§ Mr. McAllionTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate of the number of pensioners in(a) Scotland and (b) the United Kingdom whose only source of income is the basic national insurance retirement pension.
§ Mr. Peter LloydIn 1986, just under 20 per cent. of United Kingdom pensioners' sole source of income was from state benefits.
Source: Family Expenditure Survey 1986.
Notes: The data cannot be broken down further to provide the proportion of pensioners' income derived from the basic state pension.
It is not possible to provide information for Scotland because the Scottish sample size in the FES is too small to be statistically significant in answering this question.
§ Mr. McAllionTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate of the number of pensioners in(a) Scotland and (b) the United Kingdom who are in receipt of housing benefit for each year since 1981.
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§ Mr. Peter LloydThe available information for Great Britain is as follows. Figures for Scotland and the United Kingdom are not available in the form requested. Housing Benefit did not come into full operation until April 1983.
Estimated number of pensioners receiving Housing Benefit 1983–4—1988–9.
Million 1983–4 4.105 1984–5 4.110 1985–6 4.120 1986–7 4.030 1987–8 4.045 1988–9 2.850