10Pensions under approved pension schemes.N.I.
(1)The Ministry may make regulations for conferring on persons who—
(a)are or have been employed in the civil service of Northern Ireland, or are or have been such officers or practitioners as are mentioned in paragraph 1( a) or ( b) of Schedule 8 to the Health Services Act (Northern Ireland) 1971 [1971 c.1] or in section 61(1)( a) or ( b) of the Health Services Act (Northern Ireland) 1948 [1948 c.3] , or are or have been employed in any capacity approved by the Ministry for the purposes of this section; and
(b)are or were subject to a superannuation scheme operated under the Federated Superannuation System for Universities, to the Federated Superannuation Scheme for Nurses and Hospital Officers or to any other scheme approved by the Ministry for the purposes of this section;
such benefits (enjoyable after the termination of the employment) as appear to the Ministry to be appropriate having regard to the benefits provided by Part I for persons whose superannuation benefits are regulated under [F1 the principal civil service pension scheme within the meaning of Article 4 of the Superannuation (Northern Ireland) Order 1972] [1972 NI 10] .
(2)The Ministry may also make regulations for empowering or requiring a pension authority to provide such benefits as aforesaid for persons who are or have been employed by a local authority or a designated body.
(3)Any power to make regulations conferred by this section on the Ministry shall be exercisable also, with its approval, by any other department of the Government of Northern Ireland.
(4)Regulations under this section may provide for benefits to take effect from a date before the making of the regulations.