§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many retirement pensioners today have, in addition to their State pension, an occupational pension of respectively 10p-99p, £1.00-£1.99, £2.00-£2.99, £3.00-£3.99, £4.00-£4.99, £5-£10, £10-£20, and over £20 per week; and how does this compare with, respective five and ten years ago.
§ Mr. DeanI regret that information is not available in this form, but the452W following table may be of interest to the hon. Member:
Range of occupational pension 1965 1971 Per cent. Per cent. Less than £1.00 21 14 £1.00-£1.99 25 21 £2.00-£2.99 14 12 £3.00-£3.99 10 10 £4.00-£4.99 7 8 £5.00-£9.99 17 20 £10.00-£19.99 5 12 £20.00 or more 1 3 100 100 These two distributions are not strictly comparable as the populations sampled were selected differently. The 1965 figures, based on the "Report on the Financial Circumstances of Retired Persons", comprised persons in Great Britain, over pensionable age and in receipt of retirement pensions. The 1971 figures, based on the Family Expenditure Survey, comprised persons in Great Britain and Northern Iceland, over pensionable age (whether or not in receipt of retirement pensions) and excluded those in institutions, old peoples' homes, hotels, etc. As to numbers, the Government Actuary's Surveys show that in 1971 the estimated number of all persons in receipt of an occupational pension (whether or not in receipt of a State retirement pension) was about 3 million, compared with 1.8 million in 1963.