HC Deb 09 June 1981 vol 6 cc256-7
10. Mr. Dempsey

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services when he will be in a position to make his statement on the future of the death grant.

The Minister for Social Security (Mr. Hugh Rossi)

We are continuing our consideration of all aspects of the death grant and we shall make an announcement as soon as this is complete.

Mr. Dempsey

Does not the Minister realise that when the last increase was effected it met 70 per cent. of the cost of a modest funeral whereas the present rate meets only 10 per cent. because of spiralling costs? Does he agree that this is a meagre payment and that the present rate should be increased substantially and urgently, especially as retirement pensioners, due to their age, are unable to insure themselves for proper cover to meet the cost of burial?

Mr. Rossi

I am well aware that since the death grant was first introduced in 1949 at £20 it has increased only to £30, since when the gap between that sum and the cost of a funeral has grown considerably. This is a matter that is receiving urgent attention, which has not been given to it in the past by successive Governments. I hope that my right hon. Friend will be able to report to the House as soon as our deliberations have been completed.

Mr. McQuarrie

I accept what my right hon. Friend said at the British Legion conference —namely, that it was his intention to try to come forward with proposals at an early date. Will he bear in mind that the situation in Britain is such that many more people are so poorly off when it comes to meeting death expenses that a greater number are having to be interred in paupers' graves? Will he endeavour to come to the Dispatch Box as soon as possible with information on an increase in the death grant?

Mr. Rossi

Yes.

Mr. Buchan

Does the Minister recognise that at this level of urgency we shall all be dead before he makes a report? By how much has the value of the death grant decreased since the Government came into power? Are they not content with making the sick and the elderly suffer in their lifetime? Do they intend to penalise their successors after death?

Mr. Rossi

If the Government were to restore the level of the death grant to its value in 1949, it would require about £120 million in all to make the grant available for every death.

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