§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish a table showing the value of the death grant payable since it was first introduced.
§ Mr. DeakinsOn the basis of the movement in the retail prices index up to February 1977, the latest month for which figures are available, the value of the death grant is given in the following table:
Year (July) Maximum rate of death grant Value at constant February 1977 prices £ £ 1949 20.00 107.29 1950 20.00 105.29 1951 20.00 95.23 1952 20.00 87.25 1953 20.00 85.25 1954 20.00 83.25 1956 20.00 76.93 1957 20.00 73.61 1958 (January)* 25.00 90.74 1958 25.00 90.41 1959 25.00 89.99 1960 25.00 88.29 1961 25.00 85.59 1962 25.00 81.44 1963 25.00 80.81 1964 25.00 77.73 1965 25.00 74.07 1966 25.00 71.60 1967 25.00 70.03 1967 (October)* 30.00 83.69 1968 30.00 79.82 1969 30.00 75.83 1970 30.00 71.10 1971 30.00 64.55 1972 30.00 61.01 1973 30.00 55.75 1974 30.00 47.61 1975 30.00 37.71 1976 30.00 33.42 * Uprating dates.
§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he proposes to modify the death grant system to overcome anomalies for persons aged 87 years and over.
§ Mr. OrmeNo. The grant is a contributory one, and it would not be appropriate to pay it to people who were already over pension age in 1948 and thus could have paid no contributions towards it.