§ Mr. Sproatasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what latest estimate 525W he has made of the number of retirement pensioners living alone in Great Britain.
§ Mr. OrmeI have made no such estimate, but the number of people over pensionable age and living alone has been estimated, in the recent Green Paper on housing policy to have been 2,581,000 in mid-1976 in England and Wales. The Scottish Development Department has estimated the corresponding figure for Scotland as 247,000. About 90 per cent. of people over pensionable age receive a retirement pension.