§ Mr. Foulkesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if, further to his replies to the hon. Member for Grimsby (Mr. Mitchell), Official Report, 26 July, c. 380, he will estimate how much money has been saved by his Department on the supplementary pension alone as a result of the 1 per cent. cut; and how much this represents on average for one and two-person pensioner households in weekly cash terms.
§ Mr. NewtonAs a result of the adjustment made to take account of the 1 per cent. overshoot that occurred at the 1980 uprating, expenditure on supplementary pensions was £⅓ million lower in 1981–82 and £1 million lower in 1982–83 than would otherwise have been the case. If this adjustment had not been made, the November 198152W summarised in a short answer. For a brief description I refer the hon. Member to chapter 4 of the 1977 report of the Royal College of Physicians "Smoking Or Health".