§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what is his estimate of the cost of putting all unemployed persons between 16 and 60 years on ordinary unemployment benefits regardless of the length of such unemployment in respect of (a) males and (b) females; and what would be the difference to the tax yield as a result;
(2) what is his estimate of the cost of putting every unemployed person aged between 60 and 65 years on long-term rates of benefit.
§ Mr. Alexanderasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many of the total of those registered as unemployed in the United Kingdom are people aged over 60 years who have taken early retirement and need to sign on at the unemployment benefit office only for the purpose of maintaining their right to a State pension at the age of 65 years and not for the purpose of obtaining work.
§ Mr. NewtonEntitlement to credits for periods of unemployment depends, as does entitlement to benefit, on the person being available for work; and people who do not intend to get another job are not entitled to credits. There are some 80,000 men aged 60 to 64 inclusive in the United Kingdom who are not receiving benefit but who are either claiming it or declaring their availability for work in order to get credits. It is not known how many of these have taken early retirement. At least some 25,000 of them in Great Britain are known to be receiving occupational pensions; figures for occupational pensioners in Northern Ireland are not available. They may or may not need credits in order to qualify for a full basic retirement pension at age 65; the credits they get would in most cases be of value to them in the event of their returning to work and subsequently needing to claim sickness or unemployment benefit. Some 12,000 of them are not claiming unemployment benefit because it would be extinguished by the amount of their occupational pension in excess of £35 a week; they need not attend the unemployment benefit office but may make quarterly declarations of unemployment and availability for work by post.
§ Dr. Roger Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people in each of the travel-to-work areas that make up the Carmarthen constituency have exhausted their entitlement to unemployment benefit.
§ Mr. RossiInformation is not available in the form requested, but I can give the hon. Member, as an approximation, figures for the Ammanford and Haverfordwest unemployment benefit offices which cover the majority of claimants in the Carmarthen constituency.
At August 1982 there were 750 unemployed claimants at Ammanford and 950 at Haverfordwest who had exhausted their entitlement to unemployment benefit. The figure for Ammanford includes claimants at the Brynamman, Garnant, Llandeilo and Llandovery offices and the figure for Haverfordwest includes claimants at the Carmarthen and Llandyssul offices.