Mr. PALMERasked the Chancellor whether he is aware that local pension officers, in estimating the income of aged miners for pension purposes, are in the habit of including voluntary gifts of 2s. per week made by certain lodges of the Durham Miners' Union to aged miners in their district; whether he is aware that 345W those gifts are purely voluntary, are intended solely to enable the aged miners to procure some little additional comforts, and may be discontinued at any time without notice; and whether, under these circumstances, he will direct the pension officers not to take these allowances into consideration in estimating the income of applicants for old age pensions?
§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGEThe fact that the gifts in question are voluntary and liable to discontinuance does not prevent them from being means within the meaning of the Old Age Pensions Act; and they are rightly taken into account in calculating the yearly means of claimants for old age pensions. I am not prepared to give directions in the sense suggested by the hon. Member.