§ Sir Brandon Rhys Williamsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what would be the savings in expenditure for national insurance benefits, including retirement pensions and supplementary benefits, including supplementary pensions, if payments to single non-householders were reduced to equal the difference between the appropriate rates for married couples and for single householders, that is, the rates paid for wives.
§ Mrs. ChalkerI regret that insufficient information is available on the household circumstances of national insurance beneficiaries on which to base any estimate. It is, however, estimated that the saving in relation to persons receiving supplementary benefit would be of the order of £70 million in a full year.