§ Sir George Youngasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what would be the net savings to the National Insurance Fund in a full year of the changes in benefits proposed in Clause 7(3) of the Social Security (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill;
(2) what would be the net savings to the National Insurance Fund in a full year of the changes in benefits proposed in Clause 7(2) of the Social Security (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill;
(3) what would be the net savings to the National Insurance Fund in a full year of the changes in benefits proposed in Clause 7(1) of the Social Security (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill in respect of those in receipt of Category A or Category B retirement pension;
(4) what would be the net savings to the National Insurance Fund in a full year of the changes in benefits proposed in Clause 7(1) of the Social Security (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill in respect of those in receipt of a widowed mother's allowance.
§ Mr. OrmeClause 7 of the Social Security (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill restores the existing position that various benefits payable to persons over pensionable age are increased for dependants only where a basic personal pension is 99W payable. Since it was never the intention that increases for dependants should be payable where only the additional component of pension was in payment, and since the pensions scheme was costed on this assumption, no savings will result. It is not possible to estimate the cost that would arise if Clause 7(1) and Clause 7(2) of the Bill were not implemented; the cost attributable to not implementing Clause 7(3) would be of the order of £100,000 a year.