§ Mr. Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list the number of times (a) the retirement pension and (b) family allowances or child benefit have been increased since 1948; and if he will detail the increased real value of each benefit over the same period.
§ Mr. RossiAs regards retirement pension, I refer the hon. Member to table 5.1 of "Abstract of Statistics For Index of Retail Prices, Average Earnings, Social Security Benefits and Contributions", a copy of which is in the Library of the House. As regards family allowances and child benefit, I refer the hon. Member to table 30.01 of "Social Security Statistics 1980" which is also available in the Library. That table gives the rates of family allowances and child benefit since 1946. The cash value of family allowances in July 1948—for second and each404W subsequent child—was 25p and the equivalent value at November 1980 was £2.19. This compares with the actual value, from 24 November 1980 of £4.75 for each child.