§ 9. Captain Pilkingtonasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance (1) how much of the proposed in-crease in retirement pensions he estimates will be absorbed by the increases in the cost of coal;
(2) to what extent, when deciding the new level of retirement pensions, he took into account the present cost of coal.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterApart from the normal price change at the end of the summer reduction period, the increase in house coal prices is 6d. a cwt. and this, when fully taken into account on any reasonable estimate of consumption, is equivalent to only a very small part of the proposed pension increases of 7s. 6d. for a single person and 12s. 6d. for a married couple.