HC Deb 31 May 1954 vol 528 cc872-3
4. Mr. Hector Hughes

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance how many men and women in Scotland are now in receipt of old-age or retirement pensions; how many of these receive National Assistance; the cost of these pensions and National Assistance at present; and how the average weekly sum received by each such person compares with the present cost of living.

Mr. Peake

As the reply to the first part of the Question contains a number of figures I will, with permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT. I do not know what comparison the hon. Member has in mind in the last part of his Question but I would remind him that the Assistance scales approved in 1952 give a more generous standard of living than any previous scales since the end of the war.

Mr. Hughes

Does the Minister appreciate that I will try to help him in his lack of understanding of the last part of the Question? Does he realise that a practical comparison of the cost of living with the resources available to old-age pensioners reveals the shocking and disgraceful fact that the old-age pensioners are not getting their fair share of the national income and the national resources? What steps is he taking to rectify that position?

Mr. Peake

I am quite sure that everybody will note with approval the increased interest which the hon. and learned Member is taking in this question today compared with that which he took in the last three years of the Socialist Government.

Mr. Hughes

That is not true.

Following is the information:

Retirement Pensions National Assistance grants to retirement pensioner households Non-contributory old-age pensions National Assistance grants to non-contributory old-age pensioner households
Number Cost £ millions Number Cost £ millions Number. Cost £ millions Number Cost £ millions
Men … … 140,000 12 75,000 2.4 10,000 2 15,000 .6
Women wives on husbands' insurance. 60,000 4 25,000
Women on own insurance and widows. 2,00,000 17

NOTE.—The figures are approximate throughout.