§ Mrs. Bainasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will list in the Official Report the level of index-linked retired public servants' pensions in terms of purchasing power as compared with retirement pensions for each of the last 10 years, taking 1967 as base 100;
(2) what estimate has been made of the cost to public funds of supplying index-linked pensions to retired pensioners for the last 10 years.
104W
§ Mr. OrmeThe levels of retired public servants' pensions and State retirement pensions in terms of purchasing power for January each year and at the dates of pension increases taking January 1967 as base 100 are as follows:
Standard Rate of State Retirement Pension for Single person Retired Public Servant's Pension 1967— January … 100 100 October … 111.4 1968— January … 109.7 97.5 1969— January … 103.3 91.8 April … 91.8 November … 111.0 1970— January … 109.3 89.2 1971— January … 100.8 82.2 September … 114.3 98.1 1972— January … 111.8 95.9 October … 118.5 December … 98.5 1973— January … 116.8 97.8 October … 123.8 December … 97.4 1974— January … 119.7 95.5 July … 140.9 December … 95.2 1975— January … 128.8 92.8 April … 138.8 November … 142.4 December … 96.1 1976— January … 138.9 94.9 November … 142.5 December … 95.1 1977— January … 137.1 92.7 The estimated cost of index-linking for the past 10 years has not been given, as it is only since (a) 1975 that the State retirement pension has been statutorily linked with the better of the movement of prices or earnings and (b) 1971 that public service pensions have been linked to the movement of prices.