§ Mr. Andrew BowdenTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will state the real-term value of the £35 income disregard from occupational pensions above which unemployment benefit is abated for those aged 60 years and over as a percentage of the value in April 1981;
(2) what would be the cost of restoring the 1981 real-term value of the £35 income disregard from occupational pensions above which unemployment benefit is abated (a) when applied to those aged 60 years and over and (b) when applied to those aged 55 years and over;
153W(3) what plans he has to increase the level of disregarded income from occupational pensions above which unemployment benefit is reduced for those aged 60 years and over.
§ Mr. ScottBased on the movement in the retail prices index between April 1981 and January 1988 (the latest date for which information is available), the real-term value of the £35 threshold expressed as a percentage of the April 1981 value is 71.7 per cent. The cost of restoring the £35 threshold to its 1981 value would be about £7 million for those aged 60 or over and about £12 million for all those aged 55 or over. We have no immediate plans to increase the present threshold.