§ Mr. Bulmerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people are in receipt of a Government pension; what proportion of these have to make an annual claim for that pension; and what proportion of that number have to have their signatures witnessed by a responsible person.
§ Mr. RossiIn June 1981 some 9,080,000 retirement pensions were in payment. An annual life certificate was required in some 35,000 cases—0.4 per cent.—where the pensioner resides overseas and payments are paid into a bank account in this country. These annual life certificates are required to be witnessed by a householder other than the claimant's spouse.