§ Mr. Newtonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will place in the Library the surveys of pensioners deferring retirement and of working wives and other material relating to the earnings rule referred to by the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Security, Official Report, 14th February 1977, column 108.
§ Mr. OrmeMy hon. Friend's remarks in the House on 14th February—[Vol. 926, c. 108.]—referred to the survey currently being carried out into the reasons for retirement by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys on behalf of my Department and the Department of Employment. This is designed to produce information about the effect of the retirement condition and the earnings rule on a person's decision to defer his retirement and continue at work, and also some information about the working wives of pensioners. Initial results are expected at the end of this year, with further analyses in the first half of 1978. It is still too early to decide whether, or in what form, the results will be published.
In estimating the number of working wives of retirement and invalidity pensioners for the purpose of costing changes in the earnings rule, the Government Actuary's Department had regard to, amongst other material, the inquiry into 615W Prolonged Sickness and the Return to Work carried out by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys and published in December 1975, a copy of which is in the Statistics Section of the Library of the House.