§ Mr. Goldingasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what has been the number of pensioners benefiting from heating allowances on 31st December in each of the last five years; and what has been their cost.
§ Mr. MeacherI regret that the information is not available in the form requested. The number of supplementary pensioners receiving discretionary extra heating additions in November of the years 1971 to 1974, and in May 1975, the most recent date available, was as follows:
November 1971 … … 159,000 November 1972 … … 193,000 November 1973 … … 445,000 November 1974 … … 663,000 May 1975 … … 701,000 Before 1973 part of an extra heating addition may have been offset by the former long-term addition applicable to all supplementary pensioners. Also the supplementary pension in payment—that is the difference between the pensioner's resources and his requirements, including any extra heating addition, may be less than the amount of the extra heating addition allowed in the calculation. For these reasons the actual amounts in payment in respect of extra heating are not known, and it is, therefore, not possible to indicate the actual cost of these additions.