HC Deb 28 March 1994 vol 240 cc619-20
4. Mr. Richards

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what representations he has received about the proportion of pensioners who own their own homes; and what estimate he has made of how this is likely to change over the next 20 years.

8. Mr. Congdon

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what representations he has received about the proportion of pensioners who are owner-occupiers and have paid off their mortgages.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Social Security (Mr. William Hague)

Information for the year 1990–91—the latest available—shows that an estimated 48 per cent. of all pensioners own their own homes and have paid off their mortgages. The comparable figure in 1979 was 37 per cent. We expect the rising trend in home ownership among pensioners to continue during the next 20 years.

Mr. Richards

Will my hon. Friend confirm that, even among pensioners on lower incomes, around a quarter own a home valued at about £25,000? Does he agree that that is evidence that home ownership among pensioners is spreading, thanks to the policies of the Government?

Mr. Hague

My hon. Friend is right. Home ownership among pensioners has spread and will continue to do so because of the factors already described by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State—the growth of occupational pension provision and income from savings. Those developments have occurred because we have had a Government who have encouraged diversity of pension provision and ensured low inflation so that savings are actually worth something.

Mr. Congdon

Does my hon. Friend agree that the figures that he has given demonstrate the spread of ownership among pensioners and the extent to which they are better off than their predecessors? Will he also confirm that almost all pensioners now have a television, most have a telephone and a large majority have washing machines? Is not that a tribute to the success of the Government's policies?

Mr. Hague

Again, my hon. Friend is right. Pensioner households now have a great many more of the things that matter to quality of life—for example, 90 per cent. have a telephone, whereas in 1979 barely half of pensioner households owned one. The number of pensioner households with cars has nearly doubled since 1979 and the percentage in the bottom decile of income distribution has fallen from 31 to 11 per cent. Those dramatic improvements seem to have escaped Opposition Members' notice.

Mr. Robert Hughes

Does the Minister accept that a real measure of prosperity would be how many pensioners bought their houses after they became pensioners; how many had their houses bought for them by members of their family for investment purposes; and how many houses were bought by members of the Tory party looking for a fast buck, such as the hon. Member for Rutland and Melton (Mr. Duncan)?

Mr. Hague

What matters to pensioners is living in homes where they do not have a mortgage to pay. What matters to them is having all the household durables and other goods that we have mentioned, which make a big difference to their living standards. We have seen tremendous improvements in those standards.

Mr. Foulkes

Is the Minister aware that about 390,000 pensioners in Strathclyde—including my mother, incidentally—voted no in the referendum on the future of water services in Strathclyde? Many of those pensioners own their own houses and are being ignored by the Government. Why?

Mr. Hague

We would not dare to ignore the hon. Gentleman's mother; I can assure him of that. Pensioners in Strathclyde will have shared with pensioners in the rest of the country the improvements in living standards to which we have already referred, with more owning their homes, more having cars, more having telephones and many having much greater incomes.