§ Mr. FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what the estimated cost would be of(a) uprating the minimum income guarantee for pensioners in line with earnings, (b) uprating the minimum income guarantee in line with prices for pensioners under 85 years, and in line with earnings for those over 85 years, in (i) 2000–01, (ii) 2010–11, (iii) 2020–21 and (iv) 2030–31. [95535]
§ Mr. RookerNo projections have been made of long-term expenditure on the Minimum Income Guarantee. The projected expenditure for 2000–01, as published in the Social security Departmental Report (Cm 4214) in March 1999, is based on an assumed uprating for all cases in line with average earnings, at an estimated cost of £155 million.
44WPENSIM, the Department's dynamic microsimulation model of pensioners' incomes, does project pensioners' income distribution under different policy scenarios up to 2025. However, it is not considered sufficiently accurate to be used as a forecasting model of absolute amounts of expenditure on the income-related benefits. Instead it is best used as a comparative model to assess the broad impact of different policy options on the distribution of pensioner's incomes over time.
§ Mr. BerryTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what measures his Department is taking to raise public awareness about the minimum income guarantee for pensioners. [96684]
§ Mr. RookerWe are particularly concerned about pensioners entitled to but not claiming the guarantee and we will make an announcement shortly on our plans to increase awareness and to tackle barriers to claiming.