§ Mr. HicksTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the number of people in receipt of the state retirement pension; what percentage of this figure(a) pays income tax, (b) pays no income tax but is not in receipt of income support and (c) is in receipt of income support.
§ Miss WiddecombeThe information is not available in the form requested as the data are not directly comparable. Figures for (b) are not available.
At 31 March 1992 (the latest date for which figures are available) 10,005,570 persons were in receipt of a contributory state retirement pension, 592,720 of whom were resident outside Great Britain.
I understand from the Inland Revenue that it is estimated that in the 1990–91 tax year 3.5 million persons in Great Britain in receipt of state retirement pension were liable to pay income tax.
At 31 May 1991 (the latest date for which figures are available) the number of income support claimants and partners in receipt of state retirement pension was (rounded to the nearest thousand) 1,383,000.