§ Mr. GodsiffTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what representations he has received from the Canadian Government concerning the situation of British expatriate state pensioners living in Canada who do not receive any uprating of their pensions. [38727]
§ Mr. DenhamThe Canadian Minister of Human Resources Development wrote to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State last September about this issue. Canadian Ministers have raised the matter from time to time in meetings with their UK counterparts. The last such occasion was in October 1997 when my Noble Friend, the Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean, met the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa.
There are competing demands and constraints on Social Security spending. In these circumstances, the Government believe that it would be wrong to raise expectations that uprating UK pensions paid abroad would be likely to attract priority.