HC Deb 28 July 1989 vol 157 cc1004-5W
Mr. John Greenway

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate of the number of pensioners who are now receiving the enhanced pensioner premium introduced by his Department on 9 October.

Mrs. Gillian Shephard

We estimate that some 2.6 million pensioners will benefit from the changes to be introduced in October, of whom some 1.1 million will qualify for the new enhanced pensioner premium in income support and housing benefit for people aged 75–79.

Mr. Austin Mitchell

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether he will publish in theOfficial Report, his best estimate of the number and proportion of (a) manual and (b) other workers covered by occupational pension schemes in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy together with a table showing (i) the benefits available under state earnings-related pension and under the state schemes in the other three countries, and (ii) the amount distributed in state pensions annually, the current number of pensioners expressed as a percentage of the working population and the forecast for the years 2000 and beyond.

Mrs. Gillian Shephard

Information relating to the membership of occupational pension schemes in the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Germany is not held on a manual/non-manual basis.

For information relating to the benefits available under state earnings-related pensions and under the state schemes in France, Germany and Italy. I refer the hon. Member to the "Tables of Social Benefit in EC Member States", a copy of which is held in the Library. The tables are produced annually: the latest addition gives the position at 1 January 1988.

There is no common definition of a state pension scheme which holds good for all four countries and therefore comparisons of total spending are not meaningful.

The population aged 65 and over expressed as a percentage of the population aged 15–64 in each of the four countries for 1980 with projections for 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2020 is as follows:

1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
France 22 21 23 25 31
Germany 23 22 25 31 34
Italy 21 20 23 26 29
United Kingdom 23 23 22 22 26

Source: OECD 1988

It is not possible to compute the number of pensioners in the above countries as only the United Kingdom has a unified state pension scheme.