HC Deb 18 October 1993 vol 230 cc8-9
10. Mr. Hendry

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the total value of extra help which has been directed to less well-off pensioners since 1989.

Mr. Hague

The total value of extra help given to pensioners on low incomes since 1989 is now around £1 billion a year.

Mr. Hendry

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for stating the large amount of resources that have been given to less well-off pensioners. Does he agree that the Government are right to target help to less well-off pensioners rather than spreading the money more thinly? Does he further agree that successive generations of pensioners are likely to be better off through their own resources? Is that not better than the weasel words of the Opposition, who say that they care about pensioners, but, at the same time, do all that they can to discourage people from taking out personal pensions?

Mr. Hague

My hon. Friend is right. The Government policy on pensions over the past three years has had three main strands: first, to maintain the value of the basic state pension; secondly, to encourage increased provision from other sources; thirdly, to use the additional resources made available to help those pensioners who have not shared in the increased provision of resources from elsewhere. That policy has had the effect of raising pensioners' average living standards over the period, and will produce greater benefits in future.

Mr. Winnick

Does the Minister realise the disgust that pensioners feel for the £1 increase in pension that they are to get next year? How will that miserable, miserly sum help those pensioners who will be faced with the imposition of VAT on gas and electricity, many of whom are unlikely to receive any compensation from the Government? Pensioners are being crucified by this Government. The Minister should recognise the disgust and loathing that the elderly feel towards him and his colleagues.

Mr. Hague

The hon. Gentleman anticipates the uprating statement. I wish that he and others of his hon. Friends understood that low inflation is the friend of pensioners and not their enemy. [Interruption.] Although interest rates are low at the moment, they are positive for those who have savings income. In the 1970s, the rate of inflation grew to be 14 per cent. higher than the level of interest rates available to pensioners. What sort of compensation was given by the then Labour Government to pensioners in that position?

Mr. Matthew Banks

Will my hon. Friend confirm that the average income that pensioners have received from savings since 1979 has more than doubled as a result of the policies pursued by the Government? Will he assure the House that, in the current review of social security benefits, he will do everything in his power to ensure that we continue to provide the most where the need is greatest?

Mr. Hague

My hon. Friend is quite right: the average savings income of pensioners has more than doubled since 1979. He is also right about the importance of concentrating social security resources on the neediest, and that is what the Government have done.

Mr. Bradley

Is the Minister aware of the fear among pensioners about the forthcoming imposition of VAT on fuel? Will the Minister confirm today that the help that will be given to pensioners will be additional to the 1.8 per cent., or £1, rise in pensions? Will he further confirm that the help will be given to all pensioners in addition to the £1 a week? Will he ensure that the announcement about the uprating of those benefits is made on the same day as the Budget to allay pensioners' fears even further?

Mr. Hague

That question is the same as several that have already been asked and I must therefore give the same answer. The Government have already made it clear that less well-off pensioners will be given additional help; the details of that help will be announced at the time of the uprating statement.

Mr. Knapman

Can my hon. Friend confirm that basic pensions were increased by 3.6 per cent. last April, when the inflation rate was 1.3 per cent? Does that mean that the average pensioner couple is £2 per week better off and does it mean that low inflation benefits pensioner couples?

Mr. Hague

My hon. Friend has illustrated very well the way in which falling inflation benefited pensioners over the last financial year; their increase was based on the higher rate of inflation that prevailed at the time. The general point has been put very forcefully by my hon. Friend and by other hon. Members: low inflation helps pensioners. That is what Opposition Members still do not understand.