HC Deb 16 July 1931 vol 255 cc790-6W
Mr. MANDER

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury if he will give the following particulars, for the year ended 31st March, 1931, with regard to pensions paid under the Old Ago Pensions Acts, 1908 to 1924, namely: the total amount of pensions paid; the cost of administration; the total number of pensions in force, men and women separately; the numbers at 10s., 9s., 8s., 7s., 6s., 5s., 4s., 3s., 2s., and 1s.; the number of applications for pensions; the number of applications rejected, giving the various causes of rejection, i.e., age, poor relief, means, and other causes; the number of pensioners whose death notice has reached pension officers; the number of paupers over 70 years of age in England, Scotland, and Wales in institutions, with an average cost per bead per annum; the number of persons over 70 years of age in receipt of out- door relief, with an average cost per head per annum, men and women separately in both cases; the number of old age pensioners in receipt of outdoor relief and institutional relief, respectively, and the total amount so expended; the number of old age pensions paid to persons over 70 years of age under the Widows', Orphans', and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act, i.e., without means test, men and women separately; cost per head per week of a convict in penal servitude and the prisoner in local prisons; how many persons over 70 years of age are in prison

Old Age Pensions under the Old Age Pensions Acts, 1908 to 1924.
(The figures are for Great Britain and for the year ended 31st March, 1931.)
(1) Total amount paid to pensioners out of the Old Age Pensions Vote, approximately £36,700,000.
Note.—This figure includes non-contributory pensions to persons over 70, contributory pensions to persons over 70 paid by virtue' of the Acts of 1925 and 1929, and blind pensions to persons between the age of 50 and 70.
(2) Total cost of Administration:
(a) Expenses of Pension Committees—£38,000.
(b) Expenses of administration by the Government Departments concerned estimated at—£830,000.
Note.—This figure does not include the cost of administration by the Ministry of Health, the Department of Health for Scotland and the Welsh Board of Health, of pensions granted by virtue of the Acts of 1925 and 1929, which is chargeable to the Pensions Accounts.
Final figures are not yet available for any of the above.
(3) The total number of pensions actually payable in England, Scotland and Wale on the last payment date in March, 1931, was as follows:

Non-contributory pensions under the 1908–1924 Acts (including blind pensions) Men 256,769
Women 623,532
880,301
Over-70 contributory pensions by virtue of the Acts of 1925 and 1929 Men 331,551
Women 220,590
552,141

It should be noted that the number of persons over 70 receiving pensions by virtue of the Contributory Pensions Acts is not the full number of persons entitled under those Acts, since a number of those who have a title under those Acts were, and still are, receiving their pensions under the earlier Acts.
(4) The number of non-contributory pensions payable at the various rates on the last Friday in March, 1931, was as follows:
855,204 at the 10s. rate.
7,932 at the 8s. rate.
6,813 at the 6s. rate.
6,081 at the 4s. rate.
3,299 at the 2s. rate.
972 at the 1s. rate.
These figures do not include the 552,141 over-70 contributory pensions by virtue of the Acts of 1925 and 1929, all of which are at the 10s. rate.
(5) The number of applications for pensions was:

Non-contributory … … … … … … … 92,060
Over-70 Contributory … … … … … … … 7,801

Note.—Since the 2nd January, 1928, the bulk of the over. 70 pensions by virtue of the Contributory Pensions Acts are payable without application to persons who on attaining age 70 were in receipt of widows' pensions or of old age (65–70) pensions.
(6) Number of non-contributory applications rejected or pensions revoked on account of:

Age … … … … … … … … 2,789
Poor relief … … … … … … … … 4,251
Means … … … … … … … … 12,619
Other causes … … … … … … … … 2,915

and penal servitude; the number of old age pensioners who have been proceeded against for the violation of any of the provisions of the Old Age Pensions Acts, 1908 to 1924; and the number of pensioners, men and women separately, who are in receipt of old age pensions, without being subject to the means test, under the provisions of the Widows', Orphans', and Old Age Contributory Pensions Acts?

Mr. PETHICK-LAWRENCE

The particulars desired by the hon. Member, so far as they are available, are as follow:

(7) Number of pensioners of whose death notice was received:

Non-contributory pensioners … … … … … 102,953
Over-70 Contributory pensioners … … … … … 37,811

(8) Number of pensioners who have been proceeded against for infringement of the provisions of the Old Age Pensions Acts, 1908–24–13.
(9) Paupers in Institutions and in receipt of Outdoor Relief.
(a) England and Wales.
(1) Number of persons (other than lunatics in county and borough asylums) in receipt of poor Jaw relief in England and Wales on 1st January, 1931.

— Institutional Relief. Domiciliary Relief. Totals.
(i) Total number of persons (all ages) 223,695 791,238 1,014,933
(ii) Number of persons over 65 years of age (included in (i) above). 66,537 148,324 214,861
(iii) Number of pensioners over 65 years of age in receipt of pensions under the Old Ago Pensions Acts, 1908 to 1924, or the Widows', Orphans' and Old Age Contributory Pensions Acts, 1925 and 1929 (included in (ii) above). 15,610 125,642 141,252*
* Including 9,995 widows in receipt of widows' pensions.

(The number of persons over 70 years of age in receipt of poor relief was not ascertained.)
(2) Average weekly cost of poor law relief in England and Wales in the financial year 1929–30:
(i) Average cost of institutional relief (other than relief to lunatics in county and borough asylums) per person in receipt of such relief—30s. 5¾d.
(ii) Average cost of domiciliary relief per person in receipt of such relief—6s. 8½d.
These averages cover the same items and are subject to the same qualifications as those previously furnished for the year 1918–19 and earlier years and set out on page 148 of Part III of the First Annual Report of the Minister of Health (Command Paper 932) except that, in view of the wide fluctuations of poor relief, the figures have been calculated on the average weekly numbers in receipt of relief instead of on a mean of the numbers on two dates (1st July and 1st January).
It is not practicable to state the average cost per head for men and women separately nor the total expenditure on poor law relief granted to pensioners over 65 years of age.
(b) Scotland.
No figures are available as to the number of persons admitted to poorhouses who were in receipt of Old Age Pensions whilst inmates thereof, or of those who were in receipt of Old Age Pensions up to the date of admission.

The number of paupers and dependants of all classes in Scotland at 15th May, 1930, was:
— Males. Females. Dependants Total.
Sane Poor—
In Poorhouses—
Ordinary 6,781 3,956 561 11,298
Destitute able-bodied Unemployed 337 37 76 450
Outdoor—
Ordinary 23,207 33,458 53,618 110,283
Destitute able-bodied Unemployed 11,087 1,185 28,321 40,593
Other than Sane Poor—
In licensed Wards of Poorhouses, Greenock Parochial Asylum and in Certified Institutions for Mental Defectives. 619 597 — 1,216
In Asylums 7,802 7,562 — 15,364
In private dwellings and Mental Defectives boarded with Governors of Poorhouses. 1,207 1,348 — 2,555

The average weekly cost of all sane paupers and dependants for 1929–30 on the basis of the number chargeable, other than destitute able-bodied unemployed, at 15th May 1930, was:

£ s. d.
Indoor … … … … … … … … … 1 9 0
Outdoor … … … … … … … … … 6 5

These average costs are exclusive of general administrative charges. Indoor cost includes cost of maintenance, management, debt charges, etc., of poorhouses. Outdoor cost includes aliment, additional aliment (e.g., clothing, boots, fuel, etc.), removals, interments and medical charges.
The number or sane paupers and dependants in Scotland over 70 at 15th November, 1930, was:
Males. Females. Dependants. Total.
6,317 7,232 1,386 14,935

These numbers include Old Age Pensioners as follows:—
— Males. Females. Total.
In Poorhouse … … … … 428 420 848
Outdoor … … … … 5,441 7,368 12,809

Dependent wives who are themselves in receipt of pensions are included above under "Females".
(10) Cost of Maintenance of Convicts and Local Prisoners.
(a) England and Wales.

The latest available figures are for the year ended 31st March, 1930, and are as follows:—
— Gross cost per week per head. Net cost, after deducting value of labour and incidental receipts, per week per head.
£ s. d. £ s. d.
Convict Prisoners … … 2 0 2 1 6 6
Local Prisoners … … 1 10 10 18 11

The above figures do not include cost of
(A) New Buildings and
(B) Charges borne by other Votes, e.g. Fuel, Bates, etc. The cost of (B) is approximately 11s. 1d. per head per week, in respect of all classes of prisoners.

(b) Scotland.
The figures for Scotland for the year ended 31st December, 1930, are as follows:
Per head.
per week.
£ s. d.
Convicts … … … … … … … … 1 19 4
Local Prisoners … … … … … … … … 1 6 6

(11) Persons over 70 Years of Age in Prison.
(a) England and Wales.
The latest figures available are those of persons over 70 received into prison for the year ended 31st December, 1929. The figures are:
Men … … … … … … … … … … 253
Women … … … … … … … … … … 65
The information available does not show how many of these were sentenced to penal servitude.
(b) Scotland.
During the year ended 31st March, 1931, 80 persons (males 62, females 18) over 70 years of age were confined in Scottish Prisons, of whom 53 males and 16 females were convicted and nine males and two females were untried. None of the convicted prisoners was sentenced to penal servitude. Of the convicted prisoners, one male and five females were convicted twice and two females three times, but each is shown only once in the above figures.
(12) Old age pensions in payment under the Widows', Orphans and Contributory Old Age Pensions Acts to persons between the ages of 65 and 70:
Men … … … … … … … … … 395,261
Women … … … … … … … … … 242,618
Total … … … … … … 637,879