HC Deb 08 June 2000 vol 351 cc319-20W
Mr. Alasdair Morgan

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people(a) are eligible for and (b) claim the state pension in (i) Scotland, (ii) Dumfries and Galloway and (iii) Galloway and Upper Nithsdale parliamentary constituency. [124729]

Mr. Rooker

The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is as follows.

There were an estimated 919,600 people of pensionable age resident in Scotland in mid-1998. It is not known how many of these were eligible for the State Retirement Pension.

31,800 people of pensionable age were estimated to be resident in Dumfries and Galloway unitary local authority in mid-1998 and 14,700 people of pensionable age were estimated to be resident in Galloway and Upper Nithsdale parliamentary constituency in 1991.

An estimated 875,500 people were receiving State Retirement Pension in Scotland in March 1999.

Notes:

  1. 1. Population of pensionable age defined as men aged 65 and over and women aged 60 and over.
  2. 2. Population estimates provided by the Office for National Statistics and are rounded to the nearest 100 persons.
  3. 3. Population estimates are not available at constituency level. Constituency level data are derived from the 1991 Census.
  4. 4. Numbers of retirement pension recipients derived from a 5 per cent. sample of the Pensions Computer Strategy System. Estimates rounded to nearest 100 persons. Local authority and constituency level data are not available.

Mr. Flynn

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what the amount of the basic pension would be if it had been uprated in line with hon. Members' salaries since 1987. [124247]

Mr. Rooker

[holding answer 6 June 2000]The basic State Pension for a single person in 1987 was £39.50 a week. By 2000 it would have been raised by a factor of 2.61, had it been increased in line with hon. Members salaries over this period.

By definition a salary would be presumed to be enough to live on whereas the basic State Pension is not intended to be more than the foundation of total pensioner income, which for the 1997–98 tax year averaged £132 per week net for a single pensioner, this is of course more than twice the level of the basic State Pension for that year.