§ Mr. Kilfedder asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he
| (a) Living alone | … | … | … | … | … | £23.70* plus rent |
| Living alone (if blind) | … | … | … | … | £24.95* plus rent | |
| (b) Living in a Health and Social Service Board home or in a voluntary home which has an arrangement with a Board. | £23.30 | |||||
| (c) Living as a boarder, e.g. in a private dwelling house | The board and lodging charge plus £6.85 | |||||
| (d) Living with a family to whom the pensioner is not related | (i) As at (c) if a boarder. | |||||
| (ii) £20.65* (£26.65* if blind) if a member of the household. | ||||||
| * An additional 25p is payable at age 80. | ||||||
| Up to a reasonable figure. |
§ Weekly additions may be made in certain circumstances—for example, for extra heating or a special diet; and pensioners living at or about supplementary pension level may receive other assistance such as free dental and optical treatment and a refund of fares when attending hospital for treatment.
§ In addition, a comprehensive range of health and personal social services and facilities is also available to pensioners and provides help in a wide variety of individual circumstances whether the pensioner concerned lives in a statutory or voluntary home or lives elsewhere in the
340W§ year since 1969; and how many are expected to be in attendance at the colleges in 1980–81.
§ Mr. GoodhartThe information is as follows
will set out in the Official Report the arrangements, including the scales of assistance, for helping pensioners who are (a) living alone; (b) living in a voluntary or statutory home; (c) living as a paying guest in a private dwelling house and (d) living with a family to whom the pensioner is not related.
§ Mr. AlisonThe minimum scales of assistance available to single pensioners are the following weekly supplementary pension rates:
community alone or with a family, or as a paying guest in a private house.
The services include medical, nursing, social work and supportive services such as home help, meals, laundry and warden services; the facilities include hospitals, health centres, day centres, social centres, lunch clubs and old people's clubs.
§ Mr. Kilfedderasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he will consider the introduction of a scale of assistance for pensioners, in relation to both gas and electricity, which would 341W allow them to use a certain amount per month free of charge for heating and lighting, whether entitled to supplementary benefit or not.
§ Mr. AlisonThe Government are currently reviewing existing measures for assisting people on low incomes with their fuels costs and the hon. Member's suggestion has been noted.