HC Deb 28 November 1974 vol 882 cc210-2W
34. Mr. Dykes

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether she will introduce the basic pension increases announced in the recent Budget Statement before April 1975.

Mr. O'Malley

No. We would regard it as indefensible to introduce the basic pension increases before the corresponding increases in supplementary benefits, and in giving effect to all the increases in the week beginning 7th April 1975 we shall be working to the shortest practicable timetable.

Mr. Sydney Irving

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will bring forward proposals to end the system of double taxation which operates in respect of State retirement and graduated pensions.

Mr. O'Malley

I assume my right hon. Friend has in mind that retirement and graduated pensions are subject both to income tax and to the operation of the earnings rule and that he is proposing that the earnings rule should be abolished. In view of the cost—an estimated £175 million a year at the pension rates to be

County (or Scottish City) Enumerated Population April 1931 Census Mid-year Home Population 1973 Percentage Change 1931 to 1973
(thousands) (thousands)
Hertfordshire … … 373.3 939.5 151.7
Sussex West … … 223.0 506.5 127.1
Buckinghamshire … … 269.0 604.5 124.7
Essex … … 643.4 1,397.8 117.3
Bedfordshire … … 223.0 481.1 115.8
Berkshire … … 311.4 662.8 112.8
Surrey … … 506.8 1,012.2 99.7
Huntingdon and Peterborough … … 110.5 218.1 97.3
Oxfordshire … … 209.8 403.5 92.3
Midlothian (excluding Edinburgh) … … 87.3 152.0 74.1
Rutland … … 17.4 30.1 73.2
Suffolk West … … 106.1 179.3 68.9
Worcestershire … … 420.0 708.3 68.6
Wiltshire … … 303.2 501.2 65.3
Dunbarton … … 147.7 242.1 63.8
Flintshire … … 112.9 183.6 62.7
Dorset … … 239.4 379.7 58.6
Hampshire … … 1,014.3 1,608.7 58.6
Northamptonshire … … 309.5 487.9 57.7
Kent … … 958.7 1,435.0 49.7
Somerset … … 470.3 702.4 49.4
Leicestershire … … 541.6 794.2 46.6
Cheshire … … 1,087.6 1,578.8 45.2
Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely … … 218.4 315.4 44.4
Clackmannan … … 32.0 45.9 43.5
Shropshire … … 244.1 347.8 42.4
Sussex East … … 546.9 762.7 39.5
Gloucestershire … … 790.5 1,092.3 38.2
Nottinghamshire … … 712.7 984.2 38.1
Warwickshire … … 1,533.2 2,090.6 36.4
West Lothian … … 81.4 110.8 36.1
Lincolnshire (Lindsey) … … 355.6 478.7 34.6
Lincolnshire (Kesteven) … … 176.7 236.0 33.5
Suffolk East … … 295.0 390.8 32.5
Yorkshire (North Riding) … … 553.8 733.2 32.4
Staffordshire … … 1,433.9 1,875.8 30.8
Moray … … 40.8 52.6 29.0
Ayr … … 285.2 367.5 28.8
Lanark (excluding Glasgow) … … 497.6 635.6 27.7
Stirling … … 166.4 210.9 26.7

introduced in April—my right hon. Friend has no proposals for its abolition. We relaxed the rule last July and will continue to keep under review the level of earnings at which it starts to operate. A pensioner does not of course pay income tax on pension foregone as a result of the earnings rule.

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