESA2010
manual circulated in December 2010, or the table on page 31 of the Technical Compilation Guide
that Lena Frej Ohlsson circulated on 27 May 2011 (which matches the Chapter 17 table).
Sarah
Ismael.AHAMDANECH-ZARCO@ec.europa.eu
17/11/2011 16:08
To:
Sarah Levy/ONS@ONS
cc:
Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS
Subject:
RE: Questionnaire on Pension Schemes
Hi Sarah,
I think you have a wrong version of the 2010 Commission proposal. See the good one.
Best,
Isma
From: Sarah Levy [mailto:sarah.levy@ons.gsi.gov.uk]
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
154
LIMITE EN
Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2011 4:48 PM
To: AHAMDANECH ZARCO Ismael (ESTAT)
Cc: Sanjiv Mahajan
Subject: Re: Questionnaire on Pension Schemes
Isma
This is the same issue as the one that we discussed earlier today. The version being requested to
be signed off is the old version, not the latest one in the December 2010 draft of Chapter 17. Copies
of the two tables are attached.
Sarah
Ismael.AHAMDANECH-ZARCO@ec.europa.eu
17/11/2011 15:38
To:
Sarah Levy/ONS@ONS
cc:
Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS
Subject:
RE: Questionnaire on Pension Schemes
Hola Sarah,
I´m revising UK comments on table 29. Here you say:
It appears that the request is as the Table 29 in the Commission Proposal of Dec 2010,
assuming an extended deadline of 2014 instead of 2012. In principle this is fine, except that
the version of the table being requested to be signed off is not the same as the version
provided to us with in the latest draft of ESA2010 Chapter 17 (dated Dec 2010).
But I do not see the differences in both tables. Maybe I´m wrong, can you please send me both
tables?
best,
isma
From: Sarah Levy [mailto:sarah.levy@ons.gsi.gov.uk]
Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2011 12:49 PM
To: ESTAT C-5 SECRETARIAT
Cc: Sanjiv Mahajan; AHAMDANECH ZARCO Ismael (ESTAT)
Subject: Re: Questionnaire on Pension Schemes
Dear Neusa
Greetings from the UK!
We are starting to fill in the questionnaire that you have sent us for the 2010 supplementary table on
pensions. We have noticed three differences between your questionnaire and the latest version of
the supplementary table circulated in the December 2010 draft of the ESA2010 manual:
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
155
LIMITE EN
1) an additional row in the table : Row 2.5 (pension scheme service charges)
2) additional wording (in italics) in Rows 1 and 10 : Pension entitlements (including contingent
pension entitlements)
3) use of the term 'standard national accounts' rather than 'core national accounts'
The version that you have sent for the 2010 table seems to match previous versions of the
questionnaire for 2008 and 2009, so I think it must be an old version. However, we are working to
the latest version of the table in the December 2010 draft of the ESA2010 manual (Table 17.5).
Please could you send us an updated version of the questionnaire which is consistent with the
December 2010 draft of the ESA2010 manual?
Thank you.
Sarah Levy
Head of Pensions Analysis
Household and Labour Market Division
Office for National Statistics
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8XG
Tel: 01633 455457
ESTAT-C-5SECRETARI
To:
caricchi@istat.it, acristobal@ine.es, Ana.AGUNDEZ-GARCIA@ec.europa.eu,
AT@ec.euro ammalmeida@bportugal.pt, Ahristov@NSI.bg, Anne.Greiveldinger@statec.etat.lu, Aharrison1@worldbank.org,
pa.eu
anne.mulkay@nbb.be, asuncion.rubio@bde.es, Aidan.Synnott@cso.ie, Barbara.Montereale@bfs.admin.ch,
bio@dst.dk, Giuseppe.Carone@ec.europa.eu, xrisisk@statistics.gr, Clyde.Caruana@gov.mt,
19/07/2011
ddamianou@cystat.mof.gov.cy, Dario.florey@bfs.admin.ch, Gabe.DE-VRIES@ec.europa.eu,
14:51
didier.blanchet@insee.fr, Dominique.Durant@banque-france.fr, Per.Eckefeldt@ec.europa.eu,
elena.marton@bfs.admin.ch, fabrice.lenglart@insee.fr, Susana.Filipa.Lima@bportugal.pt, Lena.FrejOhlsson@ec.europa.eu, Gabriele.Semeraro@bancaditalia.it, gabriella.ocskai@ngm.gov.hu, dominicg@dzs.hr,
Christopher.Garland@ec.europa.eu, georgeta.mondiru@insse.ro, Gsarris@cystat.mof.gov.cy,
Gerald.Wimmer@oenb.at, Gergana.Peeva@nssi.bg, germain.stammet@bcl.lu, Gillian.Phelan@centralbank.ie,
Jens.GRUETZ@ec.europa.eu, guy.schuller@statec.etat.lu, hkulaksiz@muhasebat.gov.tr, h.lub@dnb.nl, hee@ssb.no,
huszarg@mnb.hu, Inta.Vanovska@csb.gov.lv, Isabelle.YNESTA@oecd.org, I.Kuseleviciene@finmin.lt,
Janusz.Jablonowski@mail.nbp.pl, j.geerts@cbs.nl, Johann.Bjorgvinsson@statice.is, jonas.edblom@scb.se,
Jose.Sergio.Branco@bportugal.pt, Kamil.DYBCZAK@ec.europa.eu, caruanak@centralbankmalta.org,
Karl.Schwarz@statistik.gv.at, Denis.Leythienne@ec.europa.eu, Liene.Gintere@csb.gov.lv, ludmila.vebrova@czso.cz,
lgordo@bde.es, lumerlo@ine.es, Marc.origer@statec.etat.lu, Margita.Kupkova@statistics.sk, marian_labaj@nbs.sk,
marjana.klinar@gov.si, marta.rodriguez@ecb.europa.eu, maura.francese@bancaditalia.it, michael.wolf@scb.se,
Michele.CHAVOIX-MANNATO@oecd.org, mikk.medijainen@stat.ee, MDimcheva@nsi.bg, Mira.Lehmuskoski@stat.fi,
Josemaria.Olivares@ec.europa.eu, Peter.Parlasca@ec.europa.eu, patricia.semiao@ine.pt, Paula.KoistinenJokiniemi@stat.fi, malizia@istat.it, razvan.miroescu@bnro.ro, reimund.mink@ecb.europa.eu, Sanjiv
Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS, Sarah Levy/ONS@ONS, thorsten.haug@destatis.de,
Tom.Dominique@igss.etat.lu, Tomas.Paulauskas@stat.gov.lt, ulrich.burgtorf@bundesbank.de,
veronika.stastna@czso.cz, vija.veidemane@csb.gov.lv, Walter.Stuebler@statistik.gv.at, Jakub.Wtorek@ec.europa.eu,
sisaknezs@mnb.hu, zuzana_durcenkova@nbs.sk
cc:
Lena.Frej-Ohlsson@ec.europa.eu, Ismael.AHAMDANECH-ZARCO@ec.europa.eu,
marion.deunert@ecb.int
Subject:
Questionnaire on Pension Schemes
Dear Members of the contact group on pensions,
On behalf of Lena Frej Ohlsson, Head of Unit Eurostat/C-5 (Government and Sector Accounts;
Financial indicators), please find attached a note and questionnaire on the above mentioned
subject.
Best regards
Neusa PIRAINO
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
156
LIMITE EN
Secrétariat de l'Unité C-5
EUROSTAT
BECH E3/828
Tel: +352 4301-32473
E-mail: neusa.piraino@ec.europa.eu
<<cover_letter pensions_2011_b.pdf>> <<Pensions Questionnaire_2011.xls>>
This email was received from the INTERNET and scanned by the Government Secure
Intranet anti-virus service supplied by Cable&Wireless Worldwide in partnership with
MessageLabs. (CCTM Certificate Number 2009/09/0052.) In case of problems, please call
your organisation?x02019;s IT Helpdesk.
Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded for
legal purposes.
For the latest data on the economy and society consult National Statistics at http://www.ons.gov.uk
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
157
LIMITE EN
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 09/05/2012 at 07:27
Title: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance Problem in view of the proposal for a Regulation on the
European System Of National And Regional Accounts
R
R
e
p
o
n
e
Re
esssp
po
on
nssse
e
Note for the record
Sanjiv
Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LOND
ON/ONS
09/05/2012 07:26
To Miriam.Bennett-Houlton@fco.gsi.gov.uk
cc
Subject Re: FW: Urgent: COERPER 16 May - Implicit State
LiabilityNotes Link
Dear Miriam,
Good morning.
Apologies - I do not know the answers to either of those questions.
Best regards
Sanjiv
Miriam.BennettHoulton@fco.gsi.gov.uk
To Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS
08/05/2012 15:18
cc
Subject FW: Urgent: COERPER 16 May - Implicit State Liability
FYI my response to our German attaché.
Do you know whether this will go to Coreper I or II? And who will brief the Perm
Rep to abstain?
Thanks
Miriam
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
158
LIMITE EN
-----Original Message----From: Miriam Bennett-Houlton (Restricted)
Sent: 08 May 2012 16:17
To: '.BRUEEU SOZ-2 Barth, Bruno'
Cc: Christopher Hobley (Restricted)
Subject: RE: Urgent: COERPER 16 May - Implicit State Liability
Dear Bruno
We understand your concerns, but we think that it is reasonable for the
supplementary table on pensions to be mandatory because the publication of all
pensions liabilities (funded and unfunded) in all Member States would lead to an
increased comparability of accounts statistics.
Elements of the accounts which are voluntary are so because either they are seen
not to have a significant impact on the overall accounts (satellite accounts);
or for certain data which some countries cannot provide. Pensions do not satisfy
either of these criteria.
We recognise some of your concerns regarding the variability of the estimates
and methodological assumptions, but overall we support the table being
mandatory.
I'm afraid that we won't support you on this point, but we will abstain rather
than opposing your position.
Best
Miriam
-----Original Message----From: .BRUEEU SOZ-2 Barth, Bruno [mailto:soz-2-eu@brue.auswaertiges-amt.de]
Sent: 08 May 2012 15:12
To: Miriam Bennett-Houlton (Restricted); Christopher Hobley (Restricted); BEL
Rabau Muriel; BEL Pernot, Annemie; CZE Zuzana ZAJAROSOVA;
fenny.steenks@minbuza.nl; rob-van.iersel@minbuza.nl; petra.silovska@mzv.cz
Cc: holger.winkler@bmas.bund.de
Subject: Urgent: COERPER 16 May - Implicit State Liability
Dear all,
I informed you at the beginning of this year about a problem we have with the
proposal for a Regulation on the European System of National and Regional
Accounts. The proposal will be discussed in COREPER on 16 May.
Germany proposed in the Working Group on Statistics that the revision of the ESA
should not establisha an obligation to report these data. Right know there are
87 votes against the proposal which is not enough for a blocking minority of 91
votes.
Germany plans to recall its reservation against the compulsory reporting in the
next COREPER on 16 May.
It would be very helpful for us, if you would ask your experts whether they are
against the mandatory reporting and whether they can support the German position
in next COREPER.
Kind Regards
Bruno
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
159
LIMITE EN
Bruno Barth
Social Affairs Counsellor
Permanent Representation of Germany to the EU Rue Jacques de Lalaing 8-14 B-1040
Brussels
Tel: +32(0)2 787 1322
Mobil: +32(0)473 737208
Fax: +32(0)2 787 2322
E-Mail: bruno.barth@diplo.de
----Original Message----From: .BRUEEU SOZ-2 Barth, Bruno [mailto:soz-2-eu@brue.auswaertiges-amt.de]
Sent: 12 January 2012 17:57
Subject: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Problem in view of the
proposal for a Regulation on the European System Of National And Regional
Accounts
Dear colleagues,
May I draw your attention to a serious problem we have with the attached
proposal for a Regulation on the European System of National and Regional
Accounts currently discussed in the Working Party on Statistics. The next and
probably final meeting of the Working Party is scheduled for 17 January.
The problem concerns the pension schemes in social insurance. The Regulation
stipulates the binding requirement for Member States to deliver table 29 of
Annex B "pension schemes in social insurance".
Germany is against the binding requirement. Instead, we propose to make the
delivery of table 29 VOLUNTARY. I attach our written opinion on table 29 which
substantiates our reservation and proposes to make the delivery of table 29
voluntary.
It would be extremely helpful for us, if your delegations could approach your
Ministries responsible for Pension Insurance to support the German position and
to organise as much support as possible. The German Ministry of Labour and
Social Affairs is not responsible for the Regulation but for Pension Insurance
so that you might have to contact your Ministry responsible for the Working
Party on Statistics.
Thank you very much for your support.
Kind regards
Bruno
Bruno Barth
Social Affairs Counsellor
Permanent Representation of Germany to the EU Rue Jacques de Lalaing 8-14 B-1040
Brussels
Tel: +32(0)2 787 1322
Mobil: +32(0)473 737208
Fax: +32(0)2 787 2322
E-Mail: bruno.barth@diplo.de
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
160
LIMITE EN
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
161
LIMITE EN
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 30/04/2012 at 09:41
Title: ESA 2010 - doc. on legal text and Annex A - 9086/12
+ ADD 1 to ADD 25
Categorisation
International Coordination\International
Organisation\Eurostat\CWPS
Note for the record
dgg.statis.ecofin@consiliu
m.europa.eu
To dgg.statis.ecofin@consilium.europa.eu
30/04/2012 07:38
cc
Subject ESA 2010 - doc. on legal text and Annex A - 9086/12 + ADD 1
to ADD 25
Working Party on Statistics - ESA 2010 experts
Dear All,
In view of the forthcoming discussion of the ESA 2010 proposal in Coreper (tentatively scheduled on 16
May), a document integrating all parts of the Presidency compromise text is being compiled (doc. 9086/12).
Please note that the legal text and Annex A (ADD 1 to ADD 25) are now available.
The legal text corresponds to the text agreed in the 19 April Working Party meeting and issued last Monday
(document 8656/1/12 REV 1). However all markings have been removed (strikethrough, bold, etc.)
Annex A corresponds to the text agreed under the Polish Presidency (the list of DS documents agreed for
the different chapters at the time was compiled in document 18749/11). However, again all markings have
been removed. In addition, a number of problems that were flagged in December 2011 or discovered in the
meantime have been corrected:
Chapter 1
Paragraph 1.22 - the order of the sentence has been changed
Chapter 2
Paragraph 2.110 - "insurance corporations" has been replaced by "pension funds"
Chapter 5
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
162
LIMITE EN
Table 5.4: "Investment income payable on pension entitlements" (instead of "Property income ...").
Chapter 17
In paragraph 17.19 - "employment-related non-pension schemes" replaces "employment-related pension
schemes".
In paragraph 17.131 - last sentence, the letter "D" has been deleted.
Best regards,
Marig Le Goff
DG G IA - Economic Policy
Council of the European Union
JL 40 GH 08
Rue de la Loi, 175 / B-1048 Bruxelles
Tel: (32-2) 281 2187
Fax: (32 - 2) 281 81 08
e-mail: marig.legoff@consilium.europa.eu
The views expressed are purely those of the writer and may not in any circumstances be regarded as stating an official
position of the Council.

COUNCIL OF
THE EUROPEAN UNION
Brussels, 27 April 2012
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
163
LIMITE EN
9086/12
Interinstitutional File:
2010/0374 (COD)
LIMITE
STATIS 28
ECOFIN 348
UEM 77
CODEC 1060
NOTE
from:
to:
No. Cion prop.:
Subject:
General Secretariat of the Council
Delegations
COM(2010) 774 final - 5053/11 STATIS 1 ECOFIN 2 UEM 2 CODEC 6
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the
European system of national and regional accounts in the European Union
(ESA 2010) - Presidency compromise
Delegations will find attached a Presidency compromise text on the above proposal.
________________
Encl:
9086/12
MLG/am
DG G I
164
LIMITE EN
ANNEX
Proposal for a
REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
on the European System of national and regional accounts in the European Union
(Text with EEA relevance)
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 338(1)
thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission1,
After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,
Having regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank2,
Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure3,
1
2
3
OJ C […], […], p. […].
OJ C […], […], p. […].
OJ C […], […], p. […].
Whereas:
(1)
The monitoring of the economies of the Member States and of the economic and monetary
union (EMU) requires comparable, up-to-date and reliable information on the structure and
developments in the economic situation of each Member State or region.
(2)
The Commission should play a part in the monitoring of the economies of the Member
States and of the EMU and, in particular, report regularly to the Council on the progress
made by Member States in fulfilling their obligations under the EMU.
(3)
Citizens of the Union need economic accounts as a basic tool for analysing the economic
situation of a Member State or region. For the sake of comparability, such accounts should
be drawn up on the basis of a single set of principles that are not open to differing
interpretations.
(4)
The Commission should use aggregates of national accounts for Union administrative
purposes and, in particular, budgetary calculations.
(5)
In 1970, an administrative document entitled 'European System of Integrated Economic
Accounts (ESA)' was published, covering the field governed by this Regulation, which had
been drawn up solely by the Statistical Office of the European Communities and on its
responsibility alone. That document was the outcome of several years' work by the
Statistical Office of the European Communities, together with Member States' national
statistical institutes, to devise a system of national accounts meeting the requirements of the
European Communities' economic and social policy. It constituted the Community version
of the United Nations System of National Accounts which had been used by the Community
up to that time. In order to update the original text a second edition of the document was
published in 19794.
4
Eurostat : "European System of Integrated Economic Accounts (ESA)", second edition,
Statistical Office of the European Communities, Luxembourg, 1979.
(6)
Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 of 25 June 1996 on the European system of national
and regional accounts in the Community5 set up a system of national accounts meeting the
requirements of the economic, social and regional policy of the Community. That system
was broadly consistent with the new System of National Accounts which was adopted by
the United Nations Statistical Commission in February 1993 (SNA 1993) so that the results
in all member countries of the United Nations should be internationally comparable.
(7)
SNA 1993 was updated in the form of a new System of National Accounts (2008 SNA)
adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission in February 2009 in order to bring
national accounts more in line with the new economic environment, advances in
methodological research, and needs of users.
(8)
There is a need to revise the European system of accounts (ESA 95) set up by Regulation
(EC) No 2223/96 in order to take into account these new developments so that that system
constitutes a version of 2008 SNA adapted to the structures of the Member States'
economies, and so that the data of the Union are comparable with those compiled by its
main international partners.
(9)
Attention should be paid in the case of environmental and social accounts to the
Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament of 20
August 2009 entitled "GDP and beyond - Measuring progress in a changing world"6. There
is a need to pursue methodological studies and data tests, in particular on issues related to
GDP and beyond and the Europe 2020 strategy with the aim of developing a more
comprehensive measurement approach for wellbeing and progress in order to support the
promotion of a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy.
5
6
OJ L 310, 30.11.1996, p. 1.
COM(2009) 433 final.
(10) The revised European System of Accounts set up by this Regulation (ESA 2010) includes a
methodology and a transmission programme (which defines accounts and tables to be
provided by all Member States according to specified deadlines). The Commission should
make those accounts and tables available to users on precise dates and, where relevant,
according to a pre-announced release calendar.
(11) ESA 2010 is gradually to replace all other systems as a reference framework of common
standards, definitions, classifications and accounting rules for drawing up the accounts of
the Member States for the requirements of the Union, so that results that are comparable
between the Member States can be obtained.
(12) In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 26 May 2003 on the establishment of a common nomenclature of territorial units
for statistics (NUTS)7, all Member States’ statistics transmitted to the Commission which
are broken down by territorial units are to use the NUTS classification. Consequently, in
order to establish comparable regional statistics, the territorial units should be defined in
accordance with the NUTS classification.
(12a) The transmission of data by the Member States, including the transmission of confidential data, is
governed by the rules set out in Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of
the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics8. Measures that are taken in accordance with
this Regulation should ensure the protection of confidential data and that no unlawful disclosure or
non-statistical use occurs when European statistics are produced and disseminated.
7
8
OJ L 154, 21.6.2003, p. 1.
OJ L 87, 31.3.2009, p. 164.
(13) A task force has been set up to further examine the issue of the treatment of financial
intermediation services indirectly measured (FISIM) in national accounts. Taking into
consideration the findings of the task force, it may be necessary to amend the methodology
for the calculation and allocation of FISIM, by means of a delegated act before the end of
2012, in order to provide improved results.
(14) Research and development expenditure has the nature of investment and should therefore be
recorded as gross fixed capital formation. However, it is necessary to specify the format of
the data to be recorded as gross fixed capital formation by means of a delegated act when a
sufficient level of confidence in the reliability and comparability of the data is reached
through a test exercise based on the development of supplementary tables.
(15) Deleted
(16) In order to amend the Annexes to this Regulation, the power to adopt delegated acts in accordance
with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the
Commission in respect of specifying and improving the content of the ESA 2010 methodology in
accordance with article 2(2); laying down a methodology for the calculation and allocation of FISIM
in accordance with Article 2(4) and of ensuring the reliability and comparability of the research and
development data to be recorded as gross fixed capital formation in accordance with Article 2(5).
The European Statistical System Committee will be consulted on the evaluation that the data on
Research and Development have reached a sufficient level of quality both in current prices and in
volume terms for national accounts purposes before the end of May 2013. The delegated act
should be based on this evaluation. It is of particular importance that the Commission carries out
appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level. The Commission,
when preparing and drawing up delegated acts, should ensure a simultaneous, timely and
appropriate transmission of relevant documents to the European Parliament and to the Council.
(17) Since the implementation of this Regulation will require major adaptations in national statistical
systems, derogations will be granted by the Commission to Member States.
(18) In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this regulation,
implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission and exercised in accordance
with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16
February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for
control by Member States of the Commission's exercise of implementing powers.9
(19) Since the objective of this Regulation, namely the establishment of a revised European
System of Accounts (ESA 2010), cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and
can be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with
the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty of the European Union. In
accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation
does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.
(20) The European Statistical System Committee set up by Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 has
been consulted.
(21) The Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics set up by
Council Decision 2006/856/EC of 13 November 2006 establishing a Committee on
monetary, financial and balance of payments statistics10 and the Gross National Income
Committee (GNI Committee) set up by Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No1287/2003 of
15 July 2003 on the harmonisation of gross national income at market prices (GNI
Regulation)11 have been consulted,
9
10
11
OJ L 55, 28.2.2011, p. 13.
OJ L 332, 30.11.2006, p.21.
OJ L181, 19.7.2003, p.1.
HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
Subject matter
1.
This Regulation sets up the European System of Accounts 2010 (ESA 2010).
2.
ESA 2010 provides for:
(a)
a methodology (Annex A) on common standards, definitions, classifications and
accounting rules that shall be used for compiling accounts and tables on comparable
bases for the purposes of the Union, together with results as required by Article 3;
(b)
a programme (Annex B) setting forth the time limits by which Member States shall
transmit to the Commission (Eurostat) the accounts and tables to be compiled according
to the methodology referred to in point (a).
3.
Taking into account Articles 5 and 12, this Regulation shall apply to all Union acts that refer
to the ESA or its definitions.
4.
This Regulation does not oblige any Member State to use the ESA 2010 in compiling
accounts for its own purposes.
Article 2
Methodology
1.
The methodology of the ESA 2010 referred to in point (a) of Article 1(2) is set out in Annex
A.
2.
The Commission may adopt, by means of delegated acts in accordance with Article 7,
amendments to the ESA 2010 methodology. These are intended to specify and improve its
content for the purpose of ensuring a harmonised interpretation or to ensure international
comparability provided that they do not change its underlying concepts, do not require
additional resources for producers within the European Statistical System for their
implementation and do not cause a change in own resources.
3.
In the event of doubt regarding the correct implementation of the ESA 2010 accounting rules,
the Member State concerned shall request clarification from the Commission (Eurostat). The
Commission (Eurostat) shall promptly examine the issue and communicate its advice on the
requested clarification to the Member State concerned and all other Member States.
4.
Member States shall carry out the calculation and allocation of financial intermediation
services indirectly measured (FISIM) in national accounts in accordance with the
methodology described in Annex A. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt before the
end of 2012 a delegated act in accordance with Article 7, laying down a revised methodology
for the calculation and allocation of FISIM. In exercising its power pursuant to this provision,
the Commission shall ensure that the delegated act does not impose significant additional
administrative burdens on the Member States and on the respondent units.
5.
Research and development expenditure shall be recorded, by Member States, as gross fixed
capital formation. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt in accordance with Article 7
a delegated act to ensure the reliability and comparability of the ESA data of the Member
States on research and development. In exercising its power pursuant to this provision, the
Commission shall ensure that the delegated act does not impose significant additional
administrative burdens on the Member States and on the respondent units.
Article 3
Transmission of data to the Commission
1.
The Member States shall transmit to the Commission (Eurostat) the accounts and tables set
out in Annex B within the time limits specified for each table.
2.
Member States shall transmit to the Commission the data and metadata required by this
Regulation in accordance with a specified interchange standard and other practical
arrangements. The data shall be transmitted or uploaded by electronic means to the single
entry point for data at the Commission. The interchange standard and other practical
arrangements for the transmission of the data shall be adopted by the Commission in the form
of implementing acts. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the
examination procedure referred to in Article 10(2).
3.
Deleted
Article 4
Quality assessment
1.
For the purpose of this Regulation, the quality criteria set out in Article 12(1) of Regulation
(EC) No 223/2009 shall apply to the data to be transmitted.
2.
Member States shall provide the Commission (Eurostat) with a report on the quality of the
data transmitted in accordance with Article 3.
3.
In applying the quality criteria referred to in paragraph 1 to the data covered by this
Regulation, the modalities, structure, periodicity and assessment indicators of the quality
reports shall be defined in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article
10(2).
4.
The Commission (Eurostat) shall assess the quality of the data transmitted.
Article 5
Date of application and of first transmission of data
1.
The ESA 2010 shall be applied for the first time to data established in accordance with Annex
B to be transmitted in September 2014.
2.
The data shall be transmitted to the Commission (Eurostat) in accordance with the time limits
laid down in Annex B.
3.
In accordance with paragraph 1, until the first transmission based on the ESA 2010, Member
States shall continue to send to the Commission (Eurostat) the accounts and tables established
by applying the ESA 95.
4.
Without prejudice to Article 19 of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000 of 22
May 2000 implementing Decision 2007/436/EC, Euratom on the system of the European
Communities own resources12 the Commission and the Member State concerned shall check
that this Regulation is being correctly applied and shall submit the outcome of those checks to
the Committee referred to in Article 10(1) of this Regulation.
12
OJ L 130, 31.5.2000, p. 1.
Article 6
Derogations
1.
Insofar as the national statistical system necessitates major adaptations for the application of
this Regulation, the Commission will grant derogations to Member States in accordance with
the examination procedure referred to in Article 10(2) from its application until 1 January
2020.
2.
To that end, the Member State concerned shall present a duly justified request to the
Commission not later than three months after the entry into force of this Regulation.
The Commission, after consulting the European Statistical System Committee, shall report to
the European Parliament and the Council not later than 1 July 2018 on the application of the
granted derogations in order to verify whether they are still justified.
Article 7
Exercise of the delegation
1.
The power to adopt the delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to the
conditions laid down in this article.
2.
The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Articles 2(2), 2(4) and 2(5) shall be conferred
on the Commission for a period of five years following the entry into force of this Regulation.
The Commission shall draw up a report in respect of the delegation of powers not later than
six months before the end of the five-year period. The delegation of powers shall be tacitly
extended for periods of an identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the Council
opposes such extension not later than three months before the end of each period.
3.
The delegation of power referred to in Articles 2(2), 2(4) and 2(5) may be revoked at any time
by the European Parliament or by the Council. A Decision to revoke shall put an end to the
delegation of power specified in that Decision. It shall take effect the day following the
publication of the Decision in the Official Journal of the European Union or at a later date
specified therein. It shall not affect the validity of any delegated acts already in force.
4.
As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to the
European Parliament and to the Council.
5.
A delegated act adopted pursuant to Articles 2(2), 2(4) and 2(5) shall enter into force only if
no objection has been expressed either by the European Parliament or the Council within a
period of three months of notification of that act to the European Parliament and the Council
or if, before the expiry of that period, the European Parliament and the Council have both
informed the Commission that they will not object. That period shall be extended by two
months at the initiative of the European Parliament or of the Council.
Article 8
Revocation of the delegation
Deleted
Article 9
Objections to delegated acts
Deleted
Article 10
Committee
1.
The Commission shall be assisted by the European Statistical System Committee established
by Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. The Committee shall be a committee within the meaning of
the Regulation (EU) No 182/2011.
2.
Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall
apply.
Article 11
Cooperation with other committees
1.
On all matters falling within the competence of the Committee on Monetary, Financial and
Balance of Payments Statistics the Commission shall request the opinion of that Committee in
accordance with Article 2 of Decision 2006/856/EC.
2.
The Commission shall communicate to the Gross National Income Committee (GNI
Committee), set up by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1287/2003, any information concerning
the implementation of this Regulation which is necessary for the performance of its duties.
Article 12
Transitional provisions
1.
For budgetary and own resources purposes and by way of derogation from Article 1(3) and
Article 5, the European system of accounts in force within the meaning of Article 1(1) of
Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1287/2003 and the legal acts relating thereto, in particular
Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000 and Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom)
No 1553/89 of 29 May 1989 on the definitive uniform arrangements for the collection of own
resources accruing from value added tax13, shall be the ESA 95 while Council Decision
2007/436/EC, Euratom of 7 June 2007 on the system of the European Communities’ own
resources14 remains in force.
2.
For the purpose of determination of the VAT-based own resource, and by way of exception
from paragraph 1, the Member States may use data based on ESA 2010 while Decision
2007/436/EC, Euratom remains in force, in cases where the required detailed ESA 95 data are
not available.
Article 13
Entry into force
This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official
Journal of the European Union.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels,
For the European Parliament
For the Council
The President
The President
________________
13
14
OJ L 155, 7.6.1989, p. 9.
OJ L 163, 23.6.2007, p. 17.

COUNCIL OF
THE EUROPEAN UNION
Brussels, 23 April 2012
8656/1/12
REV 1
Interinstitutional File:
2010/0374 (COD)
LIMITE
STATIS 26
ECOFIN 319
UEM 70
CODEC 957
NOTE
from:
to:
Subject:
Presidency
Delegations
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the
European system of national and regional accounts in the European Union (ESA
2010) - Presidency compromise (articles and recitals)
Delegations will find attached the legal text of the above mentioned proposal as agreed by the Working
Party on Statistics on 19 April 2012.
Changes to the Commission proposal are marked with bold (additions) and strikethrough (deletions). Changes
compared to the previous version are marked with underline. Legal linguistic amendments are marked with
italics and underline.
_______________
Encl:
ANNEX
Proposal for a
REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
on the European sSystem of national and regional accounts in the European Union1
(Text with EEA relevance)
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 338(1)
thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission2,
After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national Pparliaments,
Having regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank3,
Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure4,
1
2
3
4
DK, UK: Parliamentary scrutiny reservation ; SI: scrutiny reservation
OJ C […], […], p. […].
OJ C […], […], p. […].
OJ C […], […], p. […].
Whereas:
(1)
The monitoring of the economies of the Member States and of the economic and monetary
union (EMU) requires comparable, up-to-date and reliable information on the structure and
developments in the economic situation of each Member State or region.
(2)
The Commission should play a part in the monitoring of the economies of the Member
States and of the EMU and, in particular, report regularly to the Council on the progress
made by the Member States in fulfilling their obligations under the EMU.
(3)
Union cCitizens of the Union need economic accounts as a basic tool for analysing the
economic situation of a Member State or region. For the sake of comparability, such
accounts should be drawn up on the basis of a single set of principles that are not open to
differing interpretations.
(4)
The Commission should use aggregates of national accounts for Union administrative
purposes and, in particular, budgetary calculations.
(5)
In 1970, an administrative document entitled 'European System of Integrated Economic
Accounts` (ESA)' was published, covering the field governed by this Regulation, which had
been drawn up solely by the Statistical Office of the European Communities and on its
responsibility alone. That document was the outcome of several years' work by the
Statistical Office of the European Communities, together with Member States' national
statistical institutes, to devise a system of national accounts meeting the requirements of the
European Communities' economic and social policy. It constituted the Community version
of the United Nations System of National Accounts which had been used by the Community
up to that time. In order to update the original text a second edition of the document was
published in 19791.
1
Eurostat : "European System of Integrated Economic Accounts (ESA)", second edition,
Statistical Office of the European Communities, Luxembourg, 1979.
(6)
Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 of 25 June 1996 on the European system of national
and regional accounts in the Community1 set up a system of national accounts meeting the
requirements of the economic, social and regional policy of the Community Union. That
system was broadly consistent with the new international System of National Accounts
which was adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission in February 1993 (SNA
1993) so that the results in all member countries of the United Nations should be
internationally comparable.
(7)
SNA 1993 was updated in the form of a new System of National Accounts (2008 SNA)
adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission in February 2009 in order to bring
national accounts more in line with the new economic environment, advances in
methodological research, and needs of users.
(8)
There is a need to revise the European system of accounts (ESA 95) set up by Regulation
(EC) No 2223/96 in order to take into account these new developments so that that system
constitutes a version of 2008 SNA adapted to the structures of the Member States'
economies, and so that the data of the Union are comparable with those compiled by its
main international partners.
(9)
Attention should be paid in the case of environmental and social accounts to the
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council and the
European Parliament of 20 August 2009 entitled "GDP and beyond - Measuring progress
in a changing world"2. Therefore, further methodological studies and data tests may be required. There is a need to pursue
methodological studies and data tests, in particular on issues related to GDP and beyond and the Europe 2020 strategy with the aim
of developing a more comprehensive measurement approach for wellbeing and progress in order to support the promotion of a
smart, sustainable and inclusive economy.
1
2
OJ L 310, 30.11.1996, p. 1.
COM(2009) 433 final.
(10)
The revised European System of Accounts set up by this Regulation (ESA 2010) includes a
methodology and a transmission programme (which defines accounts and tables to be
provided by all Member States according to specified deadlines). The Commission should
make those accounts and tables available to users on precise dates and, where relevant, according to a
pre-announced release calendar. , particularly with regard to monitoring the economic convergence and achieving close coordination of
the Member States' economic policies.
(11) ESA 2010 is gradually to replace all other systems as a reference framework of common
standards, definitions, classifications and accounting rules for drawing up the accounts of
the Member States for the requirements of the Union, so that results that are comparable
between the Member States can be obtained.
(12) In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 26 May 2003 on the establishment of a common nomenclature classification of
territorial units for statistics (NUTS)1, all Member States’ statistics transmitted to the
Commission which are broken down by territorial units are to use the NUTS classification.
Consequently, in order to establish comparable regional statistics, the territorial units should
be defined in accordance with the NUTS classification.
(12a)
The transmission of data by the Member States, including the transmission of confidential data, is governed by the rules set out in
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics2. Measures
that are taken in accordance with this Regulation should ensure the protection of confidential data and that no unlawful disclosure
or non-statistical use occurs when European statistics are produced and disseminated.
1
2
OJ L 154, 21.6.2003, p. 1.
OJ L 87, 31.3.2009, p. 164.
(13) A task force has been set up to further examine the issue of the treatment of financial
intermediation services indirectly measured (FisimFISIM) in national accounts. Taking into
consideration the findings of the task force, it may be necessary to amend the methodology
for the calculation and allocation of FisimFISIM, by means of a delegated act before the end of
2012, in order to provide more reliable improved results.
(14) Research and development expenditure has the nature of investment and should therefore be
recorded as gross fixed capital formation. However, it is necessary to specify the format of the
data to be recorded as gross fixed capital formation by means of a delegated act when a
sufficient level of confidence in the reliability and comparability of the data is reached
through a test exercise based on the development of supplementary tables.
(15) Deleted
(16)
In order to amend the Annexes to this Regulation, the power to adopt The Commission should be empowered to adopt
delegated
acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
should be delegated to the Commission in respect of specifying and improving the content of the ESA 2010 methodology in
accordance with article 2(2); laying down a methodology for the calculation and allocation of FISIM in accordance with Article
2(4) and of ensuring the reliability and comparability of the research and development data to be recorded as gross fixed capital
formation in accordance with Article 2(5). The
European Statistical System Committee will be
consulted on the evaluation that the data on Research and Development have reached a
sufficient level of quality both in current prices and in volume terms for national
accounts purposes before the end of May 2013. The delegated act should be based on
this evaluation. for the purposes of amending the Annexes to this Regulation. It is of particular importance that
the Commission carries out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including
at expert level. The Commission, when preparing and drawing up delegated acts, should ensure a simultaneous, timely and
appropriate transmission of relevant documents to the European Parliament and to the Council.
(17) Since the implementation of this Regulation might will require major adaptations in the national
statistical systems, derogations will may be granted by the Commission to Member States.
(18)
In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this regulation, implementing powers should be conferred on the
Commission and exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16
February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by the Member States of the
Commission's exercise of implementing powers. The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation should be adopted in
accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers
conferred on the Commission.”1
(19) Since the objective of this Regulation, namely the establishment of a revised European
System of Accounts (ESA 2010), cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and
can be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with
the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty of the European Union. In
accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation
does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.
(20) The European Statistical System Committee set up by Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics2 has been
consulted.
1
2
OJ L 55, 28.2.2011, p. 13. 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.
OJ L 87, 31.3.2009, p. 164.
(21) The Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics set up by
Council Decision 2006/856/EC of 13 November 2006 establishing a Committee on
monetary, financial and balance of payments statistics1 and the Gross National Income
Committee (GNI Committee) set up by Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No° 1287/2003
of 15 July 2003 on the harmonisation of gross national income at market prices (GNI
Regulation)2 have been consulted,.
HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
Subject matter
6.
This Regulation sets up the European System of Accounts 2010 (ESA 2010).
7.
ESA 2010 provides for:
(c)
a methodology (Annex A) on common standards, definitions, classifications and
accounting rules that shall be used for compiling accounts and tables on comparable
bases for the purposes of the Union, together with results as required by Article 3;
(d)
a programme (Annex B) setting forth the time limits by which Member States shall
transmit to the Commission (Eurostat) the accounts and tables to be compiled according
to the methodology referred to in point (a).
1
2
OJ L 332, 30.11.2006, p.21.
OJ L181, 19.7.2003, p.1.
8.
Taking into account Articles 5 and 12, this Regulation shall apply to all Union acts that refer
to the ESA or its definitions.
9.
This Regulation does not oblige any Member State to use the ESA 2010 in compiling
accounts for its own purposes.
Article 2
Methodology
5.
The methodology of the ESA 2010 referred to in point (a) of Article 1 (2) (a) is set out in
Annex A.
6.
The Commission may adopt, by means of delegated acts in accordance with Articles 7, 8 and
9, amendments to the ESA 2010 methodology. which These are intended to specify and
improve its content for the purpose of ensuring a harmonised interpretation or to ensure
international comparability provided that they do not change its underlying concepts, do not
require additional resources for producers within the European Statistical System for their
implementation and do not cause an increase a change in own resources.
7.
In the event of doubt regarding the correct implementation of the ESA 2010 accounting rules,
the Member State concerned shall request clarification from the Commission (Eurostat). The
Commission (Eurostat) shall promptly examine the issue and communicate its decision advice on
the requested clarification to the Member State concerned and all other Member States.
8.
Member States shall carry out the calculation and allocation of financial intermediation
services indirectly measured (FisimFISIM) in national accounts in accordance with the
methodology described in Annex A. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt may lay down before
the end of 2012, by means of a delegated acts in accordance with Articles 7, 8 and 9, laying down a revised
methodology for the calculation and allocation of FisimFISIM. In exercising its power pursuant to this
provision, the Commission shall ensure that the delegated act does not impose significant additional administrative burdens on the
Member States and on the respondent units.
10.
Research and development expenditure shall be recorded, by Member States, as gross fixed
capital formation. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt in accordance with
Article 7 a delegated act to ensure the reliability and comparability of the ESA data of
the Member States on research and development. […] In exercising its power pursuant
to this provision, the Commission shall ensure that the delegated act does not impose
significant additional administrative burdens on the Member States and on the
respondent units. The Commission may adopt delegated acts, in accordance with Articles 7,
8 and 9, to ensure the reliability of the data to be recorded as fixed capital formation. Such
delegated acts shall specify the format of those data.
Article 3
Transmission of data to the Commission
4.
The Member States shall transmit to the Commission (Eurostat) the accounts and tables set
out in Annex B within the time limits specified for each table.
The Commission, after consulting the European Statistical System Committee, shall report to the European Parliament and the Council not
later than 1 July 2018 on the application of the derogations granted in accordance with Article 6 in order to verify whether they are still
justified.
5.
Member States shall transmit to the Commission (Eurostat) the data and metadata required by
this Regulation in accordance with a specified interchange standard specified by the Commission (Eurostat).
and other practical arrangements.
The dData
shall be transmitted or uploaded by electronic means to the single entry point for data
at the Commission.
The interchange standard and other practical arrangements for the transmission of the data shall be adopted by the Commission in
the form of implementing acts. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to
in Article 10(2).
6.
Deleted
Article 4
Quality assessment
5.
For the purpose of this Regulation, the quality criteria referred to set out in Article 12(1) of
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 shall apply to the data to be transmitted.
6.
Member States shall provide the Commission (Eurostat) with a report on the quality of the
data transmitted in accordance with Article 3.
7.
In applying the quality criteria referred to in paragraph 1 to the data covered by this
Regulation, the modalities, structure, and periodicity and assessment indicators of the quality reports
shall be defined in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 10(2).
8.
The Commission (Eurostat) shall assess the quality of the data transmitted.
Article 5
Date of application and of first transmission of data
5.
The ESA 2010 shall be applied for the first time to data established in accordance with Annex
B to be transmitted in September 2014.
6.
The data shall be transmitted to the Commission (Eurostat) in accordance with the time limits
laid down in Annex B.
7.
In accordance with paragraph 1, until the first transmission based on the ESA 2010, Member
States shall continue to send to the Commission (Eurostat) the accounts and tables established
by applying the ESA 95.
8.
Without prejudice to Article 19 of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000 of 22
May 2000 implementing Decision 2007/436/EC, Euratom on the system of the European
Communities own resources1 the Commission and the Member State concerned shall check
that this Regulation is being correctly applied and shall submit the outcome of those checks to
the Committee provided for referred to in Article 10(1) of this Regulation.
Article 62
Derogations
3.
Insofar as the national statistical system necessitates major adaptations for the application of
this Regulation, the Commission may will grant derogations to Member States in accordance
with the examination procedure referred to in Article 10(2) from its application until 1
January 2020.
1
2
OJ L 130, 31.5.2000, p. 1.
ES, SI, SK: reservation.
4.
To that end, the Member State concerned shall present a duly justified request to the
Commission not later than three months after the entry into force of this Regulation.
The Commission, after consulting the European Statistical System Committee, shall report to the European Parliament and the
Council not later than 1 July 2018 on the application of the granted derogations in order to verify whether they are still justified.
Article 7
Exercise of the delegation
6.
The power to adopt the delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to the
conditions laid down in this article.
7.
The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Articles 2(2), 2(4) and 2(5) and Article
3(3) shall be conferred on the Commission for a period of five years following the entry
into force of this Regulation. The Commission shall draw up a report in respect of the
delegation of powers not later than six months before the end of the five-year period.
The delegation of powers shall be tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration,
unless the European Parliament or the Council opposes such extension not later than
three months before the end of each period.
8.
The delegation of power referred to in Articles 2(2), 2(4) and 2(5) and Article 3(3) may
be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council. A dDecision to
revoke shall put an end to the delegation of the power specified in that Ddecision. It shall
take effect the day following the publication of the dDecision in the Official Journal of
the European Union or at a later date specified therein. It shall not affect the validity of
any delegated acts already in force.
9.
As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to the
European Parliament and to the Council.
10.
A delegated act adopted pursuant to Articles 2(2), 2(4) and 2(5) and Article 3(3) shall
enter into force only if no objection has been expressed either by the European
Parliament or the Council within a period of two three months of notification of that act
to the European Parliament and the Council or if, before the expiry of that period, the
European Parliament and the Council have both informed the Commission that they
will not object. That period shall be extended by two months at the initiative of the
European Parliament or of the Council.
1.
The powers to adopt the delegated acts referred to in Articles 2(2), (4) and (5) and Article 3(3) shall be conferred on the Commission for a
period of five years following the entry into force of this Regulation. The Commission shall make a report in respect of the delegated
powers at the latest six months before the end of the five-year period. The delegation of powers shall be automatically extended for
periods of an identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the Council revokes it in accordance with Article 8.
2.
As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council.
3.
The powers to adopt delegated acts are conferred on the Commission subject to the conditions laid down in Articles 8 and 9.
Article 8
Revocation of the delegation
Deleted
Article 9
Objections to delegated acts
Deleted
Article 10
Committee
3.
The Commission shall be assisted by the European Statistical System Committee established by
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of 11 March 2009 on European statistics. The Committee shall be a committee within the meaning of
the Regulation (EU) No 182/2011.
4.
Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 and Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply.
Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.
The period laid down in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at three months.
Article 11
Cooperation with other committees
3.
On all matters falling within the competence of the Committee on Monetary, Financial and
Balance of Payments Statistics the Commission shall request the opinion of that Committee in
accordance with Article 2 of Decision 2006/856/EC.
4.
The Commission shall communicate to the Gross National Income Committee (GNI
Committee), set up by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1287/2003, any information concerning
the implementation of this Regulation which is necessary for the performance of its duties.
Article 12
Transitional provisions
3.
For budgetary and own resources purposes and by way of derogation from Article 1(3) and
Article 5, the European system of accounts in force within the meaning of Article 1(1) of
Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1287/2003 and the legal acts relating thereto, in particular
Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000 and Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom)
No 1553/89 of 29 May 1989 on the definitive uniform arrangements for the collection of
own resources accruing from value added tax1, shall be the ESA 95 while Council Decision
2007/436/EC, Euratom of 7 June 2007 on the system of the European Communities’ own
resources2 remains in force.
4.
For the purpose of determination of the VAT-based own resource, and by way of exception
from paragraph 1, the Member States may use data based on ESA 2010 while Decision
2007/436/EC, Euratom remains in force, in cases where the required detailed ESA 95 data are
not available.
1
2
OJ L 155, 7.6.1989, p. 9.
OJ L 163, 23.6.2007, p. 17.
Article 13
Entry into force
This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official
Journal of the European Union.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels,
For the European Parliament
For the Council
The President
The President
_______________
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 20/01/2012 at 09:56
Title: Technical Compilation Guide for Pension Data in
National Accounts
Categorisation
International Coordination\International
Organisation\Eurostat\NAWG
Note for the record
Frederique.ROUARD@
ext.ec.europa.eu
20/01/2012 09:01
To:
IRroji@instat.gov.al, ursula.havel@statistik.gv.at, Hans.DeDyn
ueli.schiess@bfs.admin.ch, natasav@dzs.hr, solcics@dzs.hr, gsarris@cystat.mof.gov.cy, ondrus@
mariagnese.branchi@ecb.int, Werner.Roeger@ec.europa.eu, tonu.mertsina@stat.ee, anapat@sta
sgalmes@bde.es, eeva.hamunen@stat.fi, lotta.sjoblom@stat.fi, paula.koistinen-jokiniemi@stat.fi, j
michael.c.brennan@cso.ie, paddy.mcdonald@cso.ie, Stefan.Jansen@hagstofa.is, anbaldas@istat
xhevriefetahu@hotmail.com, edina.kozic@bhas.ba, Gabija.Ramsaite@stat.gov.lt, john.haas@state
joseph.p.vella@gov.mt, vanessa.dimech@gov.mt, e.veldhuizen@cbs.nl, mpoe@cbs.nl, kns@ssb.n
draganp@stat.gov.rs, pedro.oliveira@ine.pt, alina.predescu@insse.ro, Martin.Daniels@scb.se, ma
mojca.skrlec@gov.si, Frantisek.Bernadic@statistics.sk, anders.nordin@sogeti.lu, GULSER.DEMIR
tihomira.dimova@unece.org
cc:
Gallo.Gueye@ec.europa.eu, Silke.STAPEL@ec.europa.eu, Je
Leonidas.AKRITIDIS@ec.europa.eu, Kristine.VASARIETE@ec.europa.eu, Crina.CHEREJI@ec.eu
Subject:
Technical Compilation Guide for Pension Data in National Acco
Dear Members of the NAWG ,
For your information, the European Commission (Eurostat) and the ECB have released the Technical
Compilation Guide for Pension Data in National Accounts. The Guide, produced by the two
institutions, is a handbook for compilers and users of data on pension schemes in social insurance.
It aims at supporting National Statistical Institutes, Central banks and other compilers within the
European Union, to derive position and flow data for pension entitlements. The guide is also a
useful tool to help users to understand the data.
The "Technical Compilation Guide for Pension Data in National Accounts" is available on:
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/product_details/publication?p_product_code
=KS-RA-11-027
Best wishes
Ms Frédérique ROUARD
European Commission
National Accounts methodology,
Sector accounts, Financial indicators
EUROSTAT C1 BECH Building E2/826
5, rue Alphonse Weicker - L2721 Luxembourg
Tel: (+352) 4301-31962
Fax: (+352) 4301-33029
E-mail:Frederique.ROUARD@ext.ec.europa.eu
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 19/07/2011 at 14:56
Title: Questionnaire on Pension Schemes
Categorisation
International Coordination\Pensions
Note for the record
ESTAT-C-5SECRETARIAT@ec.eur
opa.eu
19/07/2011 14:51
To:
caricchi@istat.it, acristobal@ine.es, Ana.AGUNDEZ-GARCIA@
Anne.Greiveldinger@statec.etat.lu, Aharrison1@worldbank.org, anne.mulkay@nbb.be, asuncion.ru
bio@dst.dk, Giuseppe.Carone@ec.europa.eu, xrisisk@statistics.gr, Clyde.Caruana@gov.mt, ddam
VRIES@ec.europa.eu, didier.blanchet@insee.fr, Dominique.Durant@banque-france.fr, Per.Eckefe
Susana.Filipa.Lima@bportugal.pt, Lena.Frej-Ohlsson@ec.europa.eu, Gabriele.Semeraro@bancad
Christopher.Garland@ec.europa.eu, georgeta.mondiru@insse.ro, Gsarris@cystat.mof.gov.cy, Ger
Gillian.Phelan@centralbank.ie, Jens.GRUETZ@ec.europa.eu, guy.schuller@statec.etat.lu, hkulaks
Inta.Vanovska@csb.gov.lv, Isabelle.YNESTA@oecd.org, I.Kuseleviciene@finmin.lt, Janusz.Jablon
jonas.edblom@scb.se, Jose.Sergio.Branco@bportugal.pt, Kamil.DYBCZAK@ec.europa.eu, caruan
Denis.Leythienne@ec.europa.eu, Liene.Gintere@csb.gov.lv, ludmila.vebrova@czso.cz, lgordo@b
marian_labaj@nbs.sk, marjana.klinar@gov.si, marta.rodriguez@ecb.europa.eu, maura.francese@
mikk.medijainen@stat.ee, MDimcheva@nsi.bg, Mira.Lehmuskoski@stat.fi, Josemaria.Olivares@ec
Paula.Koistinen-Jokiniemi@stat.fi, malizia@istat.it, razvan.miroescu@bnro.ro, reimund.mink@ecb.
Levy/ONS@ONS, thorsten.haug@destatis.de, Tom.Dominique@igss.etat.lu, Tomas.Paulauskas@
vija.veidemane@csb.gov.lv, Walter.Stuebler@statistik.gv.at, Jakub.Wtorek@ec.europa.eu, sisakne
cc:
Lena.Frej-Ohlsson@ec.europa.eu, Ismael.AHAMDANECH-ZA
Subject:
Questionnaire on Pension Schemes
Dear Members of the contact group on pensions,
On behalf of Lena Frej Ohlsson, Head of Unit Eurostat/C-5 (Government and Sector Accounts; Financial
indicators), please find attached a note and questionnaire on the above mentioned subject.
Best regards
Neusa PIRAINO
Secrétariat de l'Unité C-5
EUROSTAT
BECH E3/828
Tel: +352 4301-32473
E-mail: neusa.piraino@ec.europa.eu
<<cover_letter pensions_2011_b.pdf>> <<Pensions Questionnaire_2011.xls>>
This email was received from the INTERNET and scanned by the Government Secure Intranet antivirus service supplied by Cable&Wireless Worldwide in partnership with MessageLabs. (CCTM
Certificate Number 2009/09/0052.) In case of problems, please call your organisation?x02019;s IT
Helpdesk.
Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded for legal
purposes.
Directorate C: National and European Accounts
Unit C-5: Government and sector accounts;
Financial indicators
EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK
DIRECTORATE GENERAL STATISTICS
Luxembourg, 19 July 2011
ESTAT/C-5/LFO/IAZ/np/D(2011)871026
NOTE FOR THE ATTENTION OF THE CONTACT GROUP ON PENSIONS
Dear Members,
As a part of the ongoing work on the recording of pensions in national accounts by the
Contact Group on Pensions, Eurostat and the ECB will launch a new questionnaire on
pensions, as a follow-up of the 2009 and 2010 questionnaires. This questionnaire is designed
to be in line with last year's exercise and to focus on the progress in filling in the
supplementary table on pension schemes.
This questionnaire is composed of two parts. They refer to:
some qualitative questions on the data sources and the compilation of pension
obligations/entitlements; and
the supplementary table on pensions schemes in social insurance.
On the qualitative part of the questionnaire, please be as complete as possible in the answers.
In particular, please indicate in question 7 the modelling assumptions used, i.e. the discount
rate, the wage growth and the wage valuation method (ABO/PBO), and the population
projections used.
For comparability reasons, please complete the table for years 2009 and 2010, if data are
available. Moreover, please do not alter the table by the addition or removal of rows or
columns.
We would like to remind you that the ESA 2010 draft legislation of 20 December 2010
proposes that the supplementary table (Table 29), showing flows and stocks of pension
schemes under an ADL approach should become compulsory in the forthcoming ESA 2010
transmission program from 2014. Moreover, we assure you that the data sent in this exercise
will be not published without permission of the countries.
The Contact Group Members are asked to coordinate a single national response and to send
the completed questionnaire to Eurostat by 31st December 2011 to Ismael Ahamdanech Zarco
(Ismael.AHAMDANECH-ZARCO@ec.europa.eu) – with a copy to Mr. Reimund Mink
(reimund.mink@ecb.int) and to Ms Marion Deunert (marion.deunert@ecb.int).
For further questions, please do not hesitate to contact:
Ismael Ahamdanech Zarco (+ 352 4301 38893)
Yours sincerely,
Signed Signed
Lena Frej Ohlsson, Reimund Mink
Head of Unit Senior Adviser
Eurostat/C5 ECB/DG Statistics
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 27/05/2011 at 15:23
Title: Pensions Technical Compilation Guide (as at May
2011)
Categorisation
International Coordination\Pensions
Note for the record
ESTAT-C-5SECRETARIAT@ec.eur
opa.eu
27/05/2011 15:20
To:
caricchi@istat.it, acristobal@ine.es, Ana.AGUNDEZ-GARCIA@
Anne.Greiveldinger@statec.etat.lu, Aharrison1@worldbank.org, anne.mulkay@nbb.be, asuncion.ru
bio@dst.dk, Giuseppe.Carone@ec.europa.eu, xrisisk@statistics.gr, Clyde.Caruana@gov.mt, ddam
VRIES@ec.europa.eu, didier.blanchet@insee.fr, Dominique.Durant@banque-france.fr, Per.Eckefe
Susana.Filipa.Lima@bportugal.pt, Lena.Frej-Ohlsson@ec.europa.eu, Gabriele.Semeraro@bancad
Christopher.Garland@ec.europa.eu, georgeta.mondiru@insse.ro, Gsarris@cystat.mof.gov.cy, Ger
Gillian.Phelan@centralbank.ie, Jens.GRUETZ@ec.europa.eu, guy.schuller@statec.etat.lu, hkulaks
Inta.Vanovska@csb.gov.lv, Isabelle.YNESTA@oecd.org, I.Kuseleviciene@finmin.lt, Janusz.Jablon
jonas.edblom@scb.se, Jose.Sergio.Branco@bportugal.pt, Kamil.DYBCZAK@ec.europa.eu, caruan
Denis.Leythienne@ec.europa.eu, Liene.Gintere@csb.gov.lv, ludmila.vebrova@czso.cz, lgordo@bd
marian_labaj@nbs.sk, marjana.klinar@gov.si, marta.rodriguez@ecb.europa.eu, maura.francese@
mikk.medijainen@stat.ee, MDimcheva@nsi.bg, Mira.Lehmuskoski@stat.fi, Josemaria.Olivares@ec
Paula.Koistinen-Jokiniemi@stat.fi, malizia@istat.it, razvan.miroescu@bnro.ro, reimund.mink@ecb.
Levy/ONS@ONS, thorsten.haug@destatis.de, Tom.Dominique@igss.etat.lu, Tomas.Paulauskas@
vija.veidemane@csb.gov.lv, Walter.Stuebler@statistik.gv.at, Jakub.Wtorek@ec.europa.eu, sisakne
cc:
Ismael.AHAMDANECH-ZARCO@ec.europa.eu, Lena.Frej-Ohl
Subject:
Technical Compilation Guide
Dear colleagues,
As a follow up of the work on pension entitlements compilation and the Eurostat/ECB workshop on pensions
of 9-10 November 2010, we hereby send you a revised draft version of the Technical Compilation Guide.
This version has already benefited from some comments provided by ECB. However, the web publication on
the Eurostat/ECB websites will take into account further contributions announced for the coming weeks.
In order to start the discussion on pensions data compilation with you already toda pir y, we would like to
open the Electronic Discussion Group on pension entitlements compilation. Ismael Ahamdanech Zarco from
Eurostat unit C5 will act as administrator. Whenever you have a question/issue you want to share with other
colleagues, send an e-mail to Ismael (ismael.ahamdanech-zarco@ec.europa.eu) who will forward the
question/comments to the rest of the contact group using reply-all function in the discussions.
We count on your active participation and hope that our future co-operation continues to be as fruitful as until
now.
With best regards,
Lena Frej Ohlsson
Lena Frej Ohlsson
Head of Unit C5 Government and Sector accounts; Financial indicators
European Commission
EUROSTAT
Tel: (+352) 4301-35161
<<tcg_2nd_draft.pdf>>
This email was received from the INTERNET and scanned by the Government Secure Intranet antivirus service supplied by Cable&Wireless Worldwide in partnership with MessageLabs. (CCTM
Certificate Number 2009/09/0052.) In case of problems, please call your organisation?x02019;s IT
Helpdesk.
Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded for legal
purposes.
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 27/05/2011 at 15:23
Title: Pensions Technical Compilation Guide (as at May
2011)
Categorisation
International Coordination\Pensions
Note for the record
ESTAT-C-5SECRETARIAT@ec.eur
opa.eu
27/05/2011 15:20
To:
caricchi@istat.it, acristobal@ine.es, Ana.AGUNDEZ-GARCIA@
Anne.Greiveldinger@statec.etat.lu, Aharrison1@worldbank.org, anne.mulkay@nbb.be, asuncion.ru
bio@dst.dk, Giuseppe.Carone@ec.europa.eu, xrisisk@statistics.gr, Clyde.Caruana@gov.mt, ddam
VRIES@ec.europa.eu, didier.blanchet@insee.fr, Dominique.Durant@banque-france.fr, Per.Eckefe
Susana.Filipa.Lima@bportugal.pt, Lena.Frej-Ohlsson@ec.europa.eu, Gabriele.Semeraro@bancad
Christopher.Garland@ec.europa.eu, georgeta.mondiru@insse.ro, Gsarris@cystat.mof.gov.cy, Ger
Gillian.Phelan@centralbank.ie, Jens.GRUETZ@ec.europa.eu, guy.schuller@statec.etat.lu, hkulaks
Inta.Vanovska@csb.gov.lv, Isabelle.YNESTA@oecd.org, I.Kuseleviciene@finmin.lt, Janusz.Jablon
jonas.edblom@scb.se, Jose.Sergio.Branco@bportugal.pt, Kamil.DYBCZAK@ec.europa.eu, caruan
Denis.Leythienne@ec.europa.eu, Liene.Gintere@csb.gov.lv, ludmila.vebrova@czso.cz, lgordo@bd
marian_labaj@nbs.sk, marjana.klinar@gov.si, marta.rodriguez@ecb.europa.eu, maura.francese@
mikk.medijainen@stat.ee, MDimcheva@nsi.bg, Mira.Lehmuskoski@stat.fi, Josemaria.Olivares@ec
Paula.Koistinen-Jokiniemi@stat.fi, malizia@istat.it, razvan.miroescu@bnro.ro, reimund.mink@ecb.
Levy/ONS@ONS, thorsten.haug@destatis.de, Tom.Dominique@igss.etat.lu, Tomas.Paulauskas@
vija.veidemane@csb.gov.lv, Walter.Stuebler@statistik.gv.at, Jakub.Wtorek@ec.europa.eu, sisakne
cc:
Ismael.AHAMDANECH-ZARCO@ec.europa.eu, Lena.Frej-Ohl
Subject:
Technical Compilation Guide
Dear colleagues,
As a follow up of the work on pension entitlements compilation and the Eurostat/ECB workshop on pensions
of 9-10 November 2010, we hereby send you a revised draft version of the Technical Compilation Guide.
This version has already benefited from some comments provided by ECB. However, the web publication on
the Eurostat/ECB websites will take into account further contributions announced for the coming weeks.
In order to start the discussion on pensions data compilation with you already toda pir y, we would like to
open the Electronic Discussion Group on pension entitlements compilation. Ismael Ahamdanech Zarco from
Eurostat unit C5 will act as administrator. Whenever you have a question/issue you want to share with other
colleagues, send an e-mail to Ismael (ismael.ahamdanech-zarco@ec.europa.eu) who will forward the
question/comments to the rest of the contact group using reply-all function in the discussions.
We count on your active participation and hope that our future co-operation continues to be as fruitful as until
now.
With best regards,
Lena Frej Ohlsson
Lena Frej Ohlsson
Head of Unit C5 Government and Sector accounts; Financial indicators
European Commission
EUROSTAT
Tel: (+352) 4301-35161
<<tcg_2nd_draft.pdf>>
This email was received from the INTERNET and scanned by the Government Secure Intranet antivirus service supplied by Cable&Wireless Worldwide in partnership with MessageLabs. (CCTM
Certificate Number 2009/09/0052.) In case of problems, please call your organisation?x02019;s IT
Helpdesk.
Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded for legal
purposes.
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 01/10/2010 at 18:11
Title: Workshop on Pension to be held in Luxembourg on
9-10 November 2010
Categorisation
International Coordination\Pensions
Note for the record
Neusa.Piraino@ec.eur
opa.eu
28/09/2010 17:44
To:
caricchi@istat.it, acristobal@ine.es, ammalmeida@bportugal.p
Aidan.Synnott@cso.ie, bio@dst.dk, Giuseppe.Carone@ec.europa.eu, Clyde.Caruana@gov.mt, dd
Dominique.Durant@banque-france.fr, fabrice.lenglart@insee.fr, Susana.Filipa.Lima@bportugal.pt,
georgeta.mondiru@insse.ro, Gsarris@cystat.mof.gov.cy, germain.stammet@bcl.lu, Gillian.Phelan@
huszarg@mnb.hu, Isabelle.YNESTA@oecd.org, Janusz.Jablonowski@mail.nbp.pl, j.geerts@cbs.n
jonas.edblom@scb.se, Kamil.DYBCZAK@ec.europa.eu, caruanak@centralbankmalta.org, Karl.Sc
Marc.origer@statec.etat.lu, M.Madejski@stat.gov.pl, marjana.klinar@gov.si, marta.rodriguez@ecb
Josemaria.Olivares@ec.europa.eu, patricia.semiao@ine.pt, Paula.Koistinen-Jokiniemi@stat.fi, ma
Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS, Sarah Levy/ONS@ONS, SCorres@bankofgreece.g
veronika.stastna@czso.cz, zuzana_durcenkova@nbs.sk
cc:
Ismael.AHAMDANECH-ZARCO@ec.europa.eu, Denis.Leythie
Subject:
Invitation to a Workshop on Pension to be held in Luxembourg
Dear Members of the contact group on pensions,
On behalf of Denis Leythienne, acting Head of Unit Eurostat/C-5 (Government and Sector Accounts;
Financial indicators), please find attached the invitation and the agenda for the above mentioned
Workshop .
Best regards
Neusa PIRAINO
Secrétariat de l'Unité C-5
EUROSTAT
BECH E3/828
Tel: +352 4301-32473
E-mail: neusa.piraino@ec.europa.eu
<<invitation.pdf>> <<Draft Agenda.pdf>>
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 17/11/2011 at 18:03
Title: Table 29 - Differences between Dec 2010
Commission Proposal and Supplementary Table
Questionnaire
R
R
e
p
o
n
e
Re
esssp
po
on
nssse
e
Note for the record
Ismael.AHAMDANECHZARCO@ec.europa.eu
17/11/2011 15:54
To:
cc:
Subject:
Sarah Levy/ONS@ONS
Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS
RE: Questionnaire on Pension Schemes
Hola Sarah,
I´m sorry but I do not understand the point here. In fact, the table in the proposal of December 2010 includes
that row¡¡,
Best,
Isma
From: Sarah Levy [mailto:sarah.levy@ons.gsi.gov.uk]
Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2011 3:29 PM
To: AHAMDANECH ZARCO Ismael (ESTAT)
Cc: Sanjiv Mahajan
Subject: Re: Questionnaire on Pension Schemes
Hi Isma
Thank you for the clarification. Re your points (a) and (b) - this is fine.
However, there is still the issue of Row 2.5. We are not populating this row because we are
following the latest guidance, so our delivery would not include it. This also affects Row 2, which
would be gross (not net of service charges) for the UK.
I suspect that other countries will be in the same position, so it would be helpful for all if you could
change the questionnaire. If you stick to the old version, it will be comparable with the previous
deliveries but not comparable between countries because some countries will be doing it the old way
and some the new way. But of course this is up to you.
Best wishes,
Sarah Levy
Head of Pensions Analysis
Household and Labour Market Division
Office for National Statistics
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8XG
Tel: 01633 455457
Ismael.AHAMDANECH-ZARCO@ec.europa.eu
17/11/2011 14:10
To:
Sarah Levy/ONS@ONS
cc:
Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS
Subject:
RE: Questionnaire on Pension Schemes
Hola Sarah,
as you say, there are some mismatches between table 29 in December proposal and the version we
sent. This is because we are still sticking to the old versin (for comparability reasons) although if
finally the December proposal is approved we will change to the official table even for the voluntary
transmissions.
Two other comments:
a) We have included the term contingent liabilities to clarify that these liabilities may be in fact
contingent and to reinforce the difference with government debt.
b) I do not think that there is a big difference between using Standard or core, altough, of course, I
may be wrong since I´m not a native english speaker.
Un saludo,
Isma
From: Sarah Levy [mailto:sarah.levy@ons.gsi.gov.uk]
Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2011 12:49 PM
To: ESTAT C-5 SECRETARIAT
Cc: Sanjiv Mahajan; AHAMDANECH ZARCO Ismael (ESTAT)
Subject: Re: Questionnaire on Pension Schemes
Dear Neusa
Greetings from the UK!
We are starting to fill in the questionnaire that you have sent us for the 2010 supplementary table on
pensions. We have noticed three differences between your questionnaire and the latest version of
the supplementary table circulated in the December 2010 draft of the ESA2010 manual:
1) an additional row in the table : Row 2.5 (pension scheme service charges)
2) additional wording (in italics) in Rows 1 and 10 : Pension entitlements (including contingent
pension entitlements)
3) use of the term 'standard national accounts' rather than 'core national accounts'
The version that you have sent for the 2010 table seems to match previous versions of the
questionnaire for 2008 and 2009, so I think it must be an old version. However, we are working to
the latest version of the table in the December 2010 draft of the ESA2010 manual (Table 17.5).
Please could you send us an updated version of the questionnaire which is consistent with the
December 2010 draft of the ESA2010 manual?
Thank you.
Sarah Levy
Head of Pensions Analysis
Household and Labour Market Division
Office for National Statistics
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8XG
Tel: 01633 455457
ESTAT-C-5SECRETARIAT@ec.eur
To:
caricchi@istat.it, acristobal@ine.es, Ana.AGUNDEZ-GARCIA@ec.europa.eu,
opa.eu
ammalmeida@bportugal.pt, Ahristov@NSI.bg, Anne.Greiveldinger@statec.etat.lu,
Aharrison1@worldbank.org, anne.mulkay@nbb.be, asuncion.rubio@bde.es, Aidan.Synnott@cso.ie,
Barbara.Montereale@bfs.admin.ch, bio@dst.dk, Giuseppe.Carone@ec.europa.eu, xrisisk@statistics.gr,
19/07/2011 14:51
Clyde.Caruana@gov.mt, ddamianou@cystat.mof.gov.cy, Dario.florey@bfs.admin.ch, Gabe.DEVRIES@ec.europa.eu, didier.blanchet@insee.fr, Dominique.Durant@banque-france.fr,
Per.Eckefeldt@ec.europa.eu, elena.marton@bfs.admin.ch, fabrice.lenglart@insee.fr,
Susana.Filipa.Lima@bportugal.pt, Lena.Frej-Ohlsson@ec.europa.eu, Gabriele.Semeraro@bancaditalia.it,
gabriella.ocskai@ngm.gov.hu, dominicg@dzs.hr, Christopher.Garland@ec.europa.eu,
georgeta.mondiru@insse.ro, Gsarris@cystat.mof.gov.cy, Gerald.Wimmer@oenb.at,
Gergana.Peeva@nssi.bg, germain.stammet@bcl.lu, Gillian.Phelan@centralbank.ie,
Jens.GRUETZ@ec.europa.eu, guy.schuller@statec.etat.lu, hkulaksiz@muhasebat.gov.tr, h.lub@dnb.nl,
hee@ssb.no, huszarg@mnb.hu, Inta.Vanovska@csb.gov.lv, Isabelle.YNESTA@oecd.org,
I.Kuseleviciene@finmin.lt, Janusz.Jablonowski@mail.nbp.pl, j.geerts@cbs.nl,
Johann.Bjorgvinsson@statice.is, jonas.edblom@scb.se, Jose.Sergio.Branco@bportugal.pt,
Kamil.DYBCZAK@ec.europa.eu, caruanak@centralbankmalta.org, Karl.Schwarz@statistik.gv.at,
Denis.Leythienne@ec.europa.eu, Liene.Gintere@csb.gov.lv, ludmila.vebrova@czso.cz, lgordo@bde.es,
lumerlo@ine.es, Marc.origer@statec.etat.lu, Margita.Kupkova@statistics.sk, marian_labaj@nbs.sk,
marjana.klinar@gov.si, marta.rodriguez@ecb.europa.eu, maura.francese@bancaditalia.it,
michael.wolf@scb.se, Michele.CHAVOIX-MANNATO@oecd.org, mikk.medijainen@stat.ee,
MDimcheva@nsi.bg, Mira.Lehmuskoski@stat.fi, Josemaria.Olivares@ec.europa.eu,
Peter.Parlasca@ec.europa.eu, patricia.semiao@ine.pt, Paula.Koistinen-Jokiniemi@stat.fi, malizia@istat.it,
razvan.miroescu@bnro.ro, reimund.mink@ecb.europa.eu, Sanjiv
Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS, Sarah Levy/ONS@ONS, thorsten.haug@destatis.de,
Tom.Dominique@igss.etat.lu, Tomas.Paulauskas@stat.gov.lt, ulrich.burgtorf@bundesbank.de,
veronika.stastna@czso.cz, vija.veidemane@csb.gov.lv, Walter.Stuebler@statistik.gv.at,
Jakub.Wtorek@ec.europa.eu, sisaknezs@mnb.hu, zuzana_durcenkova@nbs.sk
cc:
Lena.Frej-Ohlsson@ec.europa.eu, Ismael.AHAMDANECH-ZARCO@ec.europa.eu,
marion.deunert@ecb.int
Subject:
Questionnaire on Pension Schemes
Dear Members of the contact group on pensions,
On behalf of Lena Frej Ohlsson, Head of Unit Eurostat/C-5 (Government and Sector Accounts;
Financial indicators), please find attached a note and questionnaire on the above mentioned
subject.
Best regards
Neusa PIRAINO
Secrétariat de l'Unité C-5
EUROSTAT
BECH E3/828
Tel: +352 4301-32473
E-mail: neusa.piraino@ec.europa.eu
<<cover_letter pensions_2011_b.pdf>> <<Pensions Questionnaire_2011.xls>>
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 03/05/2012 at 07:23
Title: Pension liabilities in National Account Statistics
Categorisation
International Coordination\International
Organisation\Eurostat\CWPS
Note for the record
Bernd.Stoertzbach@destati
s.de
02/05/2012 12:18
To raoul.depoutot@insee.fr, gandolfo@istat.it, Sanjiv
Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS
cc thomas.salzmann@bmas.bund.de
Subject WG: Pension liabilities in National Account Statistics
Dear colleagues,
For your infomation, enclosed please find the letter of the German Federal
Ministry of Economics and Technology with regard to the meeting of the COREPER.
Kind regards
Bernd
-*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Bernd Stoertzbach
Referatsleiter
Tel. +49 611 75-2351
Fax +49 611 75-3950
Bernd Stoertzbach
Head of Section
Tel. +49 611 75-2351
Fax +49 611 75-3950
Statistisches Bundesamt
Gruppe B 1, Planung und
Koordinierung, Internationale
Kooperation
Gustav-Stresemann-Ring 11
65189 Wiesbaden
Deutschland
Federal Statistical Office
Division B1, Planning and
Coordination, International
Cooperation
Gustav-Stresemann-Ring 11
65189 Wiesbaden
Germany
*
bernd.stoertzbach@destatis.de
http://www.destatis.de
-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----Von: Salzmann, Thomas -Ib1 BMAS [mailto:Thomas.Salzmann@bmas.bund.de]
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 2. Mai 2012 09:09
An: Stoertzbach, Bernd
Betreff: WG: Pension liabilities in National Account Statistics
Lieber Herr Störtzbach,
die Briefe an Italien und Frankreich sind noch am vergangenen Freitag versandt
worden.
Könnten Sie diese Information auch an Ihre Kollegen in der RAG Statistik
weiterleiten?
beste Grüße,
Thomas Salzmann
-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----Von: Martin.Lehmann-Stanislowski@bmwi.bund.de [mailto:Martin.LehmannStanislowski@bmwi.bund.de]
Gesendet: Freitag, 27. April 2012 16:06
An: Eitenmüller, Stefan -Ib BMAS
Cc: buero-ic3@bmwi.bund.de
Betreff: WG: Pension liabilities in National Account Statistics
Lieber Herr Eitenmüller,
zu Ihrer Information wie besprochen. Ein gleich lautender Brief ist an den
französischen Kollegen gesandt worden.
Freundlichen Gruß
Martin Lehmann-Stanislowski
Unterabteilung IC
Gesamtwirtschaftliche Entwicklung, Analysen und Projektionen
Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie
Scharnhorststraße 34-37
10115 Berlin
Germany
Tel.: ++49-(0)30-20147140
Fax: ++49-(0)30-2014507140
Internet: www.bmwi.de
Email: lehmann-stanislowski@bmwi.bund.de
-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----Von: BUERO-I
Gesendet: Freitag, 27. April 2012 15:50
An: 'lorenzo.codogno@tesoro.it'
Cc: Groß, Alexander, Dr., I; Lehmann-Stanislowski, Martin, IC; Müller, Klaus,
IC3
Betreff: Pension liabilities in National Account Statistics
Dear Sir,
on behalf of Dr. Groß I am sending you the attached letter with two annexes.
Sincerely,
Vito Arendt
________________________
Büro Dr. Alexander Groß
Abteilung Wirtschaftspolitik
Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie
Scharnhorststraße 34-37, 10115 Berlin
Telefon: +49 (0)30-18- 615-6101
Fax: +49 (0)30-18-615-5456
mailto:thorsten.schaefer@bmwi.bund.de
Internet: www.bmwi.de
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 03/05/2012 at 07:23
Title: Pension liabilities in National Account Statistics
Categorisation
International Coordination\International
Organisation\Eurostat\CWPS
Note for the record
Bernd.Stoertzbach@destati
s.de
To raoul.depoutot@insee.fr, gandolfo@istat.it, Sanjiv
Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS
cc thomas.salzmann@bmas.bund.de
02/05/2012 12:18
Subject WG: Pension liabilities in National Account Statistics
Dear colleagues,
For your infomation, enclosed please find the letter of the
German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology with regard
to the meeting of the COREPER.
Kind regards
Bernd
-*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Bernd Stoertzbach
Referatsleiter
Tel. +49 611 75-2351
Fax +49 611 75-3950
Bernd Stoertzbach
Head of Section
Tel. +49 611 75-2351
Fax +49 611 75-3950
Statistisches Bundesamt
Gruppe B 1, Planung und
Koordinierung, Internationale
Kooperation
Gustav-Stresemann-Ring 11
65189 Wiesbaden
Deutschland
Federal Statistical Office
Division B1, Planning and
Coordination, International
Cooperation
Gustav-Stresemann-Ring 11
65189 Wiesbaden
Germany
*
*
bernd.stoertzbach@destatis.de
http://www.destatis.de
-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----Von: Salzmann, Thomas -Ib1 BMAS
[mailto:Thomas.Salzmann@bmas.bund.de]
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 2. Mai 2012 09:09
An: Stoertzbach, Bernd
Betreff: WG: Pension liabilities in National Account Statistics
Lieber Herr Störtzbach,
die Briefe an Italien und Frankreich sind noch am vergangenen
Freitag versandt worden.
Könnten Sie diese Information auch an Ihre Kollegen in der RAG
Statistik weiterleiten?
beste Grüße,
Thomas Salzmann
-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----Von: Martin.Lehmann-Stanislowski@bmwi.bund.de
[mailto:Martin.Lehmann-Stanislowski@bmwi.bund.de]
Gesendet: Freitag, 27. April 2012 16:06
An: Eitenmüller, Stefan -Ib BMAS
Cc: buero-ic3@bmwi.bund.de
Betreff: WG: Pension liabilities in National Account Statistics
Lieber Herr Eitenmüller,
zu Ihrer Information wie besprochen. Ein gleich lautender Brief
ist an den französischen Kollegen gesandt worden.
Freundlichen Gruß
Martin Lehmann-Stanislowski
Unterabteilung IC
Gesamtwirtschaftliche Entwicklung, Analysen und Projektionen
Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie
Scharnhorststraße 34-37
10115 Berlin
Germany
Tel.: ++49-(0)30-20147140
Fax: ++49-(0)30-2014507140
Internet: www.bmwi.de
Email: lehmann-stanislowski@bmwi.bund.de
-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----Von: BUERO-I
Gesendet: Freitag, 27. April 2012 15:50
An: 'lorenzo.codogno@tesoro.it'
Cc: Groß, Alexander, Dr., I; Lehmann-Stanislowski, Martin, IC;
Müller, Klaus, IC3
Betreff: Pension liabilities in National Account Statistics
Dear Sir,
on behalf of Dr. Groß I am sending you the attached letter with
two annexes.
Sincerely,
Vito Arendt
________________________
Büro Dr. Alexander Groß
Abteilung Wirtschaftspolitik
Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie
Scharnhorststraße 34-37, 10115 Berlin
Telefon: +49 (0)30-18- 615-6101
Fax: +49 (0)30-18-615-5456
mailto:thorsten.schaefer@bmwi.bund.de
Internet: www.bmwi.de
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 28/03/2012 at 07:59
Title: FW: Regulation on the European System Of National
And Regional Accounts
Categorisation
International Coordination\International
Organisation\Eurostat\CWPS
Note for the record
Miriam.BennettHoulton@fco.gsi.gov.uk
To Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS
27/03/2012 17:29
cc
Subject RESTRICTED: RE: RESTRICTED: FW: RESTRICTED: FW:
Regulation on the European System Of National And Regional
Accounts
Dear Sanjiv,
No worries – I’m sure that will be fine. Thanks for letting me know.
Thanks
Miriam
From: Sanjiv Mahajan [mailto:sanjiv.mahajan@ons.gsi.gov.uk]
Sent: 27 March 2012 18:22
To: Miriam Bennett-Houlton (Restricted)
Subject: Re: RESTRICTED: FW: RESTRICTED: FW: Regulation on the European System Of National And
Regional Accounts
Importance: High
Dear Miriam,
Thank you for the note.
I tried contacting Bruno yesterday and today with no joy.
I will see the German CWPS rep and expert on the pre-meeting tomorrow and hopefully agree a line.
If there are any problems, please let me know.
Best regards.
Sanjiv
Mr Sanjiv Mahajan
Head of International Strategy and Coordination
National Accounts Coordination and Development
Room 2.101
Office for National Statistics
Government Buildings
Cardiff Road
Newport
Wales
NP10 8XG
Work no.
Mobile no.
E-mail:
E-mail:
+44 (0) 1633 45 5294
+44 (0) 7900 808 556
sanjiv.mahajan@ons.gov.uk
sanjiv.mahajan@hotmail.co.uk
Miriam.BennettHoulton@fco.gsi.gov.uk
26/03/2012 11:02
ToSanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS
cc
SubjeRESTRICTED: FW: RESTRICTED: FW: Regulation on the European System Of National
ctAnd Regional Accounts
Dear Sanjiv,
As discussed, please find below the message from the German social attaché
asking for you to get in touch before the meeting this week.
Best wishes,
Miriam
Miriam Bennett Houlton | Second Secretary, Employment, Social Affairs and
Equality | UK Representation to the EU | Avenue d'Auderghem 10 | Brussels 1040
Email: miriam.bennett-houlton@fco.gov.uk | Tel: +32 (0) 2287 8221 | FTN: 8316
8221 | Mobile: +32 (0) 477 780 620 | www.ukeu.fco.gov.uk
-----Original Message----From: .BRUEEU SOZ-2 Barth, Bruno [mailto:soz-2-eu@brue.auswaertiges-amt.de]
Sent: 22 March 2012 10:38
To: Miriam Bennett-Houlton (Restricted)
Subject: Regulation on the European System Of National And Regional Accounts
Dear Miriam,
could you please ask your expert to contact the German expert in view of the
working group next week.
Best wishes
Bruno
-------- Original-Nachricht -------Betreff:
RE: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance Problem in
view of the proposal for a Regulation on the European System Of National And
Regional Accounts
Datum:
Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:28:18 +0000
Von:
Miriam.Bennett-Houlton@fco.gov.uk
An:
soz-2-eu@brue.auswaertiges-amt.de
Referenzen:
<D2052D1CA5B63F4A9A0C8938194255160188F217@EX-MAIL-11.consilium.eu.int>
<4F0F10D6.1010602@brue.auswaertiges-amt.de>
Dear Bruno,
Happy New Year! I hope you had a good break.
The UK can, in part, support Germany on this. Our experts will get in touch with
your experts next week to discuss the details.
Best wishes,
Miriam
-----Original Message----From: .BRUEEU SOZ-2 Barth, Bruno [mailto:soz-2-eu@brue.auswaertiges-amt.de]
Sent: 12 January 2012 17:57
Subject: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Problem in view of the
proposal for a Regulation on the European System Of National And Regional
Accounts
Dear colleagues,
May I draw your attention to a serious problem we have with the attached
proposal for a Regulation on the European System of National and Regional
Accounts currently discussed in the Working Party on Statistics. The next and
probably final meeting of the Working Party is scheduled for 17 January.
The problem concerns the pension schemes in social insurance. The Regulation
stipulates the binding requirement for Member States to deliver table 29 of
Annex B "pension schemes in social insurance".
Germany is against the binding requirement. Instead, we propose to make the
delivery of table 29 VOLUNTARY. I attach our written opinion on table 29 which
substantiates our reservation and proposes to make the delivery of table 29
voluntary.
It would be extremely helpful for us, if your delegations could approach your
Ministries responsible for Pension Insurance to support the German position and
to organise as much support as possible. The German Ministry of Labour and
Social Affairs is not responsible for the Regulation but for Pension Insurance
so that you might have to contact your Ministry responsible for the Working
Party on Statistics.
Thank you very much for your support.
Kind regards
Bruno
Bruno Barth
Social Affairs Counsellor
Permanent Representation of Germany to the EU Rue Jacques de Lalaing 8-14 B-1040
Brussels
Tel: +32(0)2 787 1322
Mobil: +32(0)473 737208
Fax: +32(0)2 787 2322
E-Mail: bruno.barth@diplo.de
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 24/02/2012 at 14:06
Title: Bill Cash enquiry about European statistics
Categorisation
International Coordination\International
Organisation\Eurostat\General
Note for the record
Matthew Shearing
23/02/2012 10:09
To:
cc:
Subject:
Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS, Tom.Orfo
Fw: Bill Cash enquiry about European statistics
Gents - a head-up that a request for briefing (on the pensions stuff) might come your way once we've set up
the meeting.
Cheers
Matthew Shearing | Head of International Relations | National Statistician's Office | UK Statistics Authority |
Tel: +44 (0)1633 455739 Mob: +44 (0)7801 522812 | Email:matthew.shearing@statistics.gsi.gov.uk |
www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/national-statistician/index.html
----- Forwarded by Matthew Shearing/ONS on 23/02/2012 10:08 ----Leslie.Saunders@cabinetoffice.x.gsi.gov.uk
23/02/2012 09:22
To Matthew Shearing/ONS@ONS, Stephen.Muers@cabinetoffice.x.gsi.gov.uk
cc National Statistician@ONS, Richard
Alldritt/LONDON/ONS@ONS, Ross
Young/LONDON/ONS@ONS,
dominique.lam@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk
Subject RE: Bill Cash enquiry about European statistics
Matthew
Thanks for copying me in.
I’ve also copied to Dominique Lam, Scrutiny coordinator at the Treasury.
The debate earlier this week was a Treasury led scrutiny debate following the European
Scrutiny Committee’s consideration of:
Proposal for a Council Regulation adjusting, from 1 July 2011, the rate of
contribution to the pension scheme of officials and other servants of the European
Union
ADD 1 Commission Staff Working Paper accompanying the Proposal for a Council
Regulation adjusting, from 1 July 2011, the rate of contribution to the pension
scheme of officials and other servants of the European Union - Eurostat report on
the 2011 update of the 2010 actuarial assessment of the Pension Scheme for
European Officials (PSEO).
Bill Cash’s cttee recommended the debate.
I enclose the Committee’s report and Hansard transcript in case not seen.
Les
Les Saunders
Cabinet Office
European & Global Issues Secretariat
Tel: 0207 276 0190
From: Matthew Shearing [mailto:matthew.shearing@statistics.gsi.gov.uk]
Sent: 22 February 2012 17:49
To: Muers, Stephen - Economic and Domestic Affairs Secretariat (Cabinet Office)
Cc: Saunders Les - EGIS (Cabinet Office); national.statistician@statistics.gsi.gov.uk; Richard Alldritt; Ross
Young
Subject: Bill Cash enquiry about European statistics
Stephen,
I received a phone call yesterday directly from Bill Cash in his role as Chair of the European Scrutiny
Committee (he had been routed to me via the ONS customer contact centre). Despite some difficulty in my
understanding his precise purposes, he had a series of wide-ranging questions that centred around the
reliability of official statistics coming from both Eurostat and other EU Member States. Fortunately, he was
contacting us on the basis that the UK had some of the highest of standards in this respect.
He was phoning with a view to getting input to a debate he was going to have on the floor of the Commons
yesterday afternoon. Some of his questions were either too detailed for me to answer or too broad-ranging to
answer in a hurried telephone conversation. It was however cordially agreed that he would survive yesterday
without further detailed input, but he would benefit from talking to officials from the UK Stats Authority in
person at a later date in order to better understand the official statistics landscape in the EU.
Specifically, he enquired about the reliability of a report published by Eurostat last year on pension
contributions that is being used by the Commission to justify proposed pay rises for Commission staff (which
I believe related to his Commons appointment). However, he soon revealed wider frustrations with the
statistical situation in Europe, citing the Greek case in particular (of which I clarified a little), and its impact on
the work of his Committee. He wanted to know what he should or shouldn't trust.
Using the contact details he gave me for his office, I propose that I now seek to arrange a meeting with Bill,
myself, Jil Matheson and Richard Alldrittt as soon as convenient. Grateful for your advice before I take
further action.
Thanks and regards,
Matthew
Matthew Shearing | Head of International Relations | National Statistician's Office | UK Statistics Authority |
Tel: +44 (0)1633 455739 Mob: +44 (0)7801 522812 | Email:matthew.shearing@statistics.gsi.gov.uk |
www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/national-statistician/index.html
For information on the work of the UK Statistics Authority visit:
http://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 15/01/2012 at 13:50
Title: Meeting of the CWP on Statistics, 17 January 2012 German position on ESA2010, Annex B, Table 29 of the
transmission programme "Pension schemes in social
insurance".
R
R
e
p
o
n
e
T
o
R
e
p
o
n
e
Re
esssp
po
on
nssse
eT
To
oR
Re
esssp
po
on
nssse
e
Note for the record
Miriam.BennettHoulton@fco.gsi.gov.u
k
13/01/2012 16:27
To:
cc:
Subject:
Regional Accounts
Matthew Shearing/ONS@ONS
Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS
RE: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Problem in
Thanks Matthew,
Please see attached a response from DWP on the query. I have referred them to your response. You may
wish to discuss the position with them.
Best wishes,
Miriam
From: Matthew Shearing [mailto:matthew.shearing@statistics.gsi.gov.uk]
Sent: 13 January 2012 17:20
To: Miriam Bennett-Houlton (Restricted)
Cc: Sanjiv Mahajan
Subject: Re: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Problem in view of the proposal for a Regulation on the
European System Of National And Regional Accounts
Miriam
Yes. And, yes.
Thanks
Matthew
Matthew Shearing | Head of International Relations | National Statistician's Office | UK Statistics Authority | Tel: +44
(0)1633 455739 Mob: +44 (0)7801 522812 | Email:matthew.shearing@statistics.gsi.gov.uk |
www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/national-statistician/index.html
Miriam.BennettHoulton@fco.gsi.gov.uk
13/01/2012 16:02
ToMatthew Shearing/ONS@ONS
ccSanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS, Joe Grice/ONS@ONS, Caron
Walker/OFD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS
SubjRE: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Problem in view of the proposal for a Regulation on the
ectEuropean System Of National And Regional Accounts
Mathew,
Thank you for this.
So are you going to discuss with the German experts? Are you happy for me to feed back to my German oppo that we
can in part support them and our experts will be contacting theirs next week to discuss the details?
I will ensure any future correspondence goes to you and is copied to the address you gave.
Thanks,
Miriam
From: Matthew Shearing [mailto:matthew.shearing@statistics.gsi.gov.uk]
Sent: 13 January 2012 16:49
To: Miriam Bennett-Houlton (Restricted)
Cc: Sanjiv Mahajan; Joe Grice (ONS) (Restricted); Caron Walker
Subject: Re: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Problem in view of the proposal for a Regulation on the
European System Of National And Regional Accounts
Miriam,
Having spoken to our national accounts expert, the UK can in part support the German proposal in respect of the
revision to ESA not establishing an obligation to report these data. But we will need to discuss with our German
colleagues the stipulation that it be left to Member States to include these figures in the framework of their national
accounts. We are concerned that this may lead to figures that may not be comparable being released as European
statistics, especially with only a partial coverage of Member States reflecting the different stages of statistical
developments in this domain. The goal for any European statistics is to ensure that figures should be released when they
are comparable and with as full coverage as possible between MS.
I am positive on the possibilities that we can discuss this with our German colleagues with a mutually beneficial
outcome for both UK and Germany. We will begin this process on Monday.
Grateful if you can ensure that further correspondence on statistical matters is referred to myself in the first instance and
copied to international@ons.gsi.gov.uk
Thanks
Matthew
Matthew Shearing | Head of International Relations | National Statistician's Office | UK Statistics Authority | Tel: +44
(0)1633 455739 Mob: +44 (0)7801 522812 | Email:matthew.shearing@statistics.gsi.gov.uk |
www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/national-statistician/index.html
Miriam.BennettHoulton@fco.gsi.gov.uk
13/01/2012 15:16
ToMatthew Shearing/ONS@ONS, Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS
cc
SubjRE: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Problem in view of the proposal for a Regulation on the
ectEuropean System Of National And Regional Accounts
Both,
For liaison purposes, please be aware that this has also been sent to Caron Walker and Joe Grice – see attached.
Miriam
From: Matthew Shearing [mailto:matthew.shearing@statistics.gsi.gov.uk]
Sent: 13 January 2012 15:11
To: Sanjiv Mahajan
Cc: Miriam Bennett-Houlton (Restricted)
Subject: Fw: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Problem in view of the proposal for a Regulation on the
European System Of National And Regional Accounts
Sanjiv,
I appreciate you are on leave until Monday. Could you urgently attend to advising FCO on whether or not we could
support the German proposal please? We can then take this forward with our German colleagues in Brussels on Monday
evening and in the meeting on Tuesday.
Thanks
Matthew
Matthew Shearing | Head of International Relations | National Statistician's Office | UK Statistics Authority | Tel: +44
(0)1633 455739 Mob: +44 (0)7801 522812 | Email:matthew.shearing@statistics.gsi.gov.uk |
www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/national-statistician/index.html
----- Forwarded by Matthew Shearing/ONS on 13/01/2012 14:03 -----
Will.Garton@fco.gsi.g
ov.uk
13/01/2012 13:45
ToMiriam.Bennett-Houlton@fco.gsi.gov.uk
ccMatthew Shearing/ONS@ONS
SubjRE: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Problem in view of the proposal for a Regulation on the European
ectSystem Of National And Regional Accounts
Miriam,
Matthew attends this group.
Will
W: (+32) (0) 2 287 8223.
M: (+32) (0) 476 860 801
-----Original Message----From: Miriam Bennett-Houlton (Restricted)
Sent: 13 January 2012 11:12
To: Alan Napier (DWP) (Restricted); JOHN.MCCALLION1@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK; Carson,
Frank - HMT; Micklem, Bridget - HMT; Brown, Julian - HMT; Liz Tillett (DWP)
(Restricted)
Cc: Christopher Hobley (Restricted); Alessandro Hillman (Restricted); Will
Garton (Restricted)
Subject: FW: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Problem in view of
the proposal for a Regulation on the European System Of National And Regional
Accounts
Dear all,
Please see the below request for support from my German oppo on pensions.
London, please could you advise whether we can support this?
Copied to Will Garton, who attends the Statistics working group.
Miriam
-----Original Message----From: .BRUEEU SOZ-2 Barth, Bruno [mailto:soz-2-eu@brue.auswaertiges-amt.de]
Sent: 12 January 2012 17:57
Subject: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Problem in view of the
proposal for a Regulation on the European System Of National And Regional
Accounts
Dear colleagues,
May I draw your attention to a serious problem we have with the attached
proposal for a Regulation on the European System of National and Regional
Accounts currently discussed in the Working Party on Statistics. The next and
probably final meeting of the Working Party is scheduled for 17 January.
The problem concerns the pension schemes in social insurance. The Regulation
stipulates the binding requirement for Member States to deliver table 29 of
Annex B "pension schemes in social insurance".
Germany is against the binding requirement. Instead, we propose to make the
delivery of table 29 VOLUNTARY. I attach our written opinion on table 29 which
substantiates our reservation and proposes to make the delivery of table 29
voluntary.
It would be extremely helpful for us, if your delegations could approach your
Ministries responsible for Pension Insurance to support the German position and
to organise as much support as possible. The German Ministry of Labour and
Social Affairs is not responsible for the Regulation but for Pension Insurance
so that you might have to contact your Ministry responsible for the Working
Party on Statistics.
Thank you very much for your support.
Kind regards
Bruno
Bruno Barth
Social Affairs Counsellor
Permanent Representation of Germany to the EU Rue Jacques de Lalaing 8-14 B-1040
Brussels
Tel: +32(0)2 787 1322
Mobil: +32(0)473 737208
Fax: +32(0)2 787 2322
E-Mail: bruno.barth@diplo.de
********************************************************************************
***
Visit http://www.fco.gov.uk for British foreign policy news and travel advice
and http://blogs.fco.gov.uk to read our blogs.
This email (with any attachments) is intended for the attention of the
addressee(s) only. If you are not the intended recipient, please inform the
sender straight away before deleting the message without copying, distributing
or disclosing its contents to any other person or organisation. Unauthorised
use, disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted.
Any views or opinions expressed in this e-mail do not necessarily reflect the
FCO's policy.
The FCO keeps and uses information in line with the Data Protection Act 1998.
Personal information may be released to other UK government departments and
public authorities.
All messages sent and received by members of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office
and its missions overseas may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded
in accordance with the Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice)
(Interception of Communications) Regulations 2000.
********************************************************************************
***
For information on the work of the UK Statistics Authority visit:
http://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk
***********************************************************************
Please Note: Incoming and outgoing email messages are routinely
monitored for compliance with our policy on the use of electronic
communications
************************************************************************
Legal Disclaimer: Any views expressed by the sender of this message
are not necessarily those of the UK Statistics Authority
************************************************************************
********************************************************************************
***
Visit http://www.fco.gov.uk for British foreign policy news and travel advice and
http://blogs.fco.gov.uk to read our blogs.
This email (with any attachments) is intended for the attention of the addressee(s) only. If you are
not the intended recipient, please inform the sender straight away before deleting the message
without copying, distributing or disclosing its contents to any other person or organisation.
Unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted.
Any views or opinions expressed in this e-mail do not necessarily reflect the FCO's policy.
The FCO keeps and uses information in line with the Data Protection Act 1998. Personal
information may be released to other UK government departments and public authorities.
All messages sent and received by members of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and its
missions overseas may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded in accordance with the
Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice) (Interception of Communications) Regulations
2000.
********************************************************************************
***
----- Message from <SATISH.PARMAR@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK> on Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:55:12 +0000 -----
To:<caron.walker@statistics.gsi.gov.uk>, <joe.grice@ons.gsi.gov.uk>
cc:<FIONA.KILPATRICK@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK>, <Miriam.Bennett-Houlton@fco.gsi.gov.uk>, <alan.na
SubjectFW: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Problem in view of the proposal for a Regulation on
:Regional Accounts
Joe/Caron
The issue raised by the Germans (at the bottom of this email chain) seems to be
directly relevant to ONS. I'm therefore passing on to you to consider in the
context of your role(s) in the European Statistical Programme Committee.
Many thanks
Satish
Satish Parmar | EU Social Security Coordination| Managing EU Policy | Department
for Work and Pensions |
Level 2 | Caxton House | 6-12 Tothill Street | London SW1H 9NA
Telephone: 00 44 (0)20 7340 4330 | Ext: 23330 Email:
satish.parmar@dwp.gsi.gov.uk
-----Original Message----From: Kilpatrick Fiona STRATEGY INTERNATIONAL
Sent: 12 January 2012 17:05
To: Parmar Satish STRATEGY INTERNATIONAL
Subject: Fw: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Problem in view of
the proposal for a Regulation on the European System Of National And Regional
Accounts
Satish - can't see if this has gone to you - could you deal please?
Thanks
Fiona
From Blackberry
----- Original Message ----From: .BRUEEU SOZ-2 Barth, Bruno [mailto:soz-2-eu@brue.auswaertiges-amt.de]
Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2012 04:56 PM
Subject: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Problem in view of the
proposal for a Regulation on the European System Of National And Regional
Accounts
Dear colleagues,
May I draw your attention to a serious problem we have with the attached
proposal for a Regulation on the European System of National and Regional
Accounts currently discussed in the Working Party on Statistics. The next and
probably final meeting of the Working Party is scheduled for 17 January.
The problem concerns the pension schemes in social insurance. The Regulation
stipulates the binding requirement for Member States to deliver table 29 of
Annex B "pension schemes in social insurance".
Germany is against the binding requirement. Instead, we propose to make the
delivery of table 29 VOLUNTARY. I attach our written opinion on table 29 which
substantiates our reservation and proposes to make the delivery of table 29
voluntary.
It would be extremely helpful for us, if your delegations could approach your
Ministries responsible for Pension Insurance to support the German position and
to organise as much support as possible. The German Ministry of Labour and
Social Affairs is not responsible for the Regulation but for Pension Insurance
so that you might have to contact your Ministry responsible for the Working
Party on Statistics.
Thank you very much for your support.
Kind regards
Bruno
Bruno Barth
Social Affairs Counsellor
Permanent Representation of Germany to the EU Rue Jacques de Lalaing 8-14 B-1040
Brussels
Tel: +32(0)2 787 1322
Mobil: +32(0)473 737208
Fax: +32(0)2 787 2322
E-Mail: bruno.barth@diplo.de
*****************************
[attachment "German opinion on Annex B Table 29 Pension schemes in social
insurance - WorkingGroup Statistics.doc" deleted by Matthew Shearing/ONS]
[attachment "Document in all languages.htm" deleted by Matthew Shearing/ONS]
[attachment "Annex B english text.pdf" deleted by Matthew Shearing/ONS]
[attachment "Proposal of the regulation english version.pdf" deleted by Matthew
Shearing/ONS]
For information on the work of the UK Statistics Authority visit:
http://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk
----- Message from <LINDSEY.LEWIS@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK> on Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:13:22 +0000 -----
To: <Miriam.Bennett-Houlton@fco.gsi.gov.uk>, <Will.Garton@fco.gsi.gov.uk>
<alan.napier@dwp.gsi.gov.uk>, <JOHN.MCCALLION1@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK>, <Frank.Carson@hmt
cc: <Julian.Brown@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk>, <liz.tillett@dwp.gsi.gov.uk>, <Christopher.Hobley@fco.gsi.g
<KEVIN.HUGHES@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK>
Subject
RE: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Problem in view of the proposal for a Regulation on
:
Hello Miriam,
I've asked our analysts to look at the table and they confirm that this would be very difficult
for the UK to comply with and would represent a significant additional data collection
burden for us. (Some parts are probably not possible for us to collect).
So we should definitely support the German proposal to make this a voluntary requirement
on this basis, alongside the principle that we should avoid placing additional reporting
burdens on Member States except where absolutely necessary.
Will - is there a UK National Statistics Authority official who leads on this overall? If so,
would you be able to make sure that he/she is in the loop on this issue?
Many thanks.
Kind Regards,
Lindsey
Lindsey Lewis
International Unit
Department for Work and Pensions
Tel. +44 (0)20 73404028 (ext. 23028)
mailto:lindsey.lewis@dwp.gsi.gov.uk
-----Original Message----From: mailto:Miriam.Bennett-Houlton@fco.gsi.gov.uk]
Sent: 13 January 2012 10:12
To: Napier Alan PENSIONS PRIVATE; Mccallion John STRATEGY PRIVATE PENSIONS;
Frank.Carson@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk; Bridget.Micklem@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk;
Julian.Brown@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk; Tillett Liz STRATEGY INTERNATIONAL
Cc: Christopher.Hobley@fco.gsi.gov.uk; Alessandro.Hillman@fco.gsi.gov.uk;
Will.Garton@fco.gsi.gov.uk
Subject: FW: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Problem in view of the proposal for a
Regulation on the European System Of National And Regional Accounts
Dear all,
Please see the below request for support from my German oppo on pensions. London, please could
you advise whether we can support this?
Copied to Will Garton, who attends the Statistics working group.
Miriam
-----Original Message----From: .BRUEEU SOZ-2 Barth, Bruno [mailto:soz-2-eu@brue.auswaertiges-amt.de]
Sent: 12 January 2012 17:57
Subject: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Problem in view of the proposal for a
Regulation on the European System Of National And Regional Accounts
Dear colleagues,
May I draw your attention to a serious problem we have with the attached proposal for a Regulation
on the European System of National and Regional Accounts currently discussed in the Working
Party on Statistics. The next and probably final meeting of the Working Party is scheduled for 17
January.
The problem concerns the pension schemes in social insurance. The Regulation stipulates the
binding requirement for Member States to deliver table 29 of Annex B "pension schemes in social
insurance".
Germany is against the binding requirement. Instead, we propose to make the delivery of table 29
VOLUNTARY. I attach our written opinion on table 29 which substantiates our reservation and
proposes to make the delivery of table 29 voluntary.
It would be extremely helpful for us, if your delegations could approach your Ministries responsible
for Pension Insurance to support the German position and to organise as much support as possible.
The German Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is not responsible for the Regulation but for
Pension Insurance so that you might have to contact your Ministry responsible for the Working Party
on Statistics.
Thank you very much for your support.
Kind regards
Bruno
Bruno Barth
Social Affairs Counsellor
Permanent Representation of Germany to the EU Rue Jacques de Lalaing 8-14 B-1040 Brussels
Tel: +32(0)2 787 1322
Mobil: +32(0)473 737208
Fax: +32(0)2 787 2322
E-Mail: bruno.barth@diplo.de
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 09/12/2011 at 14:33
Title: ESA 2010 - document on table 29 DEADLINE
9/12/11 at noon - UK Response
R
R
e
p
o
n
e
Re
esssp
po
on
nssse
e
Note for the record
Sanjiv Mahajan
To:
cc:
Subject:
09/12/2011 11:40
dgg.statis.ecofin@consilium.europa.eu, pl2011@stat.gov.pl
ESA 2010 - document on table 29 DEADLINE 9/12/11 at noon
To whom it may concern,
Attached is the UK response covering Table 2, there are two key points.
(1) This proposal has addressed some of the issues raised. However, the main issue still needs to be
addressed: the need to delete Row 2.5 ('Less: Pension scheme service charges'). This has been
discussed within the Pensions Task Force and it needs to be deleted in order to be consistent with the
table in Chapter 17.
(2) A more minor point is that footnotes 7 and 8 seem to be a repetition of 5 and 6.
The above points are in response to the document below:
Can you please confirm receipt of this response.
Best regards.
Sanjiv
Mr Sanjiv Mahajan
Head of International Strategy and Coordination
National Accounts Coordination and Development
Room 2.101
Office for National Statistics
Government Buildings
Cardiff Road
Newport
Wales
NP10 8XG
Work no.
E-mail:
+44 (0) 1633 45 5294
sanjiv.mahajan@ons.gov.uk

COUNCIL OF
THE EUROPEAN UNION
Brussels, 6 December 2011
DS 1737/1/11
REV 1
LIMITE
ROOM DOCUMENT
from:
Presidency
to:
Delegations
Subject:
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the
European system of national and regional accounts in European Union (ESA
2010) - Presidency proposal on Table 29 (Annex B)
Delegations will find attached the revised Presidency proposal on Table 29; changes aim at ensuring
consistency with table 17.5 as set out in Chapter 17 (Annex A).
_________________
Encl:
ANNEX
Table 29: Pension schemes in social insurance
Recording
Core national accounts
Pension manager
Relations
Code
Non-general government
General government
Defined benefit schemes for general government
employees2)
Defined
contribution
schemes
Defined benefit
schemes and other1)
non-defined contribution schemes
Total
Defined contribution schemes
Code
XPC1W
XPB1W
XPCB1
W
Column number
A
B
C
Row
No.
Not in the core nation
Classified in
financial
corporations
Classified in
general
govt 3)
Classified in
general
government
XPCG
XPBG12
XPBG13
XPBOUT13
D
E
F
G
Opening balance sheet
XAF63L
S
1
Pension entitlements
Changes in pension entitlements due to transactions
Σ 2.1
to 2.4
– 2.5
Increase in pension
entitlements due to social
contributions
XD61p
2
XD6111
2.1
Employer actual social
contributions
XD6121
2.2
Employer imputed social
contributions
XD6131
2.3
Household actual social
contributions
XD6141
2.4
Household social contribution
supplements5)
XD61SC
2.5
Less: Pension scheme service
charges
So
pe
sch
Other (actuarial) change of
pension entitlements in social
security pension schemes
Reduction in pension
entitlements due to payment of
pension benefits
Changes in pension
entitlements due to social
contributions and pension
benefits
Transfers of pension
entitlements between schemes
Change in entitlements due to
negotiated changes in scheme
structure
Changes in pension entitlements due to other flows
Changes in entitlements due to
revaluations6)
Changes in entitlements due to
other changes in volume 6)
Closing balance sheet
Pension entitlements
Related indicators
Output
1) Such other non-defined contribution schemes, often described as hybrid schemes, have both a defined benefit and a defined contribution
element.
2) Schemes organised by general government for its current and former employees.
3) These are non-autonomous defined benefit schemes whose pension entitlements are recorded in the core national accounts.
4) Counterpart data for non-resident households will only be shown separately when pension relationships with the rest of the world are
significant.
5) These supplements represent the return on members' claims on pension schemes, both through investment income on defined contribution
schemes' assets and for defined benefit schemes through the unwinding of the discount rate applied.
6) A more detailed split of these positions has to be provided for columns G and H based on the model calculations carried out for these
schemes. The cells shown as █are not applicable; the cells in ▒will contain different data from the core national accounts.
7) These supplements represent the return on members' claims on pension schemes, both through investment income on defined contribution
schemes' assets and for defined benefit schemes through the unwinding of the discount rate applied.
8) A more detailed split of these positions should be provided for columns G and H based on the model calculations carried out for these
schemes.
The cells shown in black are not applicable; the cells shown in grey will contain different data from the standard accounts.
_________________
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Eva Haworth/ONS on 21/07/2010 at
11:42
Title: Closed - Owen James - 21/07/10
Categorisation
Production and Analysis\Requests for
Information 2010 \ 07. July
Doug Baker
28/07/2010 13:30
To:
ojames@cebr.com
cc:
Harry Duff/STID/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS, D
Robinson/BDD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS, Eva Jones/ONS@ONS
Subject:
DATA REQUEST
Owen,
Good afternoon.
In reply to your data request please see the spreadsheet attached that shows Current Price (CP) and
Constant Price (KP) £m data for the whole economy divided into Sectors, Sub-Sectors and Divisions.
Your interest in Financial Intermediation is described below:
SECTION J
FINANCIAL
INTERMEDIATION
DIVISION 65
FINANCIAL
INTERMEDIATION,
EXCEPT INSURANCE
AND PENSION
FUNDING
INSURANCE AND
PENSION FUNDING,
EXCEPT COMPULSORY
SOCIAL SECURITY
ACTIVITIES AUXILIARY
TO FINANCIAL
INTERMEDIATION
DIVISION 66
DIVISION 67
CURRENT PRICE (CP) CONSTANT PRICE (KP)
Column AJ
Column EE
Column CH
Column GA
Column CI
Column GB
Column CJ
Column GC
CP_&_KP_£M_WITH
_INDUSTRIES_as at BB2010.xls
We trust that this data meets with your requirement.
Kind Regards
Doug Baker
Claire Burridge
21/07/2010 11:33
Please respond to info
To:
cc:
Subject:
CCC201315
gdp@ons.gsi.gov.uk
Financial intermediation as a share of UK GDP - R
Dear colleague,
Please could you help with the following email? The customer's email address is :
ojames@cebr.com
Thanks
Claire Burridge
Customer Advisor | Cynghorydd Cwsmeriaid
Customer Intelligence | Cudd-wybodaeth Cwsmeriaid
Room 1.101 | Ystafell 1.101
Office for National Statistics | Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol
Government Buildings | Adeiladau'r Llywodraeth
Cardiff Road | Heol Caerdydd
Newport | Casnewydd
NP10 8XG
Telephone 0845 6013034 | Ffôn: 0845 6013034
Communication Matters | Materion Cyfathrebu
Communication Division | Is-adran Gyfathrebu
Dear Sir / Madame,
I would like to get information on Financial Information. I would like to be
able to build a series showing Financial intermediation as a share of UK GDP. I
can find index values for Financial Intermediation but no base dat.
Regards,
Owen James
economist
cebr
Unit 1, 4 Bath Street, LondonEC1V 9DX
direct line: 020 7324 2864
switchboard: 020 7324 2850
fax: 020 7324 2855
email: ojames@cebr.com
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 12/11/2010 at
16:59
Title: Pensions Comments tcg
Categorisation
International Coordination\Pensions
Note for the record
Ismael.AHAMDANECHZARCO@ec.europa.eu
11/11/2010 11:14
To:
caricchi@istat.it, acristobal@ine.es, Ana.AGUNDEZ-GARCIA@
Anne.Greiveldinger@statec.etat.lu, Aharrison1@worldbank.org, anne.mulkay@nbb.be, asuncion.ru
bio@dst.dk, Giuseppe.Carone@ec.europa.eu, xrisisk@statistics.gr, Clyde.Caruana@gov.mt, ddam
VRIES@ec.europa.eu, didier.blanchet@insee.fr, Dominique.Durant@banque-france.fr, Per.Eckefe
Susana.Filipa.Lima@bportugal.pt, Lena.Frej-Ohlsson@ec.europa.eu, Gabriele.Semeraro@bancad
Christopher.Garland@ec.europa.eu, georgeta.mondiru@insse.ro, Gsarris@cystat.mof.gov.cy, Gera
Gillian.Phelan@centralbank.ie, Jens.GRUETZ@ec.europa.eu, guy.schuller@statec.etat.lu, hkulaks
Isabelle.YNESTA@oecd.org, I.Kuseleviciene@finmin.lt, Janusz.Jablonowski@mail.nbp.pl, j.geerts@
jonas.edblom@scb.se, Jose.Sergio.Branco@bportugal.pt, Kamil.DYBCZAK@ec.europa.eu, caruan
Denis.Leythienne@ec.europa.eu, Liene.Gintere@csb.gov.lv, ludmila.vebrova@czso.cz, lgordo@bd
marian_labaj@nbs.sk, marjana.klinar@gov.si, marta.rodriguez@ecb.europa.eu, maura.francese@b
mikk.medijainen@stat.ee, MDimcheva@nsi.bg, Mira.Lehmuskoski@stat.fi, Josemaria.Olivares@ec
Paula.Koistinen-Jokiniemi@stat.fi, malizia@istat.it, razvan.miroescu@bnro.ro, reimund.mink@ecb.
Levy/ONS@ONS, thorsten.haug@destatis.de, Tom.Dominique@igss.etat.lu, Tomas.Paulauskas@
vija.veidemane@csb.gov.lv, Walter.Stuebler@statistik.gv.at, Jakub.Wtorek@ec.europa.eu, sisakne
cc:
christoph.mueller@vwl.uni-freiburg.de
Subject:
Comments tcg
Dear colleagues,
Once again, I would like to thank you for your participation and comments during the workshop. Please,
see attached the presence liste to the event.
On the other hand, I would like to remind you that, as agreed yesterday in the closing remarks of the
workshop, your comments on the draft of the Technical Compilation Guide are welcome until November
the 30th.
With best regards,
Ismael Ahamdanech Zarco
European Commission
Eurostat.Unit C5: Government and sector accounts;
Financial indicators
Office E3/818, Bech Building.
Rue Alphonse Weicker, 5.L-2920, Luxembourg
Phone: (+352)430138893
Fax: (+352)430134389
<<presence_list.doc>>
This email was received from the INTERNET and scanned by the Government Secure Intranet
anti-virus service supplied by Cable&Wireless Worldwide in partnership with MessageLabs.
(CCTM Certificate Number 2009/09/0052.) In case of problems, please call your
organisation?x02019;s IT Helpdesk.
Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded for legal
presence_list.doc
purposes.
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 15/05/2012 at
12:23
Title: Statistics at Coreper on Wed 16 May 2012 Request from Miriam Bennett-Houlton
R
R
e
p
o
n
e
Re
esssp
po
on
nssse
e
Note for the record
Miriam.BennettHoulton@fco.gsi.gov.uk
To Matthew Shearing/ONS@ONS
14/05/2012 16:51
cc Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS
Subject RE: FW: Coreper: 16 May
Great, just checking!
Miriam
From: Matthew Shearing [mailto:matthew.shearing@statistics.gsi.gov.uk]
Sent: 14 May 2012 17:44
To: Miriam Bennett-Houlton (Restricted)
Cc: Sanjiv Mahajan
Subject: Re: FW: Coreper: 16 May
Hi Miriam,
Sanjiv will be briefing. I am hoping he will be able to do so Tuesday am asap.
Thanks
Matthew
Matthew Shearing | Head of International Relations | National Statistician's Office | UK Statistics
Authority | Tel: +44 (0)1633 455739 Mob: +44 (0)7801 522812 |
Email:matthew.shearing@statistics.gsi.gov.uk | www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/nationalstatistician/index.html
Miriam.Bennett-Houlton@fco.gsi.gov.uk
14/05/2012 16:34
ToMatthew Shearing/ONS@ONS
cc
SubjectFW: Coreper: 16 May
Hi Matthew,
I just wanted to check with you on the accounts point below – will you be briefing on this?
FYI my German colleague has been lobbying hard on the mandatory pensions supplementary table, and Sanjiv
confirmed that we do not share the German concerns but we will abstain rather than voting against them when
they raise the issue. See attached.
Thanks
Miriam
Miriam Bennett Houlton | Second Secretary, Employment, Social Affairs and Equality | UK Representation to the
EU | Avenue d'Auderghem 10 | Brussels 1040
Email: miriam.bennett-houlton@fco.gov.uk | Tel: +32 (0) 2287 8221 | FTN: 8316 5221 | Mobile: +32 (0) 477 780
620 | www.ukeu.fco.gov.uk
From: Oliver Thomassen * (Restricted)
Sent: 14 May 2012 15:29
To: DL UKREP Counsellors (Restricted); DL UKREP Desk Officers (Restricted)
Cc: Andrew Hood* (Restricted); Oliver Thomassen * (Restricted); Cunliffe Private Office UKRep
(Restricted); Josephine Kamara (Restricted)
Subject: Coreper: 16 May
Dear all –
Apologies if you have already seen the Coreper agenda for this week – it’s not officially a Coreper without my little
weekly e-mail. They may flood your inbox, but you’ll miss them when they’re gone.
Coreper will be this week – Wednesday 16 May – starting at 10h15. Why 10h15? Because there will be a little
chat on Irish Protocols from 10h00-10h15; then it will lead into the regular Coreper agenda. A Coreper lunch will
be hosted by Van Daele, and then Coreper will resume to finish off the remaining issues.
So please bring briefs to me by tomorrow – Tuesday 15 May – by 16h00. We will attempt to have a pre-Coreper
prep meeting in Jon’s office on Wednesday morning (this is not confirmed as of yet), so your flexibility is genuinely
and greatly appreciated.
As always – please call for questions!
Agenda as follows:
In the margins of COREPER :
(Legal Section) 10h00 : IGC - Irish Protocol
°
°
(ECOFIN Representative)
May 2012
°
Follow-up of the Council meeting (Economic and Financial Affairs) on 15
(Matt Hinde et al.)
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of
the Council amending Decision n° 1639/2006/EC establishing a Competitiveness and Innovation Framework
Programme (2007-2013) and Regulation (EC) n° 680/2007 laying down general rules for the granting of Community
financial aid in the field of the trans-European transport and energy networks [First Reading]
=
Preparation for the next informal trilogue
9855/12 ECOFIN 400 COMPET 264 TRANS 147 RECH 140 ENER 164
ENV 352 TELECOM 92 ECO 61 CODEC 1287
9857/12 ECOFIN 402 COMPET 265 TRANS 148 RECH 141 ENER 166
ENV 354 TELECOM 93 ECO 62 CODEC 1288
(ECOFIN – sorry, who is this? Iain Frew?)
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the
Council on the European system of national and regional accounts in the European Union (ESA 2010)[First
Reading]
= Preparation for the informal trilogue
9747/12 STATIS 40 ECOFIN 395 UEM 108 CODEC 1260
9086/12 STATIS 28 ECOFIN 348 UEM 77 CODEC 1060
+ ADD 1 to 26
(JHA Section / Sam Hill)
7/8 June 2012
Presentation of the agenda for the Council meeting (Justice and Home Affairs) on
(Sam Hill)
Amended proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament
and of the Council on common procedures for granting and withdrawing international protection status (Recast)
[First Reading]
=
Preparation for the first informal trilogue
9831/12 ASILE 80 CODEC 1278
(Tania Celani)
= Draft Council conclusions
9845/12 JAI 327 ASIM 53
Readmission agreement
RESTREINT UE
(EP Section / Elin Burns)
Proposal for a Directive amending Directive 93/109/EC of 6 December
1993 on the right to stand as a candidate in elections to the European Parliament for citizens of the Union residing
in a Member State of which they are not nationals
=
Agreement on the text and decision to re-consult the European Parliament
9353/12 FREMP 67 JAI 297 PE 182 INST 307
(Elin Burns)
Relations with the European Parliament (May 2012)
9554/12 PE 189 INST 318 POLGEN 75 CODEC 1186
(Mihir Joshi / Pauline Clarke)
Follow-up of the Council meeting (Foreign Affairs/Development) on 14 May 2012
(Lucy Ahad)
Preparation of the Council meeting (Foreign Affairs/Trade) on 31 May
2012
=
Other items in connection with the Council meeting
(Andy Hood)
Preparation of the Council meeting (General Affairs) on 29 May 2012
(Will Garton)
Multiannual Financial Framework (2014-2020)
- Section of the Negotiating Box relating to Headings 1 (cohesion and CEF) and 2
9772/12 CADREFIN 243 POLGEN 82
- Section of the Negotiating Box relating to the revenue side
9773/12 CADREFIN 244 POLGEN 83
b)
Other items in connection with the Council meeting
°
°
(Andy Hood et al)
°
p.m. : Lunch w/ Van Daele
Oliver Thomassen | Deputy Antici | UK Permanent Representation to the EU | Avenue d'Auderghem 10, 1040
Brussels | email: oliver.thomassen@fco.gov.uk Telephone: +0032 (0) 2287 8282 Fax: +0032 (0) 2287 8396 Mobile:
+0032 (0) 498 169 047 FTN: 8316 5282
----- Message from <Miriam.Bennett-Houlton@fco.gsi.gov.uk> on Tue, 8 May 2012 15:16:30 +0100 -----
To:<soz-2-eu@brue.auswaertiges-amt.de>
cc:<Christopher.Hobley@fco.gsi.gov.uk>
SubjectRE: Urgent: COERPER 16 May - Implicit State
:Liability
Dear Bruno
We understand your concerns, but we think that it is reasonable for the
supplementary table on pensions to be mandatory because the publication of
all pensions liabilities (funded and unfunded) in all Member States would
lead to an increased comparability of accounts statistics.
Elements of the accounts which
seen not to have a significant
accounts); or for certain data
do not satisfy either of these
are voluntary are so because either they are
impact on the overall accounts (satellite
which some countries cannot provide. Pensions
criteria.
We recognise some of your concerns regarding the variability of the estimates
and methodological assumptions, but overall we support the table being
mandatory.
I'm afraid that we won't support you on this point, but we will abstain
rather than opposing your position.
Best
Miriam
-----Original Message----From: .BRUEEU SOZ-2 Barth, Bruno [mailto:soz-2-eu@brue.auswaertiges-amt.de]
Sent: 08 May 2012 15:12
To: Miriam Bennett-Houlton (Restricted); Christopher Hobley (Restricted); BEL
Rabau Muriel; BEL Pernot, Annemie; CZE Zuzana ZAJAROSOVA;
fenny.steenks@minbuza.nl; rob-van.iersel@minbuza.nl; petra.silovska@mzv.cz
Cc: holger.winkler@bmas.bund.de
Subject: Urgent: COERPER 16 May - Implicit State Liability
Dear all,
I informed you at the beginning of this year about a problem we have with the
proposal for a Regulation on the European System of National and Regional
Accounts. The proposal will be discussed in COREPER on 16 May.
Germany proposed in the Working Group on Statistics that the revision of the
ESA should not establisha an obligation to report these data. Right know
there are 87 votes against the proposal which is not enough for a blocking
minority of 91 votes.
Germany plans to recall its reservation against the compulsory reporting in
the next COREPER on 16 May.
It would be very helpful for us, if you would ask your experts whether they
are against the mandatory reporting and whether they can support the German
position in next COREPER.
Kind Regards
Bruno
Bruno Barth
Social Affairs Counsellor
Permanent Representation of Germany to the EU Rue Jacques de Lalaing 8-14 B1040 Brussels
Tel: +32(0)2 787 1322
Mobil: +32(0)473 737208
Fax: +32(0)2 787 2322
E-Mail: bruno.barth@diplo.de
----Original Message----From: .BRUEEU SOZ-2 Barth, Bruno [mailto:soz-2-eu@brue.auswaertiges-amt.de]
Sent: 12 January 2012 17:57
Subject: Urgent: Pension schemes in social insurance - Problem in view of the
proposal for a Regulation on the European System Of National And Regional
Accounts
Dear colleagues,
May I draw your attention to a serious problem we have with the attached
proposal for a Regulation on the European System of National and Regional
Accounts currently discussed in the Working Party on Statistics. The next and
probably final meeting of the Working Party is scheduled for 17 January.
The problem concerns the pension schemes in social insurance. The Regulation
stipulates the binding requirement for Member States to deliver table 29 of
Annex B "pension schemes in social insurance".
Germany is against the binding requirement. Instead, we propose to make the
delivery of table 29 VOLUNTARY. I attach our written opinion on table 29
which substantiates our reservation and proposes to make the delivery of
table 29 voluntary.
It would be extremely helpful for us, if your delegations could approach your
Ministries responsible for Pension Insurance to support the German position
and to organise as much support as possible. The German Ministry of Labour
and Social Affairs is not responsible for the Regulation but for Pension
Insurance so that you might have to contact your Ministry responsible for the
Working Party on Statistics.
Thank you very much for your support.
Kind regards
Bruno
Bruno Barth
Social Affairs Counsellor
Permanent Representation of Germany to the EU Rue Jacques de Lalaing 8-14 B1040 Brussels
Tel: +32(0)2 787 1322
Mobil: +32(0)473 737208
Fax: +32(0)2 787 2322
E-Mail: bruno.barth@diplo.de
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 25/11/2009 at
12:13
Title: ESA 10 - Comments on ESA 10 19-20 November
meeting Item 3 - Countries responses on remaining
methodological issues - Chapter 6, 7 and part of 20
Categorisation
International Coordination\ESA Revision
Note for the record
Martin Kellaway
24/11/2009 15:33
To:
cc:
Subject:
remaining methodological issues
christian.ravets@ec.europa.eu
Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS
ESA10 - Comments on ESA10 19/20 November meeting item 3
Dear Christian,
ESA10 - Comments on ESA10 19/20 November meeting item 3 - Countries responses on remaining
methodological issues
I enclose comments on issues reflected in the document concerning chapters 6, 7 and the part of 20 I
worked on. None of these were discussed in the meeting and in line with Gallo's suggestion on the
process replies should be given to respondents on each of their points raised. So, here are my replies (I
have copied Sanjiv in at this stage as UK was the most active in producing comments).
1) Switzerland pg16/17 - reference to #6.62
You will note that prior to this sentence there is a reference that it needs to be checked against later
developments in chapters 16 and 17. There have now been developments.
Paragraph 6.62 needs amending to clarify that for a defined benefit scheme the reserves change through
an other volume change as they are determined by formula. For a defined contribution scheme chapter
17 has been updated to reflect the change in asset through revaluation resulting in a similar revaluation to
the liabilities - this was on the SNA08 research agenda (see SNA08 #12.59).
Suggested redraft: ... beneficiaries generally change ... changes. The exception is for defined
contribution pension schemes, where the pension entitlements revalue in line with the holding gains and
losses on the investment assets.
2) Germany pg 23 point 2 - chapter 20 and 'public sector', repeated pg 27 re #20.309-#20.362.
Germany suggest deleting public sector because 'it is not an institutional unit'.
Strongly disagree. This is included following a request for its inclusion.
There is an overwhelming case for inclusion of a definition of both public and private sector in ESA10.
The terms public and private are used throughout ESA10. The same was true of ESA95, where the
absence of a definition was a major failure and caused many problems. Note that SNA93 and IMF GFS
both had a definition and were superior to ESA95 in that respect.
A sector is a part of a whole. The general ESA sectors are one way of dividing this whole, but not the
only one. Public/private/RoW is another, where the ESA sub-sectors aggregate up to the public/private
sectors. #20.309 clearly states this alternative derivation in a manner that leaves no scope for confusion.
There is however a need for chapter 2 to also mention/define public and private sectors (even if it refers
to chapter 20 for a fuller description of the public sector), particualrly as private is not defined and has
been used inconsistently in ESA10.
3) Netherlands pg 51 - re chapter 7 FDI
Agree with point made that FDI needs a description in the annex if it is included. There is an outstanding
question as to whether it should be included as a memo item or left out as it fits better with the balance of
payments accounts. For Reimund rather than me!
4) Netherlands pg 51 - re transfer of ownership transfer costs for land
n.b. reference should be to #7.50 rather than #7.51.
Netherlands raised this in questions on the first draft and a reply was given. I presume they are unhappy
with it and have raised the same point again. I disagree with their summary, as SNA08 does not instruct
that these costs are included in AN.116. See SNA08 #13.44, which states it is AN.1123. The AN.116 is
an alternative presentation - it is confusing and should have been killed off in the SNA08 discussions or
better description of the alternative presentation given, as if we move items to AN.116 we also have to
reproduce the alternative versions of the categories they come out of or there would be double-counting.
5) UK pg 73 - chapter 6 introduction
This is a style point. The ESA10 chapter is similar to ESA95. If there has been a change in ESA10 so
that each chapter now has an introduction then chapter 6 needs to be made consistent. As the UK states,
it would mainly be a case of just adding a sub-title.
6) UK pg 73 - chapter 6, changes to terminology.
It would indeed be useful to explain the changes in terminology (and coding categorisation) to the user.
This has been done so far in the updating notes, but these will be deleted before the final ESA10 is
produced. However, I do not think this should be done within ESA10 (as a regulation the legislation is
about what the rules are, not the changes from previous versions) but instead as a separate publication.
7) UK pg 73 - chapter 6, #6.13 # 6.14 remove discrepancy items.
This comment supports the views of both authors of the chapters. They were removed in the first version,
but reinstated in version two (with a comment) as a result of two respondents requesting their return.
Statistical discrepancy items are discrepancy items, they are not 'other changes' so are out of place here.
8) UK pg 73 - chapter 7, comments on coding.
Agree with point made. It would be more logical and consistent and does not create new categories. Why
repeat the mistakes of SNA08? It is a comment on ESA95 that it improved on SNA93 as the timing of
publication allowed ESA to correct some of the mistakes of SNA. We should do likewise with the current
updates.
9) UK pg 73 - chapter 7 - repetition of definition of net worth.
Do not see any problem here. There is an introductory definition, which is repeated at various stages
throughout the whole chapter as each point is mentioned in more detail.
10) UK pg 74 - chapter 7 - definition of a liability
There is a definition of a liability, but this comes later. Non-financial assets are defined first; then financial
assets and liabilities. It would not make sense to include a definition of a non-financial liability as they
can't exist, so it would just confuse.
11) UK pg 74 - chapter 7 - explain why items such as human capital etc are not considered as assets
There is no quick reason that can be given for these, just convention as to where the asset boundary is
drawn. Sometimes it reflects pragmatism due to difficulty in measuring, sometimes the distinction is
between contingent events and real events etc.
12) UK pg 74 - chapter 7 - need to explain why non-financial liabilities not needed.
See answers to 10 and 11. I think in a legal text we should just be defining what is included, not what is
excluded (however we do so for contingent assets). If it is thought necessary to include this the answer
can be quickly provided in this particular case: non-financial and financial assets are different in their
nature, the latter have counter-parties, the former do not.
13) UK pg 74 - chapter 7 - 90 days
For Reimund, but yes 90 days comes from the convention of industry practice and is not an arbitrary
choice.
14) UK pg 74 - chapter 7 - inclusion of both successful and unsuccessful exploration expenditure
Disagree. In terms of transactions both types are included. But for the balance sheet I would expect
unsuccessful exploration to be immediately depreciated to zero, so would not show in the balance sheet.
regards,
Martin
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 15/01/2012 at
13:40
Title: Meeting of the CWP on Statistics, 17 January 2012
- German position on ESA2010, Annex B, Table 29 of the
transmission programme "Pension schemes in social
insurance".
Categorisation
International Coordination\International
Organisation\Eurostat\CWPS
Note for the record
eu2012presidency@dst
.dk
12/01/2012 13:25
To:
Bernd.Stoertzbach@destatis.de, eu2012presidency@dst.dk
cc:
kvp@dst.dk, hannelore.burmann-jaschke@bmwi.bund.de, Ang
norbert.raeth@destatis.de, Irmtraud.Beuerlein@destatis.de, Dorothea.Klumpen@destatis.de, tanja
elstat@statistics.gr, Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS, International@ONS, Pau
Gailute.Juskiene@stat.gov.lt, Jolita.Galeckiene@stat.gov.lt, karmen.hren@gov.si, marjana.klinar@
dgr.vonberg@cbs.nl, mpoe@bcs.nl, carlos.coimbra@ine.pt, rec@ine.pt, pedro.oliveira@ine.pt, ursu
Brigitte.grandits@statistik.gv.at, international@statistik.gv.at, ferdinand.leitner@statistik.gv.at, EAta
hannelore.burmann-jaschke@bmwi.bund.de, bernd.stoertzbach@destatis.de, albert.braakmann@d
rudi.acx@nbb.be, pascale.milis@diplobel.fed.be, ttece.belgoeurop@diplobel.fed.be, mathias.haery
vitezslav.ondrus@czso.cz, Jaroslav.sixta@czso.cz, europe-international@insee.fr, fabrice.lenseign
martinezsr@ine.es, eduardo.bryant@reper.maec.es, gandolfo@istat.it, giaconi@istat.it, relint@ista
Jana.Luttmerdingova@statistics.sk, Frantisek.Bernadic@statistics.sk, albert.antolik@statistics.sk, g
b.jakubczak@stat.gov.pl, o.leszczynska@stat.gov.pl, m.jeznach@stat.gov.pl, adriana.ciuchea@ins
vanessa.dimech@gov.mt, dace.tomase@csb.gov.lv, dace.deinate@csb.gov.lv, pal.pozsonyi@ksh.
john.haas@statec.etat.lu, marc.origer@statec.etat.lu, arti.tyrkko@stat.fi, mika.sainio@stat.fi, meelis
guillermo.davila@ec.europa.eu, Gabriel.Quiros@ecb.int, Tjeerd.Jellema@ecb.int, Gallo.Gueye@ec
Subject:
SV: Meeting of the CWP on Statistics, 17 January 2012 - Germ
"Pension schemes in social insurance".
Dear Bernd Stoertzbach, dear colleagues,
Thank you for your letter. We take note of your position and we find it
important that German concern is thoroughly discussed at a Working Party
meeting.
However, taking into account the closeness of the forthcoming meeting, and an
already extensive number of issues to be discussed on the agenda, we have
decided to postpone your request for a renewed consideration of table 29 to
an upcoming meeting at a later stage. This will also give the Member States
the necessary time for preparation of this issue.
Med venlig hilsen/Best regards
Maciej Truszczynski
Direktionssekretariat
Tlf. 39 17 39 16
mtr@dst.dk
Danmarks Statistik
Sejrøgade 11, 2100 Kbh. Ø
www.dst.dk
-----Oprindelig meddelelse----Fra: Bernd.Stoertzbach@destatis.de [mailto:Bernd.Stoertzbach@destatis.de]
Sendt: 12. januar 2012 10:09
Til: eu2012 presidency
Cc: Kim Voldby Pedersen; hannelore.burmann-jaschke@bmwi.bund.de;
Angela.Schaff@destatis.de; albert.braakmann@destatis.de;
norbert.raeth@destatis.de; Irmtraud.Beuerlein@destatis.de;
Dorothea.Klumpen@destatis.de; tanja.mucha@destatis.de
Emne: Meeting of the CWP on Statistics, 17 January 2012 - German position on
ESA2010, Annex B, Table 29 of the transmission programme "Pension schemes in
social insurance".
Prioritet: Høj
Dear colleagues,
Enclosed please find a letter of the German Federal Ministry of Economics and
Technology to the Chairman of the Council Working Group on Statistics (CWP)
expressing again the German position on ESA2010, Annex B, Table 29 of the
transmission programme "Pension schemes in social insurance".
Would you please be so kind to transfer this information to the Commission
and the other Member States. We kindly ask you to give the German delegation
the opportunity to raise this issue again in the forthcoming meeting of the
CWP on 17 January 2012 because this matter is of crucial importance to
Germany.
If there are any questions from your side, please do not hesitate to contact
me. We would appreciate it very much if you could infom us on your decision
on our request to raise the issue again in the forthcoming meeting.
Kind regards
Bernd Stoertzbach
-* Bernd Stoertzbach
* Referatsleiter
*
Statistisches Bundesamt
Gruppe B 1, Planung und
Koordinierung, Internationale
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Tel. +49 611 75-2351
Fax +49 611 75-3950
Bernd Stoertzbach
Head of Section
Tel. +49 611 75-2351
Fax +49 611 75-3950
Kooperation
Gustav-Stresemann-Ring 11
65189 Wiesbaden
Deutschland
Federal Statistical Office
Division B1, Planning and
Coordination, International
Cooperation
Gustav-Stresemann-Ring 11
65189 Wiesbaden
Germany
bernd.stoertzbach@destatis.de
http://www.destatis.de
This email was received from the INTERNET and scanned by the Government
Secure Intranet anti-virus service supplied by Cable&Wireless Worldwide in
partnership with MessageLabs. (CCTM Certificate Number 2009/09/0052.) In case
of problems, please call your organisation’s IT Helpdesk.
Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 22/07/2011 at
07:27
Title: Explanatory Memorandum 78 - Progress Report
for Sharon Bowles
R
R
e
p
o
n
e
Re
esssp
po
on
nssse
e
Note for the record
Sanjiv Mahajan
22/07/2011 07:09
To:
cc:
Subject:
sharon.bowles@europarl.europa.eu
Alex Elton-Wall/NSPD/ASRG/LONDON/ONS@ONS, Matthew
Re: Reg on the European System of National Accounts Notes
Dear Siobhan,
There is on-going progress as the ESA 2010 Draft Manual, the proposed Transmission Programme and
the Legal text is being discusssed through the Council Working Party on Statistics.
I have attached a very recent progress note.
If there are any queries, please let me know.
Best regards.
Sanjiv
sharon.bowles@europ
arl.europa.eu
19/07/2011 16:48
To:
cc:
Subject:
Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@O
RE: Reg on the European System of National Acc
Dear Sanjiv,
I am writing to see if, now that the ESA 2010 file is being progressed in the
Council Working Party on statistics, the UK had any updated lines or input to
offer? Sharon is due to present her report in late September, and I am
gathering information to give her next week. I´m particularly interested in
your views on tables 1 (main aggregates) and 20 (governance) which are deemed
the most important; the UK position on the possibility of pensions being
captured by the regulation; and implementation date (currently scheduled for
2014).
Many thanks,
Siobhán
Siobhán Bright
Parliamentary Assistant to Sharon Bowles MEP
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
Brussels ASP10G205/ 0032 (0)228 47221
-----Original Message----From: Sanjiv Mahajan [mailto:sanjiv.mahajan@ons.gsi.gov.uk]
Sent: 04 March 2011 16:37
To: BRIGHT Siobhan
Cc: Gaynor Ace; International; Tim Clode; Will.Garton@fco.gov.uk
Subject: Re: Reg on the European System of National Accounts
Importance: High
Dear Siobhan,
Apologies for the delay in replying. I have sent this note to the previous
inquiry as well.
Attached is the recent MEP briefing:
(See attached file: Annex B - EM COM (2010) 774 Final - MEP
Briefing.doc)
Hope this helps.
Best regards.
Sanjiv
Mr Sanjiv Mahajan
Head of International Strategy and Coordination
National Accounts Coordination and Development
Room 2.101
Office for National Statistics
Government Buildings
Cardiff Road
Newport
Wales
NP10 8XG
Tel no.
E-mail:
E-mail:
+44 (0) 1633 45 5294
sanjiv.mahajan@ons.gov.uk
sanjiv.mahajan@hotmail.co.uk
|---------+--------------------------------->
|
|
siobhan.bright@europar|
|
|
l.europa.eu
|
|
|
|
|
|
04/03/2011 13:55
|
|
|
|
|---------+--------------------------------->
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|
|
|
To:
Will.Garton@fco.gov.uk, Tim
Clode/HRD/ASRG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS
|
|
cc:
Gaynor Ace/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS, International@ONS, Sanjiv
Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS
|
|
Subject: RE: Reg on the European System of National Accounts
|
|
|
|
|
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Thanks for this, Will. I actually emailed Sanjiv just this week in fact, so
no doubt we´ll be in touch.
Tim/Sanjiv, just to update you that Sharon and I had a good meeting with
EUROSTAT this week to go over the main points, and talk about timing etc.
Kind regards,
Siobhan
Siobhán Bright
Parliamentary Assistant to Sharon Bowles MEP
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
Brussels ASP10G205/ 0032 (0)228 47221
From: Will.Garton@fco.gov.uk [mailto:Will.Garton@fco.gov.uk]
Sent: 04 March 2011 14:42
To: tim.clode@statistics.gsi.gov.uk; BRIGHT Siobhan
Cc: gaynor.ace@statistics.gsi.gov.uk;
International@statistics.gsi.gov.uk; sanjiv.mahajan@ons.gsi.gov.uk
Subject: RE: Reg on the European System of National Accounts
Tim,
Thanks for this. As I say, I am very happy to try and play a
supporting role if I can, but as I know very little about the subject
area I think I would be a bit of a post box!
Siobhan,
Would you mind contacting Sanjiv directly with any questions on this
dossier, sure he'll be better able to represent HMG than me! Happy
to provide any additional support if I can.
Good w/e all.
Will
Will Garton
First Secretary, Economic
UK Permanent Representation to the EU
Ave De Auderghem 10
1040 Brussels
M: (+32) (0) 47 686 0801
W: (+32) (0) 22 87 8223
From: Tim Clode [mailto:tim.clode@statistics.gsi.gov.uk]
Sent: 28 February 2011 13:20
To: Will Garton (Restricted)
Cc: Gaynor Ace; International; Sanjiv Mahajan
Subject: Re: Reg on the European System of National Accounts
Will,
Hi - am back now. By all means. Sanjiv (copied) is our technical
expert on this one. Please could you let me and copy recipients have
contact details for Sharon's office.
Thanks
Tim
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________
TIM CLODE | International Relations | UK Statistics Authority |
Newport NP10 8XG | United Kingdom
Tel +44 (0)1633 455739 | Fax +44 (0)1633 652652 |
tim.clode@statistics.gov.uk | www.statistics.gov.uk
Will.Garton@fco.gsi
.gov.uk
22/02/2011 17:02
To:
Gaynor Ace/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS
cc:
Tim
Clode/HRD/ASRG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS, International@ONS
Subject:
Reg on the European System
of National Accounts
Gaynor,
I have been given your email address in Tim's absence. I believe
that the UK statistics authority has been involved with the
Commission proposal on the Regulation on the European System of
National and Regional Accounts in the EU. I am afraid I don't know a
great deal about the dossier, but a UK MEP - Sharon Bowles - Chair of
Econ has been appointed as rapporteur. Could I ask Statistics UK to
continue to work her office to ensure our interests are properly
reflected?
Very happy to discuss.
Will
Will Garton
First Secretary, Economic
UK Permanent Representation to the EU
Ave De Auderghem 10
1040 Brussels
M: (+32) (0) 47 686 0801
W: (+32) (0) 22 87 8223
5053/11
COM (2010) 774 final – Progress Report
Explanatory Memorandum on European Community Legislation
PROGRESS REPORT
Subject: Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European
system of national and regional accounts in the European Union (Text with EEA relevance).
Submitted by the Office for National Statistics
4 July 2011
Subject Matter
Overview
This proposal seeks to revise existing European Union rules in producing National Accounts and Regional
Accounts to reflect the new economic environment, advances in methodological research and needs of
users.
An Explanatory Memorandum was provided in January 2011 (Reference EM COM(2010)774 Final). This
was returned not cleared from scrutiny with a request to provide a progress report in six months.
Background
For each Member State in the European Union, the National Accounts and Regional Accounts are
currently compiled in line with definitions, accounting rules and classifications as laid out by the
European System of Accounts (1995) set up by Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 of the European Parliament
and of the Council.
The ESA 1995 system was set up to meet the requirements of the economic, social and regional policy of
the Union. In addition, this allows monitoring of the economies of the Member States, and of the
economic and monetary union, through the use of comparable, up-to-date and reliable information on
the structure and developments in the economic situation of each Member State or region.
Proposal
This proposal is to embody an updated European System of Accounts, ESA 2010, to revise ESA 1995 to
reflect changes since 1995. The new ESA 2010 reflects developments such as new industries and
products, the impact of globalisation and the expansion of financial services.
The legal elements of the proposal would embody within European law:


Methodology on common standards, definitions, classifications and accounting rules; and
Programme required from each Member State for transmitting for Union purposes the
accounts, data and tables compiled according to the methodology and to specified deadlines.
The new regulation (post changes to the content of this proposal and the ratification by the European
Parliament and the Council) is expected to be implemented by Member States by September 2014. The
ESA 2010 will gradually replace all other systems as a reference framework of common standards,
classifications and accounting rules for drawing up accounts of the Member States, so that results are
comparable between Member States.
For further details, refer to EM COM(2010)774 Final.
Progress since January 2011
European Council Working Party on Statistics
The European Council Working Party on Statistics (CWPS) under the Hungarian Presidency began the
process to ratify the European Commission proposals made in December 2011.
The CWPS is represented by appropriate experts from all Member States and has met in April, May
(twice) and June. The UK has made significant contributions to each meeting. These meetings have
started to discuss the key articles in particular:




Article 1
Article 2
Article 3
Article 6
Subject matter
Methodology
Transmission of data to the Commission
Derogations
The Commission (Eurostat) have initiated various Task Forces to help develop and improve the
methodology, in particular:



Treatment of financial intermediation services indirectly measured (FISIM), measuring banks’
activity covering interest paid/received on loans and deposits.
Capitalisation of research and development expenditure including a test exercise to establish
the reliability of the data.
Handbook on Quarterly National Accounts.
Other Task Forces still to be set up include:



Goods sent abroad for processing.
Manual on Regional Accounts.
Handbook on prices and volumes.
All Member States have been requested by the Commission to submit derogations. These allow Member
States additional time beyond September 2014 reflecting the need to develop methods, data collection
and systems developments for specific parts of the proposed Transmission Programme. Any derogation
will need to be agreed as part of the Regulation. The UK has submitted its requested derogations.
Together with other Member States’ derogations, these will be discussed in future CWPS meetings.
Derogations agreed will form part of the regulation.
The Commission (Eurostat) have also initiated a process whereby Member States can apply for grants to
aid the implementation of the final regulation by September 2014. The UK has applied for two grants
covering specific areas of the accounting framework and await outcome of the applications.
The next CWPS meeting is 12 July 2011 and will be taken forward under the Polish Presidency.
Office for National Statistics (ONS)
ONS is setting up governance structures and resourced workstreams to meet the proposed
implementation date of September 2014.
The impact of this proposal will affect a range of economic statistics produced by ONS covering the
National Accounts, Regional Accounts, Balance of Payments, Public Sector Finance, Environmental
Accounts. Given the integrated manner in which many economic statistics are produced by ONS, this
change will form a major programme of work.
The impact of data changes will affect ONS customers and suppliers including other government
departments. ONS will have close regard to these interactions, as part of the work programme.
s of reviewing the requirements
Francis Maude
Minister for the Cabinet Office
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 08/03/2011 at
09:02
Title: WG EAA: Documents for the WG EAA meeting on 910 March 2011
Categorisation
International Coordination\ESA Revision
Note for the record
Phillip Davies
07/03/2011 12:05
To:
Liz.Perry@bankofengland.gsi.gov.uk
cc:
Andrew Walton/SSPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS, Sanjiv Ma
Whittard/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS, Michael Rizzo/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS
Subject:
[PROTECT] - FW: WG EAA: Documents for the WG EAA meet
Hi Liz
I've looked through the papers in as much detail as I can and have noted some comments below, which
I'm happy to discuss.
One over riding comment I need to make is that there is a significant amount of work involved in most of
the non-mandatory proposals put forward in these papers and given the squeeze on current and future
resources, I am cautious about anything over and above core mandatory requirements (excluding any
derogations that have been already asked for - please see the attached Word docs below). As part of our
ESA discussions, we have already submitted our proposals for exemptions and derogations to ESA10,
which I have attached in the table below (but I believe you should have already these seen) .
Also, given the significant amount of detail in these papers and what they are asking, I don't feel there is
enough time to digest and properly consult on the options being proposed given the serious and
potentially significant impact these proposals could have.
Agenda
Item
1.2
3.1
3.2
Paragraph Comment
2.1
We are not able to produce the QNA (and therefore SFA & BoP data) before
T+90.
Throughout As above in relation to timeliness of producing SFA/BoP
2.1
Development of extra level of counterpart (w-t-w) information could be very
difficult. There are some lines that only have a single sector asset/liability where
this is relatively easy, but if you look at a line such as MMIs issued by other UK
residents (F.3316) there are nine asset holding sectors and three liability sectors.
It would be difficult to provide w-t-w data accurately as their are a number of data
sources in the line that are outside ONS control, for example:

3.2
2.2
3.2
3.1.1
Sterling commercial paper by non-monetary financial corporations information provided by BoE (based on returns to the bank by commercial
paper issuers)
 Issues of foreign currency commercial paper on the Euro markets Euroclear Data from the Bank of International Settlement
 Issues of foreign currency commercial paper elsewhere - returns made by
the main users and supplemented by estimates
 MFI assets in the form of money market instruments issued by UK
corporations - obtained from balance sheet returns made to the Bank of
England
 Insurance and Pension Fund assets - data supplied to the ONS each quarter
 RoW purchases and Sales of UK corporations’ money market instruments variety of sources including the BoE
 Local Authority short term money market instruments - returns made
quarterly by local authorities in the UK ( these figures are sectorised using a
combination of local authority and counterparty sector sources)
OVCs and revaluations -This would need further investigation and again
significant work to scope and implement.
HH & NPISH split is currently not possible
Central bank split from MFIs could be possible as the BoE should be able to
supply us with the required data. Again would require substantial system work
that we would not be able to undertake.
The split of S.122 MFIs into MFIs and separate MMF (Mutuals etc.) will need
further discussions but will also need substantial system work.
The split of S.122 OFIs into OFIs and separate FVC (Financial vehicle
corporations) this will need further investigation and then substantial system
work.
3.2
3.2
4.1
ESA10
responses
Again, the over riding comment for all the above comments is that only
mandatory items (subject to derogations/exemptions) are possible at this
stage.
3.1.2
Again, only mandatory items (subject to derogations/exemptions) are possible
3.2
This would need further investigation and again significant work to scope and
implement.
Throughout Our view here would be that we wouldn't want any data presented in the tables
that isn't part of a dataset already published in the UK.
Template for
comments Annex B - Draft ESA TP - UK Response.doc
Kind regards
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Phillip Davies on 11/10/2011 at 16:12
Title: WG EAA: For Information: WG EAA Meeting 17-18
October 2011 - Documents for agenda items 2.2, 4.1, 4.3,
4.4 and 7
Categorisation
Personal Work Areas (PWA's)\Phil Davies
From : mb-wg-eaa@ecb.int
To : Isabelle.YNESTA@oecd.org, christian.dembiermont@bis.org, Tracy.Chan@bis.org, asanjose@imf.org, JCartas@imf.org,
Michele.CHAVOIX-MANNATO@oecd.org, Ismael.AHAMDANECH-ZARCO@ec.europa.eu, Dimitrov.E@bnbank.org,
Bezhanova.K@bnbank.org, Ivanov.R@bnbank.org, ivan.matalik@cnb.cz, TMM@NationalBanken.DK, Piret.Anton@eestipank.ee,
simonb@mnb.hu, bgrikinyte@lb.lt, dliberiene@lb.lt, ewa.laskowska@mail.nbp.pl, maciej.szczykutowicz@mail.nbp.pl,
mariana.kaznovsky@bnro.ro, mirela.alexandru@bnro.ro, Gunnar.Blomberg@riksbank.se, MFSDSecs@bankofengland.gsi.gov.uk,
Jon.Beadle@bankofengland.co.uk, liz.perry@bankofengland.gsi.gov.uk, alexander.nilson@riksbank.se, jpm@NationalBanken.DK,
bridin.oleary@centralbank.ie, EAA-TFSD@bank.lv, Phillip Davies/NEWPORT/ONS, BIO@dst.dk, matti.okko@stat.fi,
peter.parkkonen@stat.fi, Claire.Hanley@cso.ie, faccount@cso.ie, beatrice.brito@statec.etat.lu, charleshenri.dimaria@statec.etat.lu, marc.origer@statec.etat.lu, h.vandijk@cbs.nl, International Returns, nicolai.nystrand@scb.se,
Saara.Roine@stat.fi, a.j.de.boo@cbs.nl, anna.daniels@scb.se, alenka.repovz@bsi.si, Michael.Andreasch@oenb.at,
nicole.schnabl@oenb.at, didier.gosset@nbb.be, steven.cappoen@nbb.be, AndroullaMelifronidou@centralbank.gov.cy,
ChristinaNicolaidou@centralbank.gov.cy, georgemardas@centralbank.gov.cy, LeniaKesta@centralbank.gov.cy,
Manuel.Rupprecht@bundesbank.de, abad@bde.es, sgalmes@bde.es, Hanna.Hakkinen@bof.fi, Risto.Suomela@bof.fi,
bdf_mufa@banque-france.fr, SCorres@bankofgreece.gr, qfa@centralbank.ie, mary.cussen@centralbank.ie,
gabriele.semeraro@bancaditalia.it, Ingber.Roymans@bcl.lu, NA_GenericMBX@bcl.lu, pacec@centralbankmalta.com,
elluln@centralbankmalta.com, L.C.Elfferich@DNB.NL, slima@bportugal.pt, Joao.Cadete.Matos@bportugal.pt, jan_seman@nbs.sk,
Franck.SEDILLOT@banque-france.fr, beatrice.thiry@bcl.lu, caruanamc@centralbankmalta.com,
Olga.Susana.Monteiro@bportugal.pt
CC :
Date Sent : 11/10/2011 15:17:42
Subject : WG EAA: For Information: WG EAA Meeting 17-18 October 2011 - Documents for agenda items 2.2, 4.1, 4.3, 4.4 and 7
Dear WG EAA Colleagues,
On behalf of Gabriel Quirós please find enclosed five documents as preparation for the WG EAA meeting taking
place ion 17-18 October 2011 at the ECB premises:
1. For agenda item 2.2 - Timeliness a document as the initial reaction to the outcome of the discussions on the
subject at last week's ESCB Statistics Committee meeting:
<<2.2 EAA Timeliness.DOC>>
2. For agenda item 4.1Inter-company loans - a presentation and also a background document from the Banque
central de Belgique
<<4.1 NBB-Presentation_EN.ppt>> <<4.1 BE NFC - inter-company loans.docx>>
3. For agenda item 4.3 Plans for the compilation of inter-company loans a presentation by the Oesterreichische
Nationalbank
<<4.3 NFC intercompany loans - Austria.pptx>>
4. For agenda item 4.4 inter-company loans a presentation from Eurostat following the background note sent to you
earlier.
<<4.4 Eurostat presentation_inter company loans.ppt>>
5. A presentation for agenda item 7 ESA 201 - sub-instrument breakdown of insurance technical reserves
<<7 WG EAA Insurance pension and standardised guarantee schemes.ppt>>
For colleagues from the national central banks with access to DARWIN via Livelink documents numbered 1-2 may
be found under:
"Papers" can be accessed via the following link: https://darwin.escb.eu/livelink/livelink/open/49891580
And
PowerPoint presentations for attached items numbered 2-5 may be found in DARWIN under :
"Presentations" can be accessed via the following link: https://darwin.escb.eu/livelink/livelink/open/50738896
Remaining presentations will be sent to you around midday on Friday, 14 October as a final batch of documents
with best regards,
Robert
Robert Gadsby
Senior Economist-Statistician
Euro Area Accounts and Economic Statistics Division
European Central Bank
Tel +49 69 13446623
Fax +49 69 13447637
email: robert.gadsby@ecb.europa.eu
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 07/05/2012 at
19:12
Title: German revision against table 29 of ESA 2010
Categorisation
International Coordination\International
Organisation\Eurostat\CWPS
Note for the record
Bernd.Stoertzbach@destat
is.de
07/05/2012 10:23
To gandolfo@istat.it, raoul.depoutot@insee.fr, Sanjiv
Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS
cc
Subject WG: German revision against table 29 of ESA 2010
Dear colleagues,
for your information please find below the exchange of views concerning our
reservation on table 29 between the german ministry in charge and the
Presidency.
Regards
Bernd
-*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Bernd Stoertzbach
Referatsleiter
Tel. +49 611 75-2351
Fax +49 611 75-3950
Bernd Stoertzbach
Head of Section
Tel. +49 611 75-2351
Fax +49 611 75-3950
Statistisches Bundesamt
Gruppe B 1, Planung und
Koordinierung, Internationale
Kooperation
Gustav-Stresemann-Ring 11
65189 Wiesbaden
Deutschland
Federal Statistical Office
Division B1, Planning and
Coordination, International
Cooperation
Gustav-Stresemann-Ring 11
65189 Wiesbaden
Germany
bernd.stoertzbach@destatis.de
http://www.destatis.de
Von: Salzmann, Thomas -Ib1 BMAS
Gesendet: Montag, 7. Mai 2012 09:33
An: 'Jens Anton Kjærgaard Larsen'
Betreff: AW: German revision against table 29 of ESA 2010
Dear Jens,
I hope you have had a nice weekend!
Regarding table 29 (of annex B, ESA 2010), we think that our suggested
compromise is sufficient and leads to the same result as your proposal of
last Friday. If the regulation of ESA 2010 offers a voluntary delivery of
table 29 each Member State is actually free to evaluate the methodological
issues of reporting implicit liabilities. If Member States should validate
such values as a high quality part of official statistics our proposal
includes no restriction to report those numbers from the beginning of 2014.
We just propose a free decision of reporting a value, which is highly
questionable in terms of calculating and interpreting. It also corresponds to
the fact, that the results of these calculations are actually not part of the
reporting in the core accounts. Therefore we still wish to uphold our
reservation against the mandatory reporting of table 29 in the Coreper.
Contrary to your assumption, there exists also no official calculation or
statistical reporting of such f!
igures in Germany.
All the best,
Thomas
--------------------------------------------------Referat Ib1
Tel.: +49 3018 527 2442
________________________________
Von: Jens Anton Kjærgaard Larsen [mailto:jelars@um.dk]
Gesendet: Donnerstag, 3. Mai 2012 17:19
An: Salzmann, Thomas -Ib1 BMAS
Betreff: RE: German revision against table 29 of ESA 2010
Dear Thomas,
I tried to call again.
We are considering taking the ESA file for Coreper in one of the coming
weeks, so basically I wanted to check with you if there is any possibility
for you to move from your proposed compromise of voluntary reporting?
Specifically, I wanted to test on you if idea of a compromise of a delay of
(obligatory) reporting from 2014 to 2017 to look at methodological issues and
then only report every 5 year could be an option? I understand that Germany
nationally do some similar reporting every 5. year.
Do you think you would vote against the whole ESA dossier if table 29 is not
voluntary?
Best,
Jens
From: Salzmann, Thomas -Ib1 BMAS [mailto:Thomas.Salzmann@bmas.bund.de]
Sent: 03 May 2012 14:57
To: Jens Anton Kjærgaard Larsen
Subject: German revision against table 29 of ESA 2010
Dear Jens Anton Kjærgaard Larsen,
I was told that your are looking for a colleague in the German administration
who is working on that issue of table 29 (the compulsory obligation to report
the present value of pension liability of social security system ) in the ESA
proposal.
If you have questions concerning our reservation and our proposed compromise
I would be happy to answer you.
Best regards,
Thomas Salzmann
-------------------------------------------------------------------Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
Section Ib1
Tel.: +49 3018 527 2442
Fax: +49 3018 527 1931
Mail: thomas.salzmann@bmas.bund.de <mailto:thomas.salzmann@bmas.bund.de>
Web: www.bmas.bund.de <http://www.bmas.bund.de/>
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 06/01/2010 at
18:08
Title: ESA Review: Chapter 20 Government accounts
(Version 3)
Categorisation
International Coordination\ESA Revision
Note for the record
Frederique.ROUARD@
ec.europa.eu
22/12/2009 08:54
To:
reinhold.schwarzl@statistik.gv.at, ursula.havel@statistik.gv.at,
geert.detombe@nbb.be, pierre.crevits@nbb.be, rudi.acx@nbb.be, Ahristova@nsi.bg, philippe.stauf
gzeitountsian@cystat.mof.gov.cy, ondrusv@gw.czso.cz, ath@dst.dk, shl@dtl-dk.dk, obe@dst.dk, a
norbert.raeth@destatis.de, wolfgang.strohm@destatis.de, Reimund.Mink@ecb.int, Tjeerd.Jellema@
frank.schoenborn@cec.eu.int, tonu.mertsina@stat.ee, nat.accounts@statistics.gr, nikstrobl@statist
acristobal@ine.es, eeva.hamunen@stat.fi, tuomas.rothovius@stat.fi, fabrice.lenglart@insee.fr, sylv
peter.szabo@ksh.hu, pal.pozsonyi@ksh.hu, Mick.lucey@cso.ie, paddy.mcdonald@cso.ie, gudjon.g
stefan.jansen@hagstofa.is, tryggvi.eiriksson@hagstofa.is, caricchi@istat.it, battelli@istat.it, manteg
gailute.juskiene@stat.gov.lt, irena.tvarijonaviciute@stat.gov.lt, john.haas@statec.etat.lu, marc.orige
Dace.Tomase@csb.gov.lv, Ekalnina@csb.gov.lv, joseph.a.bonello@gov.mt, joseph.p.vella@gov.m
abr@ssb.no, kns@ssb.no, Charles.ASPDEN@oecd.org, paul.schreyer@oecd.org, e.kucharska@s
pedro.oliveira@ine.pt, adriana.ciuchea@insse.ro, adrianam@insse.ro, andreas.lennmalm@scb.se,
solveig.westin@scb.se, andrej.flajs@gov.si, janja.kalin@gov.si, jure.lasnibat@gov.si, Frantisek.Ber
dilek.ozsoy@tuik.gov.tr, Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS, Simon
Humphries/BOPD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS, 'Tihomira.Dimova@unece.org'
cc:
Jean-Pierre.DUPUIS@ec.europa.eu, Christian.Ravets@ec.eur
Luca.Ascoli@ec.europa.eu, Gallo.Gueye@ec.europa.eu
Subject:
FW: ESA review: chapter 20 the Government accounts (version
Dear Members of the ESA Review Group,
Please find below a message that was sent to the FAWG on behalf of Mr Luca Ascoli.
Best regards
Frédérique Rouard
Ms Frédérique ROUARD
European Commission
EUROSTAT C1 BECH Building E2/826
5, rue Alphonse Weicker - L2721 Luxembourg
Tel: (+352) 4301-31962
Fax: (+352) 4301-33029
E-mail:Frederique.ROUARD@ec.europa.eu
______________________________________________
From: GUEYE Gallo (ESTAT)
Sent: Tuesday, December 22, 2009 9:44 AM
To:
ROUARD Frederique (ESTAT)
Subject:
FW: ESA review: chapter 20 the Government accounts (version 3)
______________________________________________
From: GAPINSKA Monika (ESTAT)
Sent: Friday, December 18, 2009 2:59 PM
To:
'AT - BANK - ANDREASCH Michael'; 'AT - BANK - WIMMER Gerald'; 'AT - INS - STUEBLER Walter'; 'AT MOF - FLEISCHMANN Eduard'; 'AT - MOF - MAYR Franz'; 'AT - NSI - SCHWARZ Karl'; BARCELLAN Roberto
(ESTAT); 'BE - NBB - ACX Rudi'; 'BE - NBB - CAPPOEN Steven'; 'BE - NBB - GOSSET Didier'; 'BE - NBB - LIBENS
Joseph'; 'BE - NBB - MODART Claude'; 'BE - NBB - MULKAY Anne'; 'BE - NBB - SAUVENIERE Herve'; 'DE - BANK
- BURGTORF Ulrich'; 'DE - BANK - HAMKER Juergen'; 'DE - BANK - RADKE Marc Peter'; 'DE - BANK - STOESS
Elmar '; 'DE - INS - BRAAKMANN Albert'; 'DE - INS - EICHMANN Wolfgang'; 'DE - INS - FORSTER Thomas'; 'DE
- INS - NIEBUR Oliver'; 'DE - INS - Secretariat National Accounts Directorate'; 'DE - MOF - BAUMANN Elke'; 'DE
- MOF - KASTROP Christian'; 'DK - BANK - KJERSGAARD FRIIS Carina'; 'DK - BANK - MATHIASEN M. Tue'; 'DK BANK - National Bank Statistics'; 'DK - INS - BRODERSEN Soren'; 'DK - INS - NIELSEN Michael F.'; NOGUEIRA
MARTINS Joao (ECFIN); 'ES - BANK - ABAD Pedro'; 'ES - BANK - GORDO Luis'; 'ES - BANK - SANZ Beatriz '; 'ES
- BANK - SANZ Beatriz (secretary)'; 'ES - INE - CRISTOBAL Alfredo'; 'ES - INE - ORTEGA Carmen de la POZA';
ASCOLI Luca (ESTAT); DUPUIS Jean-Pierre (ESTAT); FRANK Simona (ESTAT); FREJ OHLSSON Lena (ESTAT);
GAPINSKA Monika (ESTAT); JABLONSKA Ivana (ESTAT); JANKO Robert (ESTAT); KAROLOVA Viera (ESTAT);
KRENUSZ Agota (ESTAT); MIHAILOVA Diana (ESTAT); PANTAZIDIS Stylianos (ESTAT); POP Cecilia (ESTAT);
RENNO Birgitte (ESTAT); SODEIKAITE Rasa (ESTAT); WORONOWICZ Marcin (ESTAT); AHAMDANECH ZARCO
Ismael (ESTAT); DIEDERT Marie-Helene (ESTAT); FASSBENDER Jessy (ESTAT-EXT); GANCEDO VALLINA Isabel
(ESTAT); GROFFILIER-WOLFANGER Marie-Louise (ESTAT); HOFFMEISTER Onno (ESTAT); LEETMAA Peeter
(ESTAT); LEYTHIENNE Denis (ESTAT); LUPI Alessandro (ESTAT); MADANI-BEYHURST Shirin (ESTAT-EXT);
MILUSHEVA Boryana (ESTAT); PARLASCA Peter (ESTAT); PIRAINO Neusa (ESTAT); RENNIE Herve (ESTAT);
THOUVENIN Gilles (ESTAT); TOKOFAI Anatole (ESTAT); VERRINDER John (ESTAT); VILLAUME Sylvie (ESTAT);
WAHRIG Laura (ESTAT); ZIETEN Jean-Luc (ESTAT-EXT); 'IE - BANK - CUSSEN Mary'; 'IE - BANK - DELANEY
John'; 'IE - BANK - MURPHY Kieran'; 'IE - BANK - PHELAN Gillian'; 'IE - INS - BRENNAN Michael'; 'IE - INS CAVANAGH Gordon'; 'IE - INS - CSO Financial Accounts Unit - Centralised group address'; 'IE - INS - FANNING
Pat'; 'IE - INS - LUCEY Mick'; 'IE - INS - O'MAHONY Rod'; 'IE - INS - O'ROURKE Seamus'; 'IE - INS - SIBLEY
Christopher'; 'IE - INS - STYNES Derek'; 'IE - MOF - COUNIHAN Ciarán'; 'IFAC - PSC chairman - ADHEMAR
Philippe'; BUCHER Anne (INFSO); 'IT - BANK - BARDOZZETTI Alfredo'; 'IT - BANK - SEMERARO Gabriele'; 'IT INS - CARICCHIA Alfonsina'; 'IT - INS - CINQUEGRANA Giuseppe'; 'IT - INS - MONTEBUGNOLI Maria
Emanuela'; 'IT - MALIZIA Raffaele'; 'IT - MOF - DE RITA Paola'; 'IT - MOF - NUSPERLI Federico'; 'IT - MOFSCAFURI Emilia'; 'LUX - BANK - BOUCHET Muriel'; 'LUX - BANK - PERRARD Romain'; 'LUX - INS - DI MARIA
Charles-Henri'; 'LUX - INS - ORIGER Marc'; 'LUX - INS - SOPPELSA David'; 'Polyscience - WARTON-WOODS
Sheldon'; 'ECB - BIER Werner'; 'ECB - CATZ Julia'; 'ECB - DUCLOS Christophe'; 'ECB - ECHEVERRIA Remigio';
'ECB - GADSBY Robert'; 'ECB - GIRON PASTOR Celestino'; 'ECB - MAURER Henri'; 'ECB - MINK Reimund'; 'ECB RODRIGUEZ Marta'; 'ECB - SILVA Nuno'; 'ECB - SOLA Pierre'; 'ECB - WILLEKE Caroline'; FISCHER Jonas
(ECFIN); 'FI - BANK - LEHTINEN Jyrki'; 'FI - BANK - SAVOLAINEN Eero'; 'FI - INS - HAMUNEN Eeva'; 'FI - INS KOISTINEN-JOKINIEMI Paula'; 'FI - INS - KUUSSAARI Mira'; 'FI - INS - OKKO Matti'; 'FI - INS - SAINIO Mika';
'FI - INS - VARJONEN-OLLUS Reetta'; 'FR - BANK - BRANTHOMME Patrick'; 'FR - BANK - CHAZELAS Marc'; 'FR BANK - DURANT Dominique'; 'FR - INS - HOURIEZ Guillaume'; 'FR - INS - MAGNIEZ Jacques'; 'FR - MOF AUGERAUD Patrick'; 'GR - BANK - CORRES Stelios'; 'GR - INS - KATSIKA Anastasia'; 'GR - INS - KRASADAKIS A.
& PAPANIKOLAKOS P.'; 'GR - INS - PAPANIKOLAKOS Panagiotis'; 'GR - MEF - DIMITROPOULOU Georgia'; 'GR MOF - MARAVELAKIS Stelios'; 'NL - BANK - LUB Henk'; 'NL - INS - HAAKMAN Léonard'; 'NL - INS - VAN DE VEN
Peter'; 'NL - MOF - DOEK Kyra'; 'NL - MOF - SCHUERMAN Patrick'; 'PT - BANK - BRANCO Sergio'; 'PT - BANK LIMA Susana Filipa'; 'PT - BANK - MENEZES Paula'; 'PT - BANK - MONTEIRO Olga'; 'PT - INS - DOURADO Rute';
'PT - INS - FERREIRA Maria Teresa'; 'PT - INS - QUINTELA Maria Isabel'; 'PT - MOF - LEAL Ana'; 'PT - MOF RODRIGUES Anabela NABAIS'; 'PT - MOF - ROXO Fernando'; 'SE - BANK - BLOMBERG Gunnar'; 'SE - INS BERGWALL Jonas'; 'SE - INS - BILJER Marianne'; 'SE - INS - ERICSON Per'; 'SE - INS - HÖRNSTRÖM Ingegerd';
'SE - INS - JOHANSSON Katarina'; 'SE - INS - JOHANSSON Tomas'; 'SE - INS - LUNDBERG Dan'; 'SE - INS NORBERG Johan'; 'SE - INS - PÄIVINEN Ann-Louis'; 'SE - INS - SODERSTROM Kristina '; 'UK - INS - HEWER
Alan'; 'UK - INS - HUMPHRIES Simon'; 'UK - INS - JENKINSON Graham'; 'UK - INS - KELLAWAY Martin '; 'UK INS - SHANKS Helen'; 'UK - MOF - GOLLAND Jeff'; 'CH - BANK - BÄRLOCHER Jürg'; 'CH - BANK - SCHELLING
Tan'; 'CH - INS - FLOREY Dario '; 'CH - MOF - SCHWALLER André'; 'CY - BANK - KANUTIN Andrew'; 'CY - BANK
- MELIFRONIDOU Androulla'; 'CY - BANK - NICOLAIDOU Christina'; 'CY - BANK - PAPADATOU Nedi'; 'CY - BANK
- SOPHOCLEOUS Anthi'; 'CY - BANK - TSOUNDAS Chrysostomos'; 'CY - INS - SARRIS Georgios'; 'CZ - BANK BELLON Milan'; 'CZ - INS - LASTOVKOVA Marie'; 'CZ - INS - RYBACEK Vaclav'; 'CZ - INS - STASTNA Veronika';
'CZ - INS - TREJBALOVA Marie'; 'CZ - INS - VEBROVA Ludmila '; 'CZ - MOF - PULPANOVA Lenka'; 'CZ - MOF SOJKOVA Dagmar'; 'EE - INE - KALDMA Ene'; 'EE - INE - NAARITS Agnes'; 'EE - INE - TEERN Helle'; 'EE - INE VOGONSKAJA Maria'; 'HU - BANK - GÓDORNE KALÓ Edit'; 'HU - BANK - HUSZAR Gabor'; 'HU - BANK - ILYÉS
Csaba'; 'HU - INS - BEDEKOVICS István'; 'HU - MOF - CSONKA Gizella'; 'HU - MOF - REPA Agota'; 'IMF AYALES Edgar'; 'IMF - DUBLIN Keith'; 'IMF - JONES Gary'; 'IS - INS - BJOERGVINSSON Johann R.'; 'LT - BANK DAUKSAS Vincas '; 'LT - BANK - KARALIUNAS Romas '; 'LT - BANK - LIBERIENE Diana'; 'LT - INS TVARIJONAVICIUTE Irena '; 'LT - MOF - ZYGIENE Dalia'; 'LV - BANK - AIZEZERA Ilona'; 'LV - BANK - CAUNE
Agris'; 'LV - BANK - LOCMELE Julia'; 'LV - BANK - LOCMELE Julija'; 'LV - BANK - OSE Aiga'; 'LV - INS VEIDEMANE Vija '; 'LV - MOF - STEPANOVA Ilonda'; 'MT - BANK - PULE Jesmond '; 'MT - INS - BONELLO
Joseph'; 'MT - INS - GALEA Mark'; 'MT - MOF - CAMILLERI Noel '; 'MT - NSI - CAMILLERI Alfred '; 'MT - NSI PACE-ROSS Michael'; 'NO - INS - HAMMER Kjell'; 'NO - INS - HARALDSDOTTIR Gudrun'; 'NO - INS - VINDHØG
Pål Martin'; 'NO - NSI - BRATEN Arne'; 'NO - NSI - COCK-RØNNING Torbjørn'; 'NO - NSI - LARSEN Jan-Tore';
'NO - NSI - ROSTADSAND Jon Ivar'; 'NO - NSI - TØRUM Espen'; 'OECD - CHAVOIX-MANNATO Michèle'; 'OECD LAROSA-ELKAIM Catherine'; 'PL - BANK - LASKOWSKA Ewa'; 'PL - BANK -JABLONOWSKI Janusz'; 'PL - MOF JAJKO Beata'; 'PL - MOF - MICHALSKI Maurycy'; 'PL - MOF - WYGODA Monika'; 'PL - NSI - KAPCZYNSKA
Urszula'; 'PL - NSI - KRYSTA Jerzy'; 'SI - BANK - MURN Dusan'; 'SI - BANK - REPOVZ Alenka'; 'SI - INS - FINC
Sasa'; 'SI - INS - FLAJS Andrej'; 'SI - INS - KLINAR Marjana'; 'SI - INS - KOVACIC Sasa'; 'SK - BANK DURCENKOVA Zuzana'; 'SK - BANK - SEMAN Jan'; 'SK - INS - ANTOLIK Albert'; 'SK - INS - ILLITOVA Alena'; 'SK
- INS - JASENAKOVA Eva'; 'SK - INS - KUPKOVA Margita'; 'SK - INS - LUHOVA Maria'; 'SK - INS - SZUCSOVA
Denisa'; 'SK - MOF - CZIKOOVA Daniela'; 'SK - MOF - ILAVSKA Daniela'; 'SK - NSI - BALAZ Pavol '; 'BA - NSI ALAGIC Zana'; 'BA - NSI - TUKIC Zlatka'; 'BG - BANK - BEZHANOVA Kornelia'; 'BG - BANK - IVANOV Radi '; 'BG
- MOF - NAPETOVA Milka'; 'BG - MOF - NESTOROVA Boriana'; 'BG - MOF - PALIOVA Iana'; 'BG - MOF STOJCHEVA Marina'; 'BG - NSI - HRISTOV Anatoliy'; 'BG - NSI - PACHEVA Antoniya'; 'HR - BANK - GALINEC
Davor'; 'HR - INS - SOLCICS Slavica'; 'MK - MOF - ESMEROV Petar'; 'MK - NSI - Cadikovska Violeta'; 'RO - BANK
- KAZNOVSKY Mariana'; 'RO - BANK - NEAGU Camelia'; 'RO - BANK - PETREAN Aurora'; 'RO - INS - NUTA
Mihaela'; 'RO - INS - STANA Elena Silvia'; 'RO - MOF - COSTACHE Dumitru'; 'RO - MOF - ENE Mihaela'; 'RO MOF - MIHAILA Ecaterina'; 'RO - NSI - BARSANESCU Tatiana'; 'RO - NSI - CIUCHEA Adriana'; 'RO - NSI - IVAN
UNGUREANU Clementina'; 'TR - BANK - CAKMAK Burcu'; 'TR - BANK - GULERGUN Semra'; 'TR - BANK TOPKAYA Arzu T.'; 'TR - INS - ÖZSOY Dilek'; 'TR - MOF - AYTEKIN Arzu'; 'TR - MOF - KERIMOGLU Baki'; 'TR NSI - ARSLANER Ferhat'; 'TR - NSI - ÇÖKMEZ Ebru'; 'TR - NSI - KORKMAZ Tulay'
Cc:
GUEYE Gallo (ESTAT); 'anders.nordin@sogeti.lu'
Subject:
ESA review: chapter 20 the Government accounts (version 3)
Dear FAWG Colleagues,
Please find attached, as agreed in the last FAWG meeting and in the ESA Review Group,
a new version of chapter 20 (version 3). Modifications made to the previous version
(version 2, as posted on Circa) appear in track changes.
The main amendments concern:
- In part 1: The market / non-market distinction (§26 to 33)
Borderline cases: Pension funds (new §44)
- In part 2: The box (From ESA central framework to GFS transactions and aggregates)
p.20 and 21
- In part 3: Debt guarantees (one-off guarantees, §259 to 263)
Pension obligations (lump sum payments, §277 to 279)
Public-private partnerships (economic ownership, §289 to 291)
We would be grateful if you could send your comments to Jean-Pierre Dupuis (jeanpierre.dupuis@ec.europa.eu) before 15 January c.o.b.
<<ESA review - V3 (Dec09)Chapter on government.doc>>
Kind regards
On behalf of Luca Ascoli, Head of Unit Eurostat C-3 "Public Finance"
Monika Gapinska
European Commission
EUROSTAT Unit C3 / BECH Building E3-829
5, rue Alphonse Weicker - L2721 Luxembourg
Tel: (+352) 4301-36226
Fax: (+352) 4301-32929
monika.gapinska@ec.europa.eu
_________________________________________
The views expressed are purely those of the writer and may not in any
circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the European
Commission.This message may contain personal data and other confidential data that
are entrusted to the recipients specified in the header of the message. The
recipient(s) of this message shall not process the present message in ways that
contradict the European legislation on the protection of personal data or jeopardise
the confidentiality of the message content. If this message has been received in
error, please notify the sender of the message or forward the message to
postmaster@cec.eu.int along with a short explanation. Whilst the Commission aims
to keep its network free from viruses, you are strongly encouraged to check this email and any attachments to it for viruses, as the Commission accepts no
responsibility with regard to any computer virus transferred by way of this e-mail
This email was received from the INTERNET and scanned by the Government Secure Intranet
anti-virus service supplied by Cable&Wireless in partnership with MessageLabs. (CCTM
Certificate Number 2009/09/0052.) In case of problems, please call your organisation?x02019;s
IT Helpdesk.
Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded for legal
purposes.
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Pete Lee on 02/06/2011 at 13:37
Title: Proposed Reduction to NIRS L2 Deliveries
Categorisation
Production and Analysis\National Accounts
Coordination Branch\Work Planning
From : Pete Lee/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS
To : claire.price@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk
CC : Sally Day/OFD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS, Andrew Botterill/ONS, Andrew Walton/SSPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS
Date Sent : 02/06/2011 13:37:08
Subject : Proposed Reduction to NIRS L2 Deliveries
Claire,
Thanks for the opportunity to comment on this. I completely share Sally's concerns about this and the
impact it will have on us being able to take on revisions in a timely and efficient manner. The time lags
proposed could mean that we could only take on some revisions to this key data source in years when
the Blue Book is open for long run revisions - this would normally be when major methodological,
classification or conceptual changes are implemented and would therefore be relatively infrequent. This
could potentially compromise the quality of the national accounts and, whilst I understand fully the need to
save resources in these straitened times, I would urge HMRC and DWP to take a further look at this to
see if another way could be found.
Thanks again
Pete
Pete Lee
Head of National Accounts Co-ordination Branch
National Accounts Co-ordination and Development Division
Office for National Statistics
+44-1633-456713
+44-791-789-4697
Fax +44-1633-652803
From : Sally Day/OFD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS
To : claire.price@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk
CC : Andrew Botterill/ONS
Date Sent : 27/05/2011 15:59:57
Subject : [PROTECT] - Re: Proposed Reduction to NIRS L2 Deliveries
Hi Claire
Myself and Andy have had some discussion about the potential impact of this. We feel the impact of
these changes could lead to the following:
Clash of bluebook revisions policy. For example, in Dec 2010 you delivered to us, revised 2007 and
2008 data. I was able to incorporate these revisions in our January delivery for Bluebook (which was
open from 2006 to 2008). In March you then delivered revised 2008 and new 2009 data. Again, I was
able to incorporate these as our April delivery for Bluebook was from 2008 to 2009.
If we had not had any 2007 revisions in the December delivery then I would not have been able to
incorporate the 2007 revisions at a later date, due to the restrictions of the closed period.
If the revisions are not large then this is not too much of a problem. On this occasion it wouldn't have
mattered as the revisions to 2007 were minimal anyway. However, the revisions to 2008 were quite
substantial and if we had not been able to include the 2008 revisions then this would have quite an impact
on the quality.
Quality aspect. The quality aspect doesn't affect the latest years data as this will remain the same as
we've always had, however, the changes will affect the quality of that years data in the following
bluebook, as no revisions will have been made to it. For example, in Dec 2011 we would have expected
to receive revised 2009 data. This is now not the case as it's likely to be the same version of 2009 data
that we received in March 2011. This does not take into account any revisions to data processing that
HMRC make.
We have concerns about the timeliness of DWP's publication of it's own statistics and the potential impact
this may have on delivery to us.
Many thanks
Sally
claire.price@hmrc.gsi.
gov.uk
26/05/2011 14:44
To:
Joshua Abramsky/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS, Andre
Botterill/ONS@ONS, Sally Day/OFD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS, Pete
Lee/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS, Phillip Lee/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS, Joann
Lewis/ONS@ONS, Fred Norris/BDD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS, Charlotte
Richards/ONS@ONS, Bethan West/SSPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS
cc:
ruth.coxhead@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk,
bill.elmore@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk
Subject:
Proposed Reduction to NIRS L2 Deliveries
PROTECT
Proposed Reduction to NIRS L2 Deliveries
As a recipient of Wages & Salaries estimates produced using National Insurance Recording System
(NIRS) data, you should be aware that DWP have proposed some changes to the delivery schedule for
the NIRS L2 1% sample to HMRC KAI.
Currently we receive NIRS L2 data deliveries from DWP twice a year. We typically receive the January
extract in February and the May extract in August. The May extract is the main delivery DWP use to
produce their own statistics; the January delivery is provided specifically for HMRC’s use and includes
the first delivery of the latest tax year’s data (e.g. the January 2011 extract was the first time we had
received data for the 2009-10 tax year).
DWP are changing their own publication schedule and will in future be using the January extract. They
are therefore proposing to change the delivery schedule to HMRC KAI from two deliveries to just one
annual delivery. This would be the January extract.
Fewer deliveries would certainly reduce the amount of processing (e.g. loading and decrypting) that
would need to be undertaken by KAI Data Production. However, it would also mean that the data held
by KAI would be updated less often, and that any analyses currently undertaken using the May extract
would in future be conducted on less up to date data (i.e. data extracted in January). There may be
further restrictions on when data from the January extract could be made available for use by analysts,
possibly not until after publication of DWP’s own statistics.
Blue Book
The proposed changes would not affect the delivery of the provisional estimates for the most recent
year. However, if we continued to send revised estimates to ONS in January for earlier years, these
would be produced using the same underlying data as the provisional estimates sent the previous
March, and that any revisions would be due only to changes in data processing in KAI (e.g.
identification and removal of pensions and/or benefits P14s).
Description
Sent to ONS (approx) Data Currently Extracted from NIRS
Data Extracted Under
New Proposals
Revised estimates for earlier years
January May of previous year January of previous year
Provisional estimates for latest year & revised for earlier years
March/April
January January (i.e.
unchanged)
Regional
Currently the estimates for regional accounts are produced using the data extracted in May. Under
these new proposals, they would be produced using data extracted four months earlier.
Description
Sent to ONS (approx) Data Currently Extracted from NIRS
Data Extracted Under
New Proposals
Provisional estimates for latest year & revised for earlier years
October/November
May
January
We are inviting comments from ONS about this proposal. How would this change to the delivery
schedule affect your work? Could these changes affect the quality of analyses that you publish?
If we decide to make a case to DWP to continue with the twice yearly delivery then we will need to
provide strong justification to support our case. Therefore, if you believe that your work will be
adversely affected by these proposed changes, it is particularly important that you reply to this email
explaining why - as soon as possible but by close of business Wednesday 01/06/11 at the latest.
Happy to discuss.
For information, Ruth Coxhead has recently replaced Ann White as the Grade 7 leading the team that
supplies the Wages & Salaries and Self Employment estimates to ONS.
Kind regards.
Claire
Claire Price
HM Revenue & Customs
KAI Data, Policy & Co-ordination - Data Production (External Data Team)
Plas Gororau | Ellice Way | Wrexham | LL13 7YY
Telephone: 01978 297770 (today in London 020 7438 8481)
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Michael Rizzo on 17/11/2011 at 14:46
Title: Public Enquiries actioned by Michael Rizzo - 2010
___________________________
Mail 5
From : Phillip Davies/NEWPORT/ONS
To : fonseca33@aol.com
CC : Michael Rizzo/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS, Eva Jones/ONS
Date Sent : 03/08/2010 12:48:34
Subject : Re: Bluebook pension query
Dear Lee
Thanks for your recent email.
In relation to your pensions question, pensions is a more complicated area.
Issues like contributions to pension funds, pension holidays, top-ups, pensions received, etc. are a mix of
cash and accruals depending upon the concept and the measurement. Without more details, it is not easy
to say - a rule of thumb does not apply.
As you appear to have a lot of detailed questions, please can I recommend a good source of
reference for this information is the National
> Accounts Concepts, Sources and Methods publication which can be found
online
herehttp://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_economy/Concepts_Sources_&_M
ethods.pdf should you want to research this or any other part of the National
Accounts further.
Kind regards
Phillip
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Phillip Davies
National Accounts Coordination and Development Division | Office for National Statistics | Room 2.101 |
Cardiff Road | Newport | Wales | NP10 8XG
Phone: 01633 45 6492 | Email: phillip.davies@ons.gsi.gov.uk | http://www.statistics.gov.uk/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
fonseca33@aol.com
27/07/2010 15:33
To:
cc:
Subject:
Phillip Davies/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS
Re: Bluebook pension query
Dear Philiip,
Are most pensions and the NI old age pension based on cash basis?
Sent from my iPhone
On Jul 27, 2010, at 3:56 AM, Phillip Davies <phillip.davies@ons.gsi.gov.uk
> wrote:
>
> Dear Lee
>
> In response to your further questions:
>
> Q1. So would it be correct for me to say that the social benefits paid
> are recorded when actually paid? I'd imagine the difference between
> cash and accrual social benefits to be really small?
>
> Answer: In the majority of cases Yes.
>
> 2. For the benefit I originally asked for, how can there be accruals
> when the withdrawals depend on person? In other words, one withdraws
> funds at own discretion.
>
> Answer: These benefits more often than not are accrued over the
> periods to
> which they relate - the accruals would be needed for longer term
> payments/receipts. In the main, the short-term payments are treated
> as
> cash payments. Many of the items included in D.62 like sickness,
> unemployment, etc. tend to be specific short-term items where there
> are
> regular payments, thus no need for accruals. Therefore, if any
> accruals
> would be needed, then it is likely to be based on payments made by the
> provider rather than the receipts by the person.
>
> A good source of reference for this information is the National
> Accounts
> Concepts, Sources and Methods publication which can be found online
> here
>
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_economy/Concepts_Sources_&_Metho
ds.pdf
> , should you want to research this or any other part of the National
> Accounts further.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Kind regards
Phillip
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Phillip Davies
National Accounts Coordination and Development Division | Office for
National Statistics | Room 2.101 | Cardiff Road | Newport | Wales |
NP10
8XG
Phone: 01633 45 6492 | Email: phillip.davies@ons.gsi.gov.uk |
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/
___________________________
Mail 16
From : Michael Rizzo/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS
To : Christopher Davies/ONS
CC : Phillip Davies/NEWPORT/ONS, Gerard Carolan/ONS
Date Sent : 28/09/2010 13:24:53
Subject : Definitions of the QSA tables in the statistical bulletin
DEFINITIONS
Household Sector (Tables J1, J2 and J3)
NOTE - Savings ratio is calculated by:
(gross savings / total available households resources) *100
Total available households resources = Gross household disposable income + D8 adjustment.
Gross savings = Total available household resources - Final consumption expenditure
Gross disposable income = GoS and mixed income + employees compensation + property income
receipts - property income payments + social benefits - social contributions + net transfers - taxes on
income.
Gross operating surplus and mixed income [B2/3g] (note that the main component of B2g is imputed
rent) (self employed sole traders is B3g) :
Wages and Salaries [D.11] (calc by taking current weighted AEI and adding or subtracting employment
numbers movements)
Employers social contributions [D.12] (contributions payable by employers to social security and
privately funded social insurance schemes - count as part of compensation of employees here, but are
deducted later as uses of the household sector as payments into funds.)
[NOTE - this line is where you will see National insurance contributions].
Property income receipts [D.4]

Interest receipts (D.41)

distributed income of corporations (D.42) (D42 is calculated as dividends from shares and other
securities, and withdrawals of income from quasi corporations (owners of partnerships withdrawing
income from profits for personal use))

attributed property income of insurance policy holders [D.44] (treatment of insurance technical
reserves as belonging to the policy holders in the various institutional sectors)

Rent [D.45] (relates to land and sub-soil assets - doesn't include rental from buildings. This is mainly
farming land rent) - very small and insignificant series.
Property income payments [D.4] Main component is interest paid.
Social benefits receipts [D.62] (comprises Social security benefits in cash, private funded social
benefits, unfunded employee social benefits and social assistance benefits in cash)
Social contributions payments [D.61] (comprises Employers actual social contributions, Employees
actual social contributions, Contributions by self-employed and non-employed persons and finally imputed
social contributions) - NOTE employers and imputed are the net of D.12 employers contributions
Current taxes [D.5] (comprises D51 taxes on income and D59 other taxes)
D51 comprises Personal income tax, taxes on unincorporated enterprises, capital gains)
D59 comprises Motor vehicle excise duty, council tax and other payments by HH to obtain licenses
Adjustment for the change in net equity in households in pension fund reserves [D8]
Basically this is for measurement concepts in the accounts - as the reserves of pension funds are treated
as being owned by HH sector which has claim on funds. As the pension contributions to and payments by
private funded schemes are included with D6, the balance of these contributions less receipts would be
included as part of the disposable income of pension scheme rather than HH. Therefore in order to
ensure that savings are properly attributed this adjustment is put in between pension funds and HH.
Final consumption expenditure (P3)
Private Non-Financial Corporations Sector (Tables K1, K2)
NOTE - Net Lending is calculated by:
(gross disposable income + net capital transfer receipts - GFCF - Inventories - other changes in assets)
Gross disposable income = GoS + property income receipts - property income payments + net transfers taxes on income.
Gross operating surplus (B.2g)
Property income receipts (D.4 resources)

Interest receipts (D.41)

Distributed income of corporations (D.42)

Reinvested earnings on direct foreign investment (D.43)
D43 - Reinvested earnings receipts is calculated as the profits of foreign subsidiaries of UK parents after
tax and dividends have been paid.
Property income payments (D.4 uses)

Interest payments (D.41)

Distributed income of corporations (D.42)

Reinvested earnings on direct foreign investment (D43)
D43 - Reinvested earnings payments is calculated as the profits of UK subsidiaries of foreign parents
after tax and dividends have been paid.
Other resources/uses This shows net non-life insurance claims/premiums - this has no direct impact on
net lending as it nets out.
Taxes on income (D.51)
Net capital transfers This shows various capital grants/transfers paid/received
Gross Fixed Capital Formation
Inventories
Michael Rizzo
Editor: United Kingdom Economic Accounts
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 16/06/2010 at
17:26
Title: Response to ECB consultation on monthly and
quarterly requirements on External Statistics
Categorisation
International Coordination\International
Organisation\ECB
Note for the record
Damian Whittard
16/06/2010 16:04
To:
alina.muresan@ecb.europa.eu
cc:
John Bundey/BOPD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS, Richard T
Thomas/MQD/SSSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS, Peter Gittins/MQD/SSSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS, J
Walker/STID/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS, Perry.Francis@bankofengland.gsi.gov.uk, Sanjiv Maha
Subject:
ECB/ Eurostat's consultation on monthly and quarterly requirem
Response to ECB consultation on monthly and quarterly requirements on External Statistics.
Hi Alina,
I am pleased to provide the United Kingdom's response to the ECB/Eurostat consultation for monthly and
quarterly requirements on External Statistics. The UK's response is a joint response from the Office for
National Statistics and the Bank of England. The Bank of England is responsible for providing the
Monthly Reserves and Monthly Balance of Payments. ONS is responsible for providing the quarterly
non-financial and financial accounts.
The UK's response is in direct response to document WGES/2010/114. Reading the document, we were
unclear how the colour coding in Table 1 is applied to the annex tables, if at all. We have assumed that
the colour coding in the Annex tables is that orange is a requirement for euro area countries only and
white applies for all EU countries. Please let me know if this assumption is incorrect as it will affect
our response?
The UK welcomes the ECB/Eurostat's statement that the data requirements for euro area countries and
other EU countries will be reflected in the legal text; the ECB Guideline will address euro area countries
and the Eurostat Regulation will address all EU countries.
The UK would like to thank the ECB and Eurostat for their efforts to separately identify the euro area and
non euro area breakdown in the annex provided to document WGES/2010/114. We now have a much
clearer picture of the data requirements the UK will be legally required to supply. We recognise that
countries outside the euro area are also encouraged to send, on a voluntary basis, the same details as for
the euro area countries. Wherever possible, and where this incurs little additional expense, the UK, will
do so. However, ECB and Eurostat should recognise that the UK faces considerable budgetary pressures
over the coming years and therefore our ability to provide data above and beyond the legal requirements
will be severely limited. Therefore our response to the consultation relates solely to the data that the UK
will be legally required to deliver to ECB and Eurostat.
We would also like to thank the ECB/Eurostat for listening to the member states and amending their
initial data requests. The UK, however, would like Eurostat to further consider their data requirements
relating to a number of the other quarterly data requests listed in the section below.
In the initial consultation the UK responded to the consultation using a colour coding system, GREEN
(data easily available), AMBER (requiring significant effort) and RED (extremely difficult as the data is
currently unavailable). I have limited the UK's response to commenting only on requirements we coded
RED in the initial consultation. We have not commented on other items which we initially coded
AMBER and which will still require a significant amount of effort from the UK to produce.
Data where it is extremely difficult for the UK to provide data
Table A. Monthly Template on Reserve Assets
No comment
Table B. Monthly balance of payments and reserve assets details
No comment
Table C.a Quarterly data: Non-financial accounts except investment income
No comment
Table C.b Quarterly data: Financial accounts and investment income
Item I.1.2 Direct Investment, in direct investor (reverse investment): transactions, total investment income
and reinvested/reinvestment of earnings - We are unable to supply any of the breakdowns as we only
collect reverse debt information and not reverse equity.
Item I.1.3 Direct investment, between fellow enterprises: transactions, total investment income and
reinvested/reinvestment of earnings - we are unable to supply any of the breakdowns as we do not collect
this information.
Item I.1.B.S Direct investment, investment fund shares by resident sector: transactions - the UK are
unable to provide this data. ECB/ Eurostat recognise that many members states will have difficulty in
providing this data and have made it a best effort only item - the UK welcomes this decision and
requests that the coding of the annex is altered to reflect that this is a best effort only item.
Item II.1.1.S. 1 (& .2) Portfolio investment (Assets) by resident sector, listed and unlisted split:
transactions - The UK has no breakdown on listed and unlisted shares.
Item II. Portfolio Investment (Liabilities) - the UK is unable to provide any Portfolio Investment
Liabilities sector breakdown (including the listed and unlisted split) as it does not collect this information.
This information is only available to euro area countries who use the CSDB. Until such a time as the UK
uses the CSDB it will be unable to provide a sector breakdown for Portfolio Investment Liabilities. It is
our understanding that this is a best effort basis only and WILL NOT be included as a legal
requirement for non euro area countries - - the UK welcomes this decision and requests that the
coding of the annex is altered to reflect that this is a best effort only item.
Item III.S Financial derivatives by resident sector: transactions - the UK does not have a geographic split
of this information. We will be interested in the discussion at the thematic meeting in July on this issue.
At this stage, however, we are sceptical that any meaningful geographic breakdown can be provided.
Item IV.2.3.S Insurance, pension, and standardised guarantee schemes by resident sector: transactions the UK has very little information on the imports of insurance on which to do a sector and geographic
split.
Item IV.2.4.S.1 (&.2) Trade credits and advances by resident sector, short term and long term:
transactions - the UK has very little information on trade credits and advances. The ECB and Eurostat
recognise that this is a difficult area and have made this a best effort basis - the UK welcomes this
decision and requests that the coding of the annex is altered to reflect that this is a best effort only
item.
Item IV.2.5.S.1 (&.2) Other accounts receivable/payable by resident sector, short term and long term:
transactions - the UK does not collect this information. The ECB and Eurostat recognise that this is
difficult and have made this a best effort basis - the UK welcomes this decision and requests that the
coding of the annex is altered to reflect that this is a best effort only item.
If you require further clarification regarding the comments listed above, please do not hesitate to contact
me.
All the best
Damian Whittard
Balance of Payments
Room 2101
Office for National Statistics
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8XG
Telephone 01633 455497
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Jon Simpson on 09/01/2012 at 10:56
Title: RE: Reorganisation at Eurostat and GNI
Categorisation
National Accounts Methods Development
and International Branch\GNI
Correspondence with Eurostat
From : Jukka.JALAVA@ec.europa.eu
To : Ursula.Havel@statistik.gv.at, geert.detombe@nbb.be, philippe.bogaert@nbb.be, EAtanasova@NSI.bg, TTodorov@nsi.bg,
philippe.kuettel@bfs.admin.ch, gzeitountsian@cystat.mof.gov.cy, gsarris@cystat.mof.gov.cy, ondrus@gw.czso.cz,
veronika.spies@destatis.de, obe@dst.dk, iljen.dedegkajeva@stat.ee, Tonu.Mertsina@stat.ee, kosmolfet@statistics.gr,
nat.accounts@statistics.gr, nikstrobl@statistics.gr, acristobal@ine.es, carmen.ortega.poza@ine.es, eeva.hamunen@stat.fi,
Tuomas.Rothovius@stat.fi, jean-pierre.berthier@insee.fr, pal.pozsonyi@ksh.hu, Peter.Szabo@ksh.hu, diarmuid.reidy@CSO.IE,
Mick.Lucey@CSO.IE, rosmundur.gudnason@hagstofa.is, agostine@istat.it, Gailute.Juskiene@stat.gov.lt,
marc.origer@statec.etat.lu, dace.tomase@csb.gov.lv, Ekalnina@csb.gov.lv, joseph.a.bonello@gov.mt, michael.pace-ross@gov.mt,
hvdn@cbs.nl, HNMR@CBS.NL, M.Smolska@stat.gov.pl, m.jeznach@stat.gov.pl, carlos.coimbra@ine.pt, alina.predescu@insse.ro,
birgitta.magnussonwarmark@scb.se, andrej.flajs@gov.si, Alena.Illitova@statistics.sk, Frantisek.bernadic@statistics.sk, Glenn
Everett/ONS, Jon Simpson/DCPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS, Paul.STAFFORD@eca.europa.eu, jose.Parente@eca.europa.eu,
Alberto.GASPERONI@eca.europa.eu, mariaisabel.quintela@eca.europa.eu, christian.detry@eca.europa.eu
CC : James.Whitworth@ec.europa.eu, Paolo.Passerini@ec.europa.eu, Gallo.Gueye@ec.europa.eu,
Frederique.ROUARD@ext.ec.europa.eu
Date Sent : 05/01/2012 17:11:27
Subject : RE: Reorganisation at Eurostat and GNI
Dear colleagues,
On behalf of Mr. James Whitworth, Head of Unit C.3 Statistics for administrative purposes, and
myself please accept our wishes for A Happy New Year.
Enclosed is for your information the reallocation of GNI country desks.
Best regards,
Jukka Jalava
--------------------------------------------------Jukka Jalava
Team leader/Senior Statistician
Eurostat C.3 Statistics for administrative purposes
BECH, 5, rue Alphonse Weicker
L-2721 Luxembourg
Tel. (+352) 4301-38435
Fax. (+352) 4301-33879
E-mail: jukka.jalava@ec.europa.eu
---------------------------------------------------
From: ROUARD Frederique (ESTAT-EXT)
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2012 3:17 PM
To: 'AT - Ursula Havel'; 'BE - Geert de tombe '; 'BE -Philippe Bogaert'; 'BG - Elka Atanasova'; 'BG - Todor
Todorov'; 'CH - Philippe Kuettel'; 'CY - G. Zeitountsian'; 'CY - Georgh Sarris'; 'CZ - V. Ondrus'; 'DE - Veronika
Spies'; 'DK - O. Berner'; 'EE - Iljen Dedegkajeva'; 'EE - Tõnu Mertsina'; 'EL - Konstantinos Molfetas'; 'EL National Accounts Division'; 'EL - Nikolaos'; 'ES - A. Cristobal'; 'ES - Carmen Ortega'; 'FI - E. Hamunen'; 'FI - T.
Rothovius'; 'FR - JP Berthier'; 'HU - P. Pozsonyi'; 'HU - Peter Szabo'; 'IE - Diarmuid Reidy'; 'IE - M. Lucey'; 'IS Rosmundur Gudnasson'; 'IT - Alessandra Agostinelli'; 'LT - G. Juskiene'; 'LU - M. Origer'; 'LV - Dace Tomase ';
'LV - E. Kalnina'; 'MT - Joseph Bonello'; 'MT - Michael Pace Ross'; 'NL - H. Verduin'; 'NL - Henk Nijmeijer'; 'PL
- M. Smolska'; 'PL - Maria Jeznach'; 'PT - Carlos Coimbra'; 'RO - Alina Predescu'; 'SE - Birgitta Magnusson'; 'SI A. Flajs'; 'SK - Alena Illitova'; 'SK - Frantisek Bernadic'; 'UK - Glenn Everett'; 'UK - Jon Simpson'; STAFFORD
Paul (CDCE); PARENTE JOSE (CDCE); GASPERONI Alberto (CDCE); QUINTELA MARIA ISABEL (CDCE);
DETRY CHRISTIAN (CDCE)
Cc: WHITWORTH James (ESTAT); JALAVA Jukka (ESTAT); PASSERINI Paolo (ESTAT); GUEYE Gallo
(ESTAT)
Subject: Reorganisation at Eurostat and GNI
Dear GNI Committee Members,
On behalf of Mr Gallo GUEYE, please find below a message relating to the reorganisation at
Eurostat.
Best regards
Frédérique Rouard
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear GNI Committee Members
Starting from 1 January 2012, a reorganisation has taken effect at Eurostat. In this context, my tasks and
responsibilities have been modified. In addition to national accounts methodology, my tasks now include also
sector accounts, pensions
and financial indicators.The name of my unit is still ESTAT.C1. On the other hand, the work and
responsibilities concerningGNI verification (and VAT control)have been taken over by another (new) unit
ESTAT.C3, with Mr James Whitworth as Head of unit.
The continuity of work is ensured in particular by the fact that the majority of existing staff will continue to work
on GNI.
Mr Paolo Passerini has been moved to a different area - Price statistics - and has been replaced by Mr Jukka Jalava.
Jukka will work in unit ESTAT.C3.
Eurostat staff assignments on GNI verification tasks will be communicated to you shortly by Unit ESTAT.C3 in
order to facilitate future contacts.
I would like to thank you all for your excellent cooperation, over many years, on issues related to national accounts
and GNIharmonisation.
I also take this opportunity to wish you a very Happy New Year.
Gallo GUEYE
Head of Unit C-1
National Accounts methodology.
Sectoraccounts. Financial indicators
Eurostat
Tel: +352 4301 34859
Fax: +352 4301 33029
E-mail gallo.gueye@ec.europa.eu
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 16/08/2009 at
20:17
Title: Eurostat employment questionnaire - UK Response
R
R
e
p
o
n
e
Re
esssp
po
on
nssse
e
Note for the record
Debra Prestwood
10/08/2009 13:33
To:
cc:
Subject:
Robin Youll/EEPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS
Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS
Re: Action ASAP Re: Link Message: Eurostat employment que
Robin
Jon Gough sent it to Eurostat as requested by me below, about a month ago if I recall correctly.
Jon - can you send your email response to Eurostat on to Robin and Sanjiv please.
Thanks
Deb
Debra Prestwood
Assistant Deputy Director
Labour Market Outputs and Social Trends
Household, Labour Market and Social Well-being Division
ONS, Newport
External: 0044 1633 45 5882
Internal: 72 5882
Fax: 0044 1633 45 2582
Robin Youll
27/07/2009 09:14
To:
cc:
Subject:
employment questionnaire 2009
Debra, I lost track of this one. Do you know how far we got with this?
best wishes
Robin
----- Forwarded by Robin Youll/EEPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS on 27/07/2009 09:13 -----
Debra Prestwood/SSPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@
Re: Action ASAP Re: Link Message: Eurostat
Sanjiv Mahajan
To:
Robin Youll/EEPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS
cc:
Subject:
Re: Action ASAP Re: Link Message: Eurostat
employment questionnaire 2009Notes Link
27/07/2009 08:08
Dear Robin,
Do you know if we provided a submission? If so, could you send me a copy - thanks.
Sanjiv
Robin Youll
To:
cc:
Subject:
employment questionnaire 2009
09/07/2009 12:29
Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@O
Re: Action ASAP Re: Link Message: Eurostat
...still moving (grindingly) fwd....
----- Forwarded by Robin Youll/EEPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS on 09/07/2009 12:29 ----Debra Prestwood
To:
Jon Gough/DCPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS
cc:
Robin Youll/EEPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS
Subject:
Re: Action ASAP Re: Link Message: Eurostat
employment questionnaire 2009Notes Link
08/07/2009 17:51
Thanks Jon, but I need the UK intro to the second section on Hrs wkd updated too.
I'm out of the office now until Monday so could you update that part in red in the
attached file, and send the file to Eurostat explaining we have made updates in red.
Please would you copy to Robin Youll, me and Andrew Walton, with apologies for
missing the 30 June deadline.
The addressee in Eurostat is:
Gabrielle.Pavant@ec.europa.eu
Many thanks
Deb
UK
questionnaire2009.doc
Debra Prestwood
Assistant Deputy Director
Labour Market Outputs and Social Trends
Household, Labour Market and Social Well-being Division
ONS, Newport
External: 0044 1633 45 5882
Internal: 72 5882
Fax: 0044 1633 45 2582
Jon Gough
07/07/2009 09:33
To:
Debra Prestwood/SSPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@
cc:
Nick Barford/IOSD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS
Subject:
Re: Action ASAP Re: Link Message: Eurostat
employment questionnaire 2009Notes Link
Deb,
I assume it is just the initial section in italics that requires updating?
I've added my suggested comments in red ->
UK
questionnaire_Emp_Jun 09 JG comments.d
Happy to discuss further.
With regards the actual setting up and delivery of these figures it is something that would be good to
finally get to the bottom of.
I'm still not totally clear on the exact requirement. I think it was 'given' to us because we had a system in
Productivity that was similar to what is (maybe) required to meet this regulation. Whether it is
Productivity's responsibility to provide jobs data I'm not totally convinced.
Regardless on that we do have some initial work and system set up which hopefully won't require much
additional work to meet the regulation. The issues I'm still not clear on are 1) are RU-based jobs or LUbased jobs required? 2) are the industry breakdowns required just for total employment or also for
employees and self employed.
Once these issues are clarified I think the work (certainly on the jobs side) can progress relatively quickly
- there may be some MD work required on the seasonal adjustment side as well.
I have sent the documentation and a copy of the system produced previously but have added to the
attached link a copy of the proposed jobs system and the datasets required in order to complete -> Notes
Link
Thanks
Jon
Debra Prestwood
03/07/2009 16:07
To:
Andrew Walton/SSPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@O
Jon Gough/DCPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS, Nick
Barford/IOSD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS
cc:
Robin Youll/EEPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS
Subject:
Action ASAP Re: Link Message: Eurostat employ
questionnaire 2009Notes Link
Andrew
Please could you quickly QA the blue text for me in Question 1.4, Mon morning?
Jon/Nick
I really need your updates to the introductory UK notes at the start of the Employment and Hours Wkd
sections asap. Can you provide me with any updates shown in a different colour please to the original
2006 version linked above.
Thanks
Deb
Debra Prestwood
Assistant Deputy Director
Labour Market Outputs and Social Trends
Household, Labour Market and Social Well-being Division
ONS, Newport
External: 0044 1633 45 5882
Internal: 72 5882
Fax: 0044 1633 45 2582
Andrew Walton
05/06/2009 11:49
To:
cc:
Subject:
2009
Debra Prestwood/SSPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@
Re: Link Message: Eurostat employment question
Debra
Robin managed to "tease" an important coverage issue out of me under questioning, so you might like to
add that to the questionnaire (see below).
Thanks
Andrew
----- Forwarded by Andrew Walton/SSPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS on 05/06/2009 11:48 ----Robin Youll
03/06/2009 17:08
To:
cc:
Subject:
2009Notes Link
Andrew Walton/SSPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@O
Re: Link Message: Eurostat employment questio
Andrew thanks. very clear.
The 'coverage' point you make here may be relevant to the questionnaire, so is probably something
Debra needs to be aware of.
cheers
Robin
Andrew Walton
03/06/2009 16:55
To:
cc:
Subject:
2009Notes Link
Robin Youll/EEPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS
Re: Link Message: Eurostat employment questio
Robin
The simple answer is "as published" but it isn't quite that simple. We use the "employee jobs" element of
table 5.1 in the Labour Market First Release (so exluding self-employed jobs, HM forces and government
supported trainees), but we won't match exactly with the published figures because:
1) The WFJ employee jobs estimate as published is UK, but they can't provide the industry breakdown of
employee jobs at the UK level (only the total WFJ is available) because they don't have the information
for NI, so they give us the industry breakdown for GB and therefore it totals to GB (a method issue to look
at I feel).
2)We may have different vintages of data because of the NA revisions periods.
But we are making no specific NA concept adjustments.
Andrew
Robin Youll
03/06/2009 16:32
To:
cc:
Subject:
2009Notes Link
Andrew Walton/SSPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@O
Re: Link Message: Eurostat employment questio
thanks Andrew. my only supplementary is do we use WFJ as published or are the numbers made
consistent with NA concepts in some way?
Robin
Andrew Walton
03/06/2009 14:04
To:
Robin Youll/EEPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS
cc:
Chris Daffin/EEPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS
Prestwood/SSPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS, Paul Allin/ONS@ONS
Subject:
Re: Link Message: Eurostat employment questio
2009Notes Link
Robin
In a nutshell we are measuring total compensation of employees which is made up of Wages and
Salaries and Employer's Social Contributions. For the annual dataset we have data from HRMC on total
pay (at the total level, and broken down into section level of SIC) plus data from DEFRA, ABI,
government and ONS sources etc. to fill in known gaps in coverage and quality issues or for other
variables such as redundancy payments. So on the annual basis there is no use of employment numbers
(other than maybe a bit of pro rating of £ figures).
It is for the more recent data beyond the last HMRC tax year where we need to make use of WFJ and AEI
data to form estimates of pay for the quarters. WFJ and AEI are converted onto a quarterly basis and
multiplied together to get a quarterly pay series. Forecasts or actual data are provided for items such as
pensions, redundancy payments and social contributions. We then scale (or link as you might prefer to
think of it) this data onto the published annual data at the point of the last balanced year thus preserving
the growth rates in the latest quarters as implied by AEI x WFJ but at a level which is consistent with the
last BB. I don't make any estimates of employee numbers or hours worked.
Andrew
Robin Youll
03/06/2009 13:47
To:
Andrew Walton/SSPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@O
cc:
Chris Daffin/EEPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS
Prestwood/SSPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS, Paul Allin/ONS@ONS
Subject:
Re: Link Message: Eurostat employment questio
2009Notes Link
Andrew, thanks. For my education, where do your employment estimates come from? Presumably
they're adjusted onto a NA concepts basis somewhere?
Robin
From:
Andrew Walton on 03/06/2009 11:07
To:
cc:
Debra Prestwood/SSPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS
Paul Allin/ONS@ONS, Robin Youll/EEPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS, Chris
Daffin/EEPD/BSG/NEWPORT/ONS@ONS
Document Link Information:
Database:
Document:
Labour Market Statistics BDB
Eurostat employment questionnaire 2009
Notes Link Debra
Probably not much help, but here is my response.
Thanks
Andrew
You may open the document by clicking on this link.
NACDD BDB on NGROUP1
Created By:
Sanjiv Mahajan on 16/01/2010 at
22:07
Title: ESA Review: Chapter 20 Government accounts
(Version 3) - Response from UK to Eurostat (ESA 95
Review Group)
R
R
e
p
o
n
e
Re
esssp
po
on
nssse
e
Note for the record
Sanjiv Mahajan
15/01/2010 21:56
To:
Frederique.ROUARD@ec.europa.eu, jean-pierre.dupuis@ec.e
Luca.Ascoli@ec.europa.eu, Gallo.Gueye@ec.europa.eu
cc:
reinhold.schwarzl@statistik.gv.at, ursula.havel@statistik.gv.at,
geert.detombe@nbb.be, pierre.crevits@nbb.be, rudi.acx@nbb.be, Ahristova@nsi.bg, philippe.stauff
gzeitountsian@cystat.mof.gov.cy, ondrusv@gw.czso.cz, ath@dst.dk, shl@dtl-dk.dk, obe@dst.dk, al
norbert.raeth@destatis.de, wolfgang.strohm@destatis.de, Reimund.Mink@ecb.int, Tjeerd.Jellema@
frank.schoenborn@cec.eu.int, tonu.mertsina@stat.ee, nat.accounts@statistics.gr, nikstrobl@statistic
acristobal@ine.es, eeva.hamunen@stat.fi, tuomas.rothovius@stat.fi, fabrice.lenglart@insee.fr, sylvi
peter.szabo@ksh.hu, pal.pozsonyi@ksh.hu, Mick.lucey@cso.ie, paddy.mcdonald@cso.ie, gudjon.g
stefan.jansen@hagstofa.is, tryggvi.eiriksson@hagstofa.is, caricchi@istat.it, battelli@istat.it, mantega
gailute.juskiene@stat.gov.lt, irena.tvarijonaviciute@stat.gov.lt, john.haas@statec.etat.lu, marc.origer
Dace.Tomase@csb.gov.lv, Ekalnina@csb.gov.lv, joseph.a.bonello@gov.mt, joseph.p.vella@gov.mt
abr@ssb.no, kns@ssb.no, Charles.ASPDEN@oecd.org, paul.schreyer@oecd.org, e.kucharska@sta
pedro.oliveira@ine.pt, adriana.ciuchea@insse.ro, adrianam@insse.ro, andreas.lennmalm@scb.se,
solveig.westin@scb.se, andrej.flajs@gov.si, janja.kalin@gov.si, jure.lasnibat@gov.si, Frantisek.Bern
dilek.ozsoy@tuik.gov.tr, Tihomira.Dimova@unece.org, Sanjiv Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS
Humphries/BOPD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS, 'Tihomira.Dimova@unece.org'
Subject:
Re: FW: ESA review: chapter 20 the Government accounts (ve
Dear Jean-Pierre, Gallo and Luca,
The UK ONS has the following comments.
We are reasonably content with the track changes as highlighted in blue in the Chapter 20 Version 3
document.
However, there are concerns, and clarification is needed regarding the status of Chapter 20 Version 3.
(1) We are very concerned that most of the UK comments (and comments from other countries) on
Version 2 have not yet been incorporated. All the comments for all the chapters were collated into one
document by Eurostat for the November 2009 ESA Review Group Meeting, i.e. Item 3 Document 706
Identification of remaining methodological issues. Eurostat agreed at the meeting that each of these
issues and points will be addressed. Therefore, we assume there will be another version of Chapter 20
incorporating the resolution of the issues and points, can this be confirmed?
(2) Although the structure and content of Chapter 20 (Version 3) has been improved since the draft
version, the style is very different compared with other chapters. One of the aesthetic aspects of ESA 95
was that it had a consistent feel, and read well, as a whole document, this aspect will need to be
addressed by the Editorial team for the new ESA, whereby Chapter 20 needs further work.
(3) On a separate issue. At the November 2009 meeting, Eurostat agreed to provide a timetable of
events to the next meeting in March 2010 reflecting the next phase for comments including the
transmission programme work. Is this timetable available?
Happy to discuss.
Best regards.
Sanjiv
Mr Sanjiv Mahajan
Head of International Strategy and Coordination
Economic Production Division
Zone GE 108
Office for National Statistics
1 Myddelton Street
Islington
London
EC1R 1UW
Tel no. +(44) 020 7014 2078
E-mail: sanjiv.mahajan@ons.gov.uk
Frederique.ROUARD@
ec.europa.eu
22/12/2009 08:54
To:
reinhold.schwarzl@statistik.gv.at,
ursula.havel@statistik.gv.at, Bertrand.Jadoul@nbb.be, geert.detombe@nbb.be,
pierre.crevits@nbb.be, rudi.acx@nbb.be, Ahristova@nsi.bg, philippe.stauffer@bfs.ad
gzeitountsian@cystat.mof.gov.cy, ondrusv@gw.czso.cz, ath@dst.dk, shl@dtl-dk.dk,
obe@dst.dk, albert.braakmann@destatis.de, norbert.raeth@destatis.de,
wolfgang.strohm@destatis.de, Reimund.Mink@ecb.int, Tjeerd.Jellema@ecb.int,
Wim.Haine@ecb.int, frank.schoenborn@cec.eu.int, tonu.mertsina@stat.ee,
nat.accounts@statistics.gr, nikstrobl@statistics.gr, acanada@ine.es, acristobal@ine.e
eeva.hamunen@stat.fi, tuomas.rothovius@stat.fi, fabrice.lenglart@insee.fr, sylvie.lelaidier@insee.fr, peter.szabo@ksh.hu, pal.pozsonyi@ksh.hu, Mick.lucey@cso.ie,
paddy.mcdonald@cso.ie, gudjon.gudmundsson@hagstofa.is, stefan.jansen@hagstof
tryggvi.eiriksson@hagstofa.is, caricchi@istat.it, battelli@istat.it, mantegaz@istat.it,
gailute.juskiene@stat.gov.lt, irena.tvarijonaviciute@stat.gov.lt, john.haas@statec.etat
marc.origer@statec.etat.lu, Dace.Tomase@csb.gov.lv, Ekalnina@csb.gov.lv,
joseph.a.bonello@gov.mt, joseph.p.vella@gov.mt, mpoe@cbs.nl, RHKA@cbs.nl,
abr@ssb.no, kns@ssb.no, Charles.ASPDEN@oecd.org, paul.schreyer@oecd.org,
e.kucharska@stat.gov.pl, idilio.freire@ine.pt, pedro.oliveira@ine.pt,
adriana.ciuchea@insse.ro, adrianam@insse.ro, andreas.lennmalm@scb.se,
per.ericson@scb.se, solveig.westin@scb.se, andrej.flajs@gov.si, janja.kalin@gov.si,
jure.lasnibat@gov.si, Frantisek.Bernadic@statistics.sk, dilek.ozsoy@tuik.gov.tr, Sanji
Mahajan/NAD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS, Simon
Humphries/BOPD/MESAG/LONDON/ONS@ONS, 'Tihomira.Dimova@unece.org'
cc:
Jean-Pierre.DUPUIS@ec.europa.eu,
Christian.Ravets@ec.europa.eu, Luca.Ascoli@ec.europa.eu, Gallo.Gueye@ec.europ
Subject:
FW: ESA review: chapter 20 the Government acc
(version 3)
Dear Members of the ESA Review Group,
Please find below a message that was sent to the FAWG on behalf of Mr Luca Ascoli.
Best regards
Frédérique Rouard
Ms Frédérique ROUARD
European Commission
EUROSTAT C1 BECH Building E2/826
5, rue Alphonse Weicker - L2721 Luxembourg
Tel: (+352) 4301-31962
Fax: (+352) 4301-33029
E-mail:Frederique.ROUARD@ec.europa.eu
____________________________________
From: GUEYE Gallo (ESTAT)
Sent: Tuesday, December 22, 2009 9:44 AM
To:
ROUARD Frederique (ESTAT)
Subject:
FW: ESA review: chapter 20 the Government accounts (version 3)
______________________________________________
From: GAPINSKA Monika (ESTAT)
Sent: Friday, December 18, 2009 2:59 PM
To:
'AT - BANK - ANDREASCH Michael'; 'AT - BANK - WIMMER Gerald'; 'AT - INS - STUEBLER Walter'; 'AT MOF - FLEISCHMANN Eduard'; 'AT - MOF - MAYR Franz'; 'AT - NSI - SCHWARZ Karl'; BARCELLAN Roberto
(ESTAT); 'BE - NBB - ACX Rudi'; 'BE - NBB - CAPPOEN Steven'; 'BE - NBB - GOSSET Didier'; 'BE - NBB - LIBENS
Joseph'; 'BE - NBB - MODART Claude'; 'BE - NBB - MULKAY Anne'; 'BE - NBB - SAUVENIERE Herve'; 'DE - BANK
- BURGTORF Ulrich'; 'DE - BANK - HAMKER Juergen'; 'DE - BANK - RADKE Marc Peter'; 'DE - BANK - STOESS
Elmar '; 'DE - INS - BRAAKMANN Albert'; 'DE - INS - EICHMANN Wolfgang'; 'DE - INS - FORSTER Thomas'; 'DE
- INS - NIEBUR Oliver'; 'DE - INS - Secretariat National Accounts Directorate'; 'DE - MOF - BAUMANN Elke'; 'DE
- MOF - KASTROP Christian'; 'DK - BANK - KJERSGAARD FRIIS Carina'; 'DK - BANK - MATHIASEN M. Tue'; 'DK BANK - National Bank Statistics'; 'DK - INS - BRODERSEN Soren'; 'DK - INS - NIELSEN Michael F.'; NOGUEIRA
MARTINS Joao (ECFIN); 'ES - BANK - ABAD Pedro'; 'ES - BANK - GORDO Luis'; 'ES - BANK - SANZ Beatriz '; 'ES
- BANK - SANZ Beatriz (secretary)'; 'ES - INE - CRISTOBAL Alfredo'; 'ES - INE - ORTEGA Carmen de la POZA';
ASCOLI Luca (ESTAT); DUPUIS Jean-Pierre (ESTAT); FRANK Simona (ESTAT); FREJ OHLSSON Lena (ESTAT);
GAPINSKA Monika (ESTAT); JABLONSKA Ivana (ESTAT); JANKO Robert (ESTAT); KAROLOVA Viera (ESTAT);
KRENUSZ Agota (ESTAT); MIHAILOVA Diana (ESTAT); PANTAZIDIS Stylianos (ESTAT); POP Cecilia (ESTAT);
RENNO Birgitte (ESTAT); SODEIKAITE Rasa (ESTAT); WORONOWICZ Marcin (ESTAT); AHAMDANECH ZARCO
Ismael (ESTAT); DIEDERT Marie-Helene (ESTAT); FASSBENDER Jessy (ESTAT-EXT); GANCEDO VALLINA Isabel
(ESTAT); GROFFILIER-WOLFANGER Marie-Louise (ESTAT); HOFFMEISTER Onno (ESTAT); LEETMAA Peeter
(ESTAT); LEYTHIENNE Denis (ESTAT); LUPI Alessandro (ESTAT); MADANI-BEYHURST Shirin (ESTAT-EXT);
MILUSHEVA Boryana (ESTAT); PARLASCA Peter (ESTAT); PIRAINO Neusa (ESTAT); RENNIE Herve (ESTAT);
THOUVENIN Gilles (ESTAT); TOKOFAI Anatole (ESTAT); VERRINDER John (ESTAT); VILLAUME Sylvie (ESTAT);
WAHRIG Laura (ESTAT); ZIETEN Jean-Luc (ESTAT-EXT); 'IE - BANK - CUSSEN Mary'; 'IE - BANK - DELANEY
John'; 'IE - BANK - MURPHY Kieran'; 'IE - BANK - PHELAN Gillian'; 'IE - INS - BRENNAN Michael'; 'IE - INS CAVANAGH Gordon'; 'IE - INS - CSO Financial Accounts Unit - Centralised group address'; 'IE - INS - FANNING
Pat'; 'IE - INS - LUCEY Mick'; 'IE - INS - O'MAHONY Rod'; 'IE - INS - O'ROURKE Seamus'; 'IE - INS - SIBLEY
Christopher'; 'IE - INS - STYNES Derek'; 'IE - MOF - COUNIHAN Ciarán'; 'IFAC - PSC chairman - ADHEMAR
Philippe'; BUCHER Anne (INFSO); 'IT - BANK - BARDOZZETTI Alfredo'; 'IT - BANK - SEMERARO Gabriele'; 'IT INS - CARICCHIA Alfonsina'; 'IT - INS - CINQUEGRANA Giuseppe'; 'IT - INS - MONTEBUGNOLI Maria
Emanuela'; 'IT - MALIZIA Raffaele'; 'IT - MOF - DE RITA Paola'; 'IT - MOF - NUSPERLI Federico'; 'IT - MOFSCAFURI Emilia'; 'LUX - BANK - BOUCHET Muriel'; 'LUX - BANK - PERRARD Romain'; 'LUX - INS - DI MARIA
Charles-Henri'; 'LUX - INS - ORIGER Marc'; 'LUX - INS - SOPPELSA David'; 'Polyscience - WARTON-WOODS
Sheldon'; 'ECB - BIER Werner'; 'ECB - CATZ Julia'; 'ECB - DUCLOS Christophe'; 'ECB - ECHEVERRIA Remigio';
'ECB - GADSBY Robert'; 'ECB - GIRON PASTOR Celestino'; 'ECB - MAURER Henri'; 'ECB - MINK Reimund'; 'ECB RODRIGUEZ Marta'; 'ECB - SILVA Nuno'; 'ECB - SOLA Pierre'; 'ECB - WILLEKE Caroline'; FISCHER Jonas
(ECFIN); 'FI - BANK - LEHTINEN Jyrki'; 'FI - BANK - SAVOLAINEN Eero'; 'FI - INS - HAMUNEN Eeva'; 'FI - INS KOISTINEN-JOKINIEMI Paula'; 'FI - INS - KUUSSAARI Mira'; 'FI - INS - OKKO Matti'; 'FI - INS - SAINIO Mika';
'FI - INS - VARJONEN-OLLUS Reetta'; 'FR - BANK - BRANTHOMME Patrick'; 'FR - BANK - CHAZELAS Marc'; 'FR BANK - DURANT Dominique'; 'FR - INS - HOURIEZ Guillaume'; 'FR - INS - MAGNIEZ Jacques'; 'FR - MOF AUGERAUD Patrick'; 'GR - BANK - CORRES Stelios'; 'GR - INS - KATSIKA Anastasia'; 'GR - INS - KRASADAKIS A.
& PAPANIKOLAKOS P.'; 'GR - INS - PAPANIKOLAKOS Panagiotis'; 'GR - MEF - DIMITROPOULOU Georgia'; 'GR MOF - MARAVELAKIS Stelios'; 'NL - BANK - LUB Henk'; 'NL - INS - HAAKMAN Léonard'; 'NL - INS - VAN DE VEN
Peter'; 'NL - MOF - DOEK Kyra'; 'NL - MOF - SCHUERMAN Patrick'; 'PT - BANK - BRANCO Sergio'; 'PT - BANK LIMA Susana Filipa'; 'PT - BANK - MENEZES Paula'; 'PT - BANK - MONTEIRO Olga'; 'PT - INS - DOURADO Rute';
'PT - INS - FERREIRA Maria Teresa'; 'PT - INS - QUINTELA Maria Isabel'; 'PT - MOF - LEAL Ana'; 'PT - MOF RODRIGUES Anabela NABAIS'; 'PT - MOF - ROXO Fernando'; 'SE - BANK - BLOMBERG Gunnar'; 'SE - INS BERGWALL Jonas'; 'SE - INS - BILJER Marianne'; 'SE - INS - ERICSON Per'; 'SE - INS - HÖRNSTRÖM Ingegerd';
'SE - INS - JOHANSSON Katarina'; 'SE - INS - JOHANSSON Tomas'; 'SE - INS - LUNDBERG Dan'; 'SE - INS NORBERG Johan'; 'SE - INS - PÄIVINEN Ann-Louis'; 'SE - INS - SODERSTROM Kristina '; 'UK - INS - HEWER
Alan'; 'UK - INS - HUMPHRIES Simon'; 'UK - INS - JENKINSON Graham'; 'UK - INS - KELLAWAY Martin '; 'UK INS - SHANKS Helen'; 'UK - MOF - GOLLAND Jeff'; 'CH - BANK - BÄRLOCHER Jürg'; 'CH - BANK - SCHELLING
Tan'; 'CH - INS - FLOREY Dario '; 'CH - MOF - SCHWALLER André'; 'CY - BANK - KANUTIN Andrew'; 'CY - BANK
- MELIFRONIDOU Androulla'; 'CY - BANK - NICOLAIDOU Christina'; 'CY - BANK - PAPADATOU Nedi'; 'CY - BANK
- SOPHOCLEOUS Anthi'; 'CY - BANK - TSOUNDAS Chrysostomos'; 'CY - INS - SARRIS Georgios'; 'CZ - BANK BELLON Milan'; 'CZ - INS - LASTOVKOVA Marie'; 'CZ - INS - RYBACEK Vaclav'; 'CZ - INS - STASTNA Veronika';
'CZ - INS - TREJBALOVA Marie'; 'CZ - INS - VEBROVA Ludmila '; 'CZ - MOF - PULPANOVA Lenka'; 'CZ - MOF SOJKOVA Dagmar'; 'EE - INE - KALDMA Ene'; 'EE - INE - NAARITS Agnes'; 'EE - INE - TEERN Helle'; 'EE - INE VOGONSKAJA Maria'; 'HU - BANK - GÓDORNE KALÓ Edit'; 'HU - BANK - HUSZAR Gabor'; 'HU - BANK - ILYÉS
Csaba'; 'HU - INS - BEDEKOVICS István'; 'HU - MOF - CSONKA Gizella'; 'HU - MOF - REPA Agota'; 'IMF AYALES Edgar'; 'IMF - DUBLIN Keith'; 'IMF - JONES Gary'; 'IS - INS - BJOERGVINSSON Johann R.'; 'LT - BANK DAUKSAS Vincas '; 'LT - BANK - KARALIUNAS Romas '; 'LT - BANK - LIBERIENE Diana'; 'LT - INS TVARIJONAVICIUTE Irena '; 'LT - MOF - ZYGIENE Dalia'; 'LV - BANK - AIZEZERA Ilona'; 'LV - BANK - CAUNE
Agris'; 'LV - BANK - LOCMELE Julia'; 'LV - BANK - LOCMELE Julija'; 'LV - BANK - OSE Aiga'; 'LV - INS VEIDEMANE Vija '; 'LV - MOF - STEPANOVA Ilonda'; 'MT - BANK - PULE Jesmond '; 'MT - INS - BONELLO
Joseph'; 'MT - INS - GALEA Mark'; 'MT - MOF - CAMILLERI Noel '; 'MT - NSI - CAMILLERI Alfred '; 'MT - NSI PACE-ROSS Michael'; 'NO - INS - HAMMER Kjell'; 'NO - INS - HARALDSDOTTIR Gudrun'; 'NO - INS - VINDHØG
Pål Martin'; 'NO - NSI - BRATEN Arne'; 'NO - NSI - COCK-RØNNING Torbjørn'; 'NO - NSI - LARSEN Jan-Tore';
'NO - NSI - ROSTADSAND Jon Ivar'; 'NO - NSI - TØRUM Espen'; 'OECD - CHAVOIX-MANNATO Michèle'; 'OECD LAROSA-ELKAIM Catherine'; 'PL - BANK - LASKOWSKA Ewa'; 'PL - BANK -JABLONOWSKI Janusz'; 'PL - MOF JAJKO Beata'; 'PL - MOF - MICHALSKI Maurycy'; 'PL - MOF - WYGODA Monika'; 'PL - NSI - KAPCZYNSKA
Urszula'; 'PL - NSI - KRYSTA Jerzy'; 'SI - BANK - MURN Dusan'; 'SI - BANK - REPOVZ Alenka'; 'SI - INS - FINC
Sasa'; 'SI - INS - FLAJS Andrej'; 'SI - INS - KLINAR Marjana'; 'SI - INS - KOVACIC Sasa'; 'SK - BANK DURCENKOVA Zuzana'; 'SK - BANK - SEMAN Jan'; 'SK - INS - ANTOLIK Albert'; 'SK - INS - ILLITOVA Alena'; 'SK
- INS - JASENAKOVA Eva'; 'SK - INS - KUPKOVA Margita'; 'SK - INS - LUHOVA Maria'; 'SK - INS - SZUCSOVA
Denisa'; 'SK - MOF - CZIKOOVA Daniela'; 'SK - MOF - ILAVSKA Daniela'; 'SK - NSI - BALAZ Pavol '; 'BA - NSI ALAGIC Zana'; 'BA - NSI - TUKIC Zlatka'; 'BG - BANK - BEZHANOVA Kornelia'; 'BG - BANK - IVANOV Radi '; 'BG
- MOF - NAPETOVA Milka'; 'BG - MOF - NESTOROVA Boriana'; 'BG - MOF - PALIOVA Iana'; 'BG - MOF STOJCHEVA Marina'; 'BG - NSI - HRISTOV Anatoliy'; 'BG - NSI - PACHEVA Antoniya'; 'HR - BANK - GALINEC
Davor'; 'HR - INS - SOLCICS Slavica'; 'MK - MOF - ESMEROV Petar'; 'MK - NSI - Cadikovska Violeta'; 'RO - BANK
- KAZNOVSKY Mariana'; 'RO - BANK - NEAGU Camelia'; 'RO - BANK - PETREAN Aurora'; 'RO - INS - NUTA
Mihaela'; 'RO - INS - STANA Elena Silvia'; 'RO - MOF - COSTACHE Dumitru'; 'RO - MOF - ENE Mihaela'; 'RO MOF - MIHAILA Ecaterina'; 'RO - NSI - BARSANESCU Tatiana'; 'RO - NSI - CIUCHEA Adriana'; 'RO - NSI - IVAN
UNGUREANU Clementina'; 'TR - BANK - CAKMAK Burcu'; 'TR - BANK - GULERGUN Semra'; 'TR - BANK TOPKAYA Arzu T.'; 'TR - INS - ÖZSOY Dilek'; 'TR - MOF - AYTEKIN Arzu'; 'TR - MOF - KERIMOGLU Baki'; 'TR NSI - ARSLANER Ferhat'; 'TR - NSI - ÇÖKMEZ Ebru'; 'TR - NSI - KORKMAZ Tulay'
Cc:
GUEYE Gallo (ESTAT); 'anders.nordin@sogeti.lu'
Subject:
ESA review: chapter 20 the Government accounts (version 3)
Dear FAWG Colleagues,
Please find attached, as agreed in the last FAWG meeting and in the ESA Review Group,
a new version of chapter 20 (version 3). Modifications made to the previous version
(version 2, as posted on Circa) appear in track changes.
The main amendments concern:
- In part 1: The market / non-market distinction (§26 to 33)
Borderline cases: Pension funds (new §44)
- In part 2: The box (From ESA central framework to GFS transactions and aggregates)
p.20 and 21
- In part 3: Debt guarantees (one-off guarantees, §259 to 263)
Pension obligations (lump sum payments, §277 to 279)
Public-private partnerships (economic ownership, §289 to 291)
We would be grateful if you could send your comments to Jean-Pierre Dupuis (jeanpierre.dupuis@ec.europa.eu) before 15 January c.o.b.
<<ESA review - V3 (Dec09)Chapter on government.doc>>
Kind regards
On behalf of Luca Ascoli, Head of Unit Eurostat C-3 "Public Finance"
Monika Gapinska
European Commission
EUROSTAT Unit C3 / BECH Building E3-829
5, rue Alphonse Weicker - L2721 Luxembourg
Tel: (+352) 4301-36226
Fax: (+352) 4301-32929
monika.gapinska@ec.europa.eu
_________________________________________
The views expressed are purely those of the writer and may not in any
circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the European
Commission.This message may contain personal data and other confidential data that
are entrusted to the recipients specified in the header of the message. The
recipient(s) of this message shall not process the present message in ways that
contradict the European legislation on the protection of personal data or jeopardise
the confidentiality of the message content. If this message has been received in
error, please notify the sender of the message or forward the message to
postmaster@cec.eu.int along with a short explanation. Whilst the Commission aims
to keep its network free from viruses, you are strongly encouraged to check this email and any attachments to it for viruses, as the Commission accepts no
responsibility with regard to any computer virus transferred by way of this e-mail
This email was received from the INTERNET and scanned by the Government Secure Intranet
anti-virus service supplied by Cable&Wireless in partnership with MessageLabs. (CCTM
Certificate Number 2009/09/0052.) In case of problems, please call your organisation?x02019;s
IT Helpdesk.
Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded for legal
purposes.
ESA review - V3
(Dec09)Chapter on government.doc