HC Deb 24 February 1976 vol 906 cc160-2W
24. Mr. Hardy

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services by what proportion the current retirement pension is higher or lower than it was at the corresponding period in 1973.

Mr. O'Malley

Between January 1973 and January 1976, retirement pensions rose by 97 per cent. for a single person and 94 per cent. for a married couple. Over the same period the retail price index rose by 66 per cent.

39. Mr. Cartwright

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the estimated fall in the purchasing power of the basic retirement pension since the last uprating in November 1975.

Mr. O'Malley

2.5 per cent., or, in cash terms, 33p for a single person and 53p for a married couple.

70. Mr. Gwilym Roberts

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will, over the next 10 years, increase the pensions of men on an actuarially calculated basis to ensure that on average they receive the same amount of pension for each unit of contribution as women; and if she will make a statement.

Mr. O'Malley

We have no proposals for a change of this kind.

Sir J. Langford-Holt

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services on what date the next review of pension levels will be begun; how long the review will take; on what dates the last five reviews of pensions were started and ended; what form the review takes; and what changes have been made in the method of review since 1964.

Mr. O'Malley

The Social Security Act 1975, which came into effect in April last year, requires my right hon. Friend to review the rates of pensions and other benefits in each tax year and to increase them so as to maintain their value in terms of earnings, or of prices if this would yield a result more favourable to pensioners. The pension increase stemming from any review has to take effect within 12 months of the current rate of pension coming into force. I have no announcement to make about a review of the present pension rates, which have been in operation for only three months.

The 1975 Act superseded the previous administration's Social Security Act 1973, which placed a statutory duty on the Secretary of State to maintain the purchasing power of pensions through an annual increase. Prior to that a Government undertaking to review rates of benefit each year was given in 1971. Between 1964 and 1971 the frequency with which legislation was initiated to provide for pension increases, which in practice took place every two years, was a matter for decision by the Government of the day.