§ Mr. Colvinasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will take steps to permit the endorsement of pension books with records of receipts by pensioners of free food under the Free Food for the Needy scheme.
§ Mr. MajorI understand that some of the organisations distributing food under the European Community scheme sponsored by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food have been marking pension order books to show the receipt of food by pensioners and others. Although record-keeping by the food-distributing bodies is a matter for themselves, we cannot support the marking of pension books. The
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Total income Total deductions1 Total income tax2 No. of tax units No. of tax-paying units £ million £ million £ million Thousands Thousands United Kingdom: 191,000 1,210 37,300 21,900 20,500 England 163,000 1,100 32,100 18,600 17,400 Wales 7,650 49 1,380 961 875 Scotland 16,600 38 3,130 1,900 1,770 Northern Ireland 3,790 24 702 467 439 North 9,130 56 1,620 1,170 1,060 endorsement of pension books is not required for any social security purpose and may, in some circumstances, prejudice the encashment of these books.