Pensioners (Hansard, 12 January 1994)

§ Mr. Bowden
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will consider including in the pension book information on help available to pensioners through the home energy efficiency scheme.

§ Mr. Hague
The administration of retirement pension is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to my hon. Friend.
Letter from M. Bichard to Mr. Andrew Bowden, dated 11 January 1994:
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking if he will consider including information in pension order books about the help available to pensioners through the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme.
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The Benefits Agency receives numerous requests from within the Agency, other Agencies, Government Departments, Local Authorities and commercial interests to include material in the pension order book.
The purpose of the notes is to provide customers with information relating to payment of pensions and regular reviews are undertaken to ensure that the notes are easy to understand and concise and to the point, as it has been found that many pensioners are deterred from reading notes that are too lengthy or complex.
If we were to accede to these requests to include additional information, not only would there be operational difficulties in complying with the volume of such requests but the amount of written material may once again deter pensioners from reading the essential notes.
The Energy Action Grants Agency (EAGA) are responsible for administering the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme (HEES) and already have arrangements in place to promote HEES. EAGA supply leaflets on HEES free of charge to local authorities, housing benefit offices, housing associations, Citizens Advice Bureaux, the Benefits Agency, job centres, Age Concern and other organisations which have contact with the HEES client group. EAGA also encourage installers to promote HEES locally by means of advertising, press publicity and distribution of their leaflets.
I hope that you find this reply helpful.

§ Mr. Bowden
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what proportion of pensioners opt to receive their state pension by automated credit transfer.

§ Mr. Hague
This is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to my hon. Friend.
Letter from M. Bichard to Mr. Andrew Bowden, dated 11 January 1994:
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the proportion of pensioners receiving payment of Retirement Pension (RP) by automated credit transfer (ACT).
I am able to tell you that as of 3 October 1993, the latest date for which figures are available, a total of 2,623,378 pensioners were having their RP paid by ACT. This represented 26.53% of the total caseload.
I hope you find this reply helpful.