§ 61 and 62. Dame Irene Wardasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance (1) how many old people still survive who were excluded from the National Insurance Scheme in 1948; and what is their average age at the present date;
(2) what would be the estimated cost to the National Insurance Fund and saving on National Assistance of paying a full retirement or widows' pension to those surviving people who were excluded from the National Insurance Scheme in 1948; and is she will include figures from the new Act.
§ Miss HerbisonAbout 200,000 old people who were excluded from the National Insurance Scheme in 1948 still survive and their average is about 84 years. On their present numbers the cost to the National Insurance Fund of paying them full pensions would be about £40 million a year. Payments by the National Assistance Board to this group of people amount to rather more than £21 million a year, and would be superseded under the Ministry of Social Security Bill by supplementary pensions amounting to about £24 million in the first year; the provision of full National Insurance pensions would reduce these figures by rather more than £16 million and £17 million respectively.