§ 14. Mr. LEWISasked the Minister of Pensions if he will state, as a percentage of benefit paid, the cost of administration of his Department for each of the past five years?
§ The MINISTER of PENSIONS (Major Tryon)The cost of administration as a percentage of benefit expenditure is as follows: 1929, 2.5 per cent.; 1930, 2.4 per cent.; 1931, 2.2 per cent.; 1932, 1.9 per cent.; 1933, 1.8 per cent. The last figure is estimated. It will be seen that the cost has been steadily reduced.
§ Major TRYONI could not give an exact figure, but, at the highest point, this country was spending over £6,000,000 on administration. In the present year the cost of administration is about £800,000, so that the saving on administration amounts to over £5,000,000 per year.