§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish a table indicating for each of the last 10 years(a) the level of the basic state pension, (b) the average industrial wage and (c) the percentage of average industrial wage represented by the basic state pension.
§ Mrs. Gillian Shephard[holding answer 19 December 1989]: The latest available information is set out in the table. The relationship between state retirement pension and earnings is not the key factor in improving pensioners' income. The key factor is pensioners' total incomes. Pensioners' average total net incomes increased by 23 per cent. in real terms between 1979 and 1986.
1£pw. 2£pw. 3Per cent. 1979 23.30 86.20 27 1980 27.15 106.30 26 1981 29.60 119.80 25 1982 32.85 132.10 25 1983 34.05 143.20 24 1984 35.80 155.80 23 1985 38.30 167.40 23 1986 38.70 181.20 21 1987 39.50 194.90 20 1988 41.15 213.60 19 Source for data on earnings: New Earnings Survey. 1 Basic State Pension. 2 Average weekly earnings of full time adults in all industries and services. 3 Basic state pension as proportion of average weekly earnings.