§ Mr. Hordernasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish a table showing the proportion of the average income of a retirement pensioner which is taken up by food, fuel and light, transport, rates and taxation, and rent, in each of the last 10 years.
§ Mr. Orme,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 6th June 1978; Vol. 951, c. 99–100], gave the following information:
I regret that information about expenditure on the items referred to, expressed 549W as a proportion of the average income of a retirement pensioner, is not available. However, information about expenditure on those items as a proportion of total
EXPENDITURE ON SELECTED ITEMS AS A PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL EXPENDITURE OF PENSIONER HOUSEHOLDS* 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976‡ per cent per cent per cent per cent per cent per cent per cent per cent per cent per cent Food … … 34.2 33.1 32.9 32.8 32.9 32.5 33.9 32.1 32.5 33.9 Fuel, light and power … … 13.2 13.4 13.6 14.4 12.2 12.8 13.2 12.1 11.5 11.3 Transport and vehicles … … 2.8 2.7 3.1 2.7 3.4 2.7 3.1 3.2 3.9 3.4 Rates† … … 5.4 5.5 5.4 5.6 5.4 5.8 6.5 5.8 6.0 5.8 Income tax† … … 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.2 Rent† … … 9.2 10.8 10.7 11.7 11.3 12.3 9.4 10.1 10.5 10.2 * A pensioner household is one in which at least three.quarters of the total income is derived from national insurance retirement or similar pensions and/or supplementary pensions and allowances. † In calculating weekly expenditure on rent, rates and income tax any refunds or rebates have been taken into account. ‡ The latest year for which information is available.