§ Sir Brandon Rhys Williamsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish figures comparing estimated tax expenditures on private pensions in 1985–86, in 2000–01 and on maturity of the state earnings-related pension scheme, as a result of pension changes in the Social Security Bill; and if he will show the extent to which these increased tax expenditures are expected to offset the savings in benefit expenditure.
§ Mr. NewtonEstimates of the costs in 1985–86 of tax allowances and reliefs for occupational pension schemes and retirement annuities are given in table 2.24 of volume two of "The Government's Expenditure Plans 1986–87 to 1988–89" (Cmnd. 9702-II).
I regret that the forward projections requested are riot available and could be produced only at disproportionate cost; such projections would depend on a number of subjective assumptions, including estimates of the future coverage of occupational and personal pension schemes.