§ 67. Mrs. Thatcherasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance what estimate she has made of the number of families, and the number of children in those families, who will fail to benefit from the proposed National Assistance scale rate increases owing to the operation of the wage-stop regulation.
§ Mr. PentlandThe Board tells me that it is not in a position to make a reliable estimate at the present time, but the information will be available after the National Assistance scale-rate increases have come into operation.
§ Mrs. Thatcherasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance what would be the cost of increasing each of the following disregards for National Assistance purposes, namely, the capital disregard from £100 to £200, the capital sum above which a person ceases to be eligible for assistance from £600 to £800, the earnings disregarded for those not required to register for work from 30s. to 40s. a week, the superannuation and 11W charitable disregard from 15s. to 25s. a week, and the overriding income disregard from 30s. to 45s. a week.
§ Mr. PentlandOn the latest figures available, the cost of increasing the following disregards for National Assistance purposes would be, (1) increasing the capital disregard from £100 to £200, approximately £600,000 a year, (2) increasing the earnings disregarded for those not required to register for work from 30s. to 40s. a week, about £1,000,000 a year, (3) increasing the superannuation and charitable disregard from 15s. to 25s. a week, also about £1,000,000 a year. These estimates do not provide for the additional cost, which might be very substantial, of assisting persons not now eligible for national assistance but who would become eligible as a result of these changes. It is not possible to estimate what this additional cost might be, nor the cost of increasing the overriding income disregard from 30s. to 45s. a week, or of increasing the capital sum above which a person ceases to be eligible for assistance from £600 to £800.