§ 45. Sir D. Kaberryasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance how many civil servants, established or permanent and temporary, respectively, were employed in Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance departments on 1st March, 1951, and 1st March, 1962, or the nearest available date; and what was the total respectively of their salaries and wages as paid on those dates.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterThe following is the information:
proportion of the cost of National Assistance for 1961–62 which will be returned to the Exchequer through Purchase Tax and excise duties.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterNo.
§ 47. Mr. Houghtonasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance what interval there was between the date of the announcement of National Assistance increases and the operative date in the years 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959, and 1961.
§ Mr. Boyd-Carpenter10, 8, 12, 12 and 22 weeks respectively.
§ 48. Mrs. Cullenasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance how 99W many retirement pensioners in Scotland are today in receipt of a supplement from the National Assistance Board; and how this compares with December, 1961.
§ Mrs. ThatcherThe number of National Assistance supplements to retirement pensions payable in Scotland was 82,290 at the end of June, compared with 81,052 in December last.
§ 52. Mr. Millanasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance when he proposes to present a Supplementary Estimate in respect of the new scale of assistance benefits.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterTowards the end of the financial year.
§ 53. Mr. Gourlayasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance how many retirement pensioners were in receipt of a supplementary allowance from the National Assistance Board in June, 1961, and in June, 1962, respectively.
§ Mr. Boyd-Carpenter1,039,000 and 1,064,000 respectively. Some of the supplements provide for the requirements of more than one pensioner.
§ Mr. Nabarroasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance what action he is taking in connection with recent National Assistance Board findings that out of 3,516 men drawing financial relief 141 only were unable to work.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterI understand that my hon. Friend has in mind the passage beginning at page 32 of the National Assistance Board's Annual Report for 1961 (Cmnd. 1730) relating to the Board's efforts to secure a return to employment of recipients of National Assistance who have been unemployed for a long time. The 3,516 men referred to in his Question were all men registered for work with employment exchanges and drawing National Assistance through those exchanges. As my hon. Friend will see from the passage in the Board's Report to which I have invited his attention, the Board achieved a substantial measure of success as the result of the medical examinations and other measures therein referred to in getting a substantial proportion of these men back into employment despite the fact that many of them were physically or mentally handicapped. The 141 men100W mentioned by my hon. Friend were men found, on medical examination, to be completely unfit even for light work and therefore previously wrongly classified as fit for work and registered for employment. I think my hon. Friend will find the Board's handling of these difficult oases, as described in its Report, highly encouraging and the only action that I propose to take is to commend the Board for its initiative.
§ Mr. Houghtonasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance what increases in the retail price index took place between one National Assistance increase and another in 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959, and 1961, and the proposed increase for 1962.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterThe rise in the Index of Retail Prices which had taken place since the operative date of the previous National Assistance increase was in 1955, 6.1 per cent.; in 1956, 5.1 per cent.; in 1958, 8.1 per cent.; in 1959, 0.6 per cent., and in 1961, 4.2 per cent. Since the increases in 1961 took effect, the rise in the index has been 6.0 per cent.