§ 19. Mr. Kenneth Clarkeasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what increase in the level of national insurance retirement pension would be necessary to restore its purchasing power to the level it represented at the time that the last up-rating of benefits was announced.
§ Mr. O'MalleyNone. On the basis of the April prices figures, which are the latest available, the pension of £11.60 introduced in that month was 39p higher than the April 1975 equivalent of the £10 pension in payment when the increase was announced in November 1974.
§ 35. Mr. Ovendenasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will ensure that future increases in the pension rates for single persons are related to a cost-of-living index based on a single householder's budget.
§ Mr. O'MalleyMy hon. Friend presumably has in mind the index of retail prices for one-person pensioner households. To restrict the uprating of pensions in this way, however, would be less favourable to pensioners than the statutory obligation in the Social Security Act 1975, which provides that increases in pensions should be linked to the general movement in earnings or prices, whichever is the greater.