HC Deb 01 July 1937 vol 325 cc2138-40
34. Mr. E. Dunn

asked the Minister of Health how many widowers, widows and orphan children are in receipt of pensions and allowances under the Old Age Pension Act and Widows' and Orphans' Contributory Pensions Act in England and Wales, respectively; how many are chargeable to public assistance committees, giving the total amounts paid, in the years 1933, 1934, 1935 and 1936; and will he produce a table of figures giving details of the respective counties?

Sir K. Wood

As the answer contains a number of figures, I will, with the hon. Member's permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Following is the answer:

The figures for widows and children in receipt of widows' and orphans' pensions and allowances under the Contributory Pensions Act are shown in the table below. As information is not available as to the marital status of old age pen- sioners, it is regretted that the number of widowers and widows in receipt of old age pensions cannot be given.

Pensions and allowances in payment on the 31st December, 1936.
England. Wales.
Widows' pensions 650,686 45,957
Allowances for children payable as part of widows' pensions 234,112 19,733
Orphans' pensions 12,603 1,329

The following statement shows the number of widows and orphans in England and Wales in receipt of pensions under the Contributory Pensions Act who were also in receipt of poor relief on 1st January of the years indicated. I regret that I have no information as to the amounts expended on relief:

Year. Widows. Orphans.
1933 … … … 47,366 953
1934 … … … 49,575 886
1935 … … … 52,533 942
1936 … … … 59,051 941
1937 … … … 61,837 1,065

The information asked for in the last part of the question would involve the extraction of a large number of entries from the returns of local authorities, and I do not consider that the value of the statement would be commensurate with the time and labour which its compilation would entail. I should be happy, however, to supply the figures for any county in which the hon. Member may be specially interested.

35. Mr. J. Henderson

asked the Minister of Health the number of old age pensioners and widow pensioners in receipt of relief from the Manchester public assistance committee?

Sir K. Wood

The numbers of old age pensioners and widow pensioners in Manchester who were also in receipt of poor relief on 1st January, 1937, the latest date for which figures are available, were 5,891 and 1,730 respectively.

40. Mr. G. Griffiths

asked the Minister of Health the number of widows who are receiving pensions and public assistance in the West Riding County Council area; and the number of contributory pensioners and old age pensioners who are receiving public assistance in the West Riding County Council area?

Sir K. Wood

The number of widow pensioners and the number of old age pensioners in the area of the West Riding County Council who were also in receipt of poor relief on 1st January, 1937, the latest date for which figures are available, were 3,169 and 8,523 respectively. The latter figure includes an unascertained number of persons between 65 and 70 years of age who were in receipt of old age pensions under the Contributory Pensions Act.

Mr. Griffiths

Seeing that the figures are so large, does not the Minister think that he ought to bring in legislation for increased pensions?

Sir K. Wood

That matter has been replied to on several occasions.

Mr. J. J. Davidson

Is not the Minister of the opinion that England comes first?