§ Mr. Trotterasked the Chancelor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the cost of increasing the State retirement pension for a single person to one-half the average male earnings in industry, and for a married couple with a wife receiving pension by right of her husband's contribution to one half of that figure.
§ Mr. O'MalleyI have been asked to reply.
On the assumption that the married couple's rate would be one and a half times the single person's rate, and on the basis that average male industrial earnings are about £62 a week, the cost would be about £6,500 million a year. This estimate assumes that supplementary pension rates would stay at their present level and makes no allowance for accompanying changes in benefits payable to people under pension age.