§ Sir K. Josephasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance what scope, taking into account the cost of the National Insurance Bill now before Parliament, is left out of the £387 million allowed in the National Plan 1965–70 for increases in social security benefits, for increases in retirement pensions, industrial injuries, war pensions, sickness benefits, unemployment benefits and National Assistance expressed in terms of an average increase per week per beneficiary per year between 1965 and 1970.
§ Miss HerbisonThe residual amount could not appropriately be expressed in the terms the right hon. Gentleman suggests. The £387 million was the amount592W available for real improvements in provision, over and above any adjustments needed to meet price changes; and, as the National Plan explained, how the total expenditure on benefits and assistance could best be applied—apart from the introduction of earnings-related unemployment and sickness benefit—would need to be considered in the further stages of the review of social security.