§ Sir G. TOULMINasked the President of the Local Government Board whether he can give the House any statistics showing the number of old age pensioners chargeable to the rates, owing to the inadequacy of 5s. a week for their support; and whether he has considered any method of relieving the distress of these old people alternative to sending them to workhouses?
§ Mr. HAYES FISHERMy right hon. Friend has no statistics showing exactly what my hon. Friend desires, but the information in his possession, while showing variations in different areas, does not as a whole support the suggestion that any considerable number of old people are finding it necessary to have recourse to Poor Law relief. On the contrary, there has been a marked decrease in the total number of persons over seventy years of age in receipt of poor relief. I may say generally that the evidence obtained indicates that, while some old age pensioners, owing to a variety of causes, of which the high cost of living is only one, have both before and during the War found themselves unable to live on their pension; those who live with their relatives are frequently in better circumstances at the present time than they were before the War.