§ Mrs. Bainasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what would be the cost to the central Exchequer of making available free telephone rentals to all retirement pensioners.
§ Mr. Alec JonesThe number of telephone subscribers who are retirement pensioners is not known. As recently announced, the annual rental charge for a telephone is, as from 28th April, £33. There are approximately 8 million retirement pensioners in the United Kingdom, and approximately 6 million households containing one or more member who is of retirement age.