§ 70. Mr. SMEDLEY CROOKEasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury the total accumulated surplus in hand at the beginning of the present month from the Widows', Orphans', and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act, 1925, and the amount of interest earned by this surplus?
§ Major ELLIOTIt is estimated that, after giving effect to the transfer required by Section 3 of the National Economy (National Health Insurance) Order, 1931, the balance to the credit of the Treasury Pensions Account on 31st October, 1931, is rather less than £45,000,000. This sum is not, however, properly to be described as a surplus. It is no more than a balance accumulated in the first years of the scheme, which is now diminishing and will be absorbed, together with any accumulations of interest, by the outgoings of the next 10 or 12 years. The interest earned 213 on the investment of this balance is at present at the rate of approximately £2,000,000 a year.
§ Mr. MACQUISTENHas it also been borrowed like the Post Office savings?