HC Deb 09 November 1959 vol 613 cc16-7
25. Mr. Owen

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance what action is being taken to ensure that old-age pensioners enjoy economic advancement comparable to that of the rest of the community.

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

I would refer the hon. Member to what was said by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary in winding up the debate on the Address in reply to the Gracious Speech.

Mr. Owen

Yes, Sir, but is not the Minister aware that the majority of our pensioners are outside the entitlement rule and also outside the limit for public assistance, and are they not entitled to share in this spate of prosperity? Cannot the Government at this stage give some indication of what they are prepared to do for them?

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

If the hon. Gentleman will study the words of my right hon. Friend, to which I referred him in my main answer, he will see that the continuing process of an improvement such as we have known under this Government is likely to continue.

Mr. Frank Allaun

But is the Minister aware that in winter pensioners find it even harder to manage and that many of them have to go to bed at about 7 o'clock in the evening because they cannot afford the expenditure on proper heating? Will he make some immediate improvement, even if only an instalment of what they are entitled to, in order to relieve them during the present winter, since many pensioners now alive may not live long enough to benefit?

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

I find it difficult to accept the hon. Gentleman's generalisation as applying to some 5,400,000 retirement pensioners. As regards the poorest, those in receipt of National Assistance, the House will be aware that they will face this winter enjoying for the first time the advantage of the real advance in National Assistance scales, and in the value of their assistance, which the House accepted last summer.