§ Mr. Hamiltonasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance what basic retirement pension would be needed today to be equivalent to the purchasing power of the 26s. basic retirement pension when granted in 1946; and what would be needed if the pension had increased proportionately, since that date, with average earnings.
§ Miss PittOn the basis of the Cost of Living Index for the period up to June, 1947, and the Retail Prices Index thereafter, 41s. 9d. would give the same purchasing power now as 26s. in October, 1946; 45s. 5d. would give an increase in value corresponding to the increase in wage rates shown by the Index of Rates of Wages; and 51s. 8d. would give the same increase as has been shown in the level of the average earnings—including overtime and bonus payments—of manual workers in manufacturing and the principal non-manufacturing industries, between October, 1946, and October, 1956, which is the latest date for which figures are available.