§ Mr. Hurdasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance the total numbers of retirement and old-age pensioners in the Reading and Newbury districts, and the numbers receiving supplements from the National Assistance Board, with the average weekly amounts received.
§ Miss PittI am afraid that neither statistics of retirement pensioners nor of the average amounts of National Assistance allowances are available for particular localities. I am informed by the National Assistance Board that in the areas served by its offices at Reading and Newbury there were at 27th March, 1956, 2,116 persons in receipt of noncontributory old-age pension, and 6,373 persons receiving regular weekly National Assistance grants to supplement retirement and old-age pensions Some of the Assistance grants provide for the requirements of a household with more than one pensioner.