§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many old 403W people have, to date, claimed the over-80's pension and how they are distributed between his Department's administrative regions; and what proportion each of these regional totals forms of the estimated number eligible for these areas.
§ Mr. DeanUp to and including 23rd March, 1971, 143,140 persons have claimed a pension under Section 1 of the National Insurance (Old persons' and widows' pension and attendance allowance) Act, 1970, distributed amongst the Department's administrative regions as follows:
East Midlands and East Anglia 11,385 London North 12,947 London South 27,080 London West 19,124 Northern 6,264 North Western (Manchester) 5,230 North Western (Merseyside) 8,163 South Western 16,398 West Midlands 8,852 Yorkshire and Humberside 8,701 Scotland 11,871 Wales 7,125 143,140 These claims have resulted in 128,343 awards being made. It was estimated that a total of about 100,000 people would be eligible for the pension but no estimate was made of the number eligible in each region.