§ Mr. AshdownTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many representations he has received about the planned April 2000 uprating of the state pension; how many of these are(a) in favour and (b) not in favour of the uprating; and if he will make a statement. [106739]
§ Mr. RookerAround 5,000 letters were received up to 19 January regarding the April 2000 uprating of the State Pension. Only the subject of each inquiry is recorded, so the specific information requested is not available. Two early-day motions have been tabled, and several petitions, including newspaper campaigns, received. These claimed that the increase was inadequate.
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§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many more people would receive a state second pension if the child care qualification was amended to include individuals paid child benefit for children under(a) eight, (b) 10, (c) 12, (d) 14 years and (e) 16 years assuming retirement in (i) 2005, (ii) 2010, (iii) 2015, (iv) 2025 and (v) 2047; [106848]
(2) how many more people would be recipients of the state second pension if he aligned the rules for home responsibilities protection for the state second pension with those that currently apply to the basic state pension taking (a) 2005, (b) 2010, (c) 2015, (d) 2025 and (e) 2047 as the year at retirement. [106849]
§ Mr. RookerThe number of additional people who would be brought into State Second Pension by the suggested changes is likely to be negligible.