§ Mr. Gordon Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his estimate of the number of pensioner families in England; and if he is able to assess the average cost of fuel and power which a pensioner family will require to meet in a year.
§ Mrs. ChalkerI regret the information is not available in the form requested.
The family expenditure survey provides information about pensioner households in the United Kingdom but the numbers in England, Wales and Scotland are not available. For this purpose pensioner households are defined as those households of limited means in which three-quarters or more of the total household income is derived from national insurance retirement pensions and other social security benefits.
On this basis there are about 2,100,000 pensioner households in the United Kingdom and, in 1978, the latest year for which information is available, the average cost of fuel and power for a one-pensioner household was £152 a year and for a two-pensioner household, £220 a year.
91WThe hon. Member may wish to know that, in England, in June 1979 the latest date for which a figure is available, there were 1,980,000 married couples where the man was over pension age—65 or over—and 3,715,000 single person over pension age—65 in the case of a man or 60 in the case of a woman—but not all these would be pensioners.
In Scotland, in June 1978, the latest date for which a figure is available, there were 184,000 married couples where the man was over pension age and 448,000 single persons over pension age. The comparable figures for Wales—June 1979—were 130,000 and 300,000 respectively.