§ Mr. Marksasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what estimate he has made of the changes in national insurance contributions required to enable a retirement pension of £10, and £16 for a couple, to be paid given the present proportion from employees, employers and Exchequer contributions.
§ Mr. DeanI refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Bedford (Mr. Skeet) on 17th November.—[Vol. 846, c.244–5.]
§ Mr. Marksasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what estimate he has made of the net increase in Government expenditure on the basis that national insurance retirement pensions were increased to £10 for a single person and £16 for a couple, given the present proportion 311W of contributions from employers, employees and the Exchequer and taking into account the saving on supplementary benefit and increased taxes paid by pensioners.
§ Mr. DeanIf other benefits could be left unchanged, public expenditure would be increased by rather over £1,000 million a year, after allowing for a saving on supplementary benefit of nearly £200 million a year. It is estimated that there would be additional income tax revenue of about £100 million a year. To meet the extra cost to the National Insurance Fund of £1,200 million a year, the extra contributions needed from employers and employees would, on the basis of the present proportions, amount to rather over £1,000 million a year, with the balance of about £180 million coming from the Consolidated Fund.