§ Sir Ian GilmourTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, further to his reply to the hon. Member for Oldham, West (Mr. Meacher),Official Report, 4 April, columns 687–92, if he will republish the figures in table 4 of the answer showing housing benefit, standard and certificated, separately from retirement pension.
§ Mrs. Gillian ShephardThe information is not available in the precise form requested. The table shows housing benefit separately from retirement pension.
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Incomes of Pensioner Tax Units with all income in State Benefits 1979–1987 Average total net income RP+Supp. ben. plus housing benefit Of which housing benefit Other benefits (including disability benefits) Single 1979 46.30 43.50 — 2.80 1980 47.80 45.40 — 2.40 1981 51.10 47.40 — 3.60 1982 53.50 50.70 — 2.80 1983 56.80 53.60 — 2.20 1984 57.10 53.50 12.40 3.60 1985 57.70 54.00 13.60 3.70 1986 57.00 53.60 14.90 3.40 1987 58.60 54.70 16.40 3.90 Married 1979 72.80 69.50 — 3.50 1980 71.70 68.50 — 3.50 1981 78.50 75.80 — 2.70 1982 79.70 73.90 — 5.80 1983 82.30 78.20 — 4.10 1984 87.90 80.20 11.70 7.70 1985 84.20 77.10 10.70 7.10 1986 90.50 78.50 13.60 12.00 1987 88.40 78.60 15.50 9.90 All 1979 50.60 47.70 — 2.90 1980 52.80 50.20 — 2.50 1981 56.00 52.60 — 3.50 1982 59.00 55.50 — 3.40 1983 61.10 58.50 — 2.50 1984 62.80 58.50 12.30 4.30 1985 62.10 57.80 13.10 4.20
Average total net income RP+Supp. ben. plus housing benefit Of which housing benefit Other benefits (including disability benefits) 1986 63.40 58.40 14.70 5.00 1987 64.40 59.30 16.30 5.00 Notes:
1. All cash figures are £ per week (to nearest 10 pence) at 1987 prices.
2. All figures refer to pensioner tax units.
3. Retirement pension and related benefits includes basic retirement pension, additional pension, income support and housing benefit.
4. In common with all other surveys, the Family Expenditure Survey draws information from a random sample of the population. This means that the FES will occasionally include some individuals whose weekly income are considerably higher or lower than those of the remainder of their group. The unrepresentative income of such individuals when averaged may give wide swings in year-to-year comparisons. In general when viewed over the longer term, the data provides a more reliable overall indication of the movement in average weekly incomes.
5. Prior to 1984 there is no information on a full year basis on standard and certified Housing Benefit.
6. For 1984–1987 the data from the FES is not sufficiently accurate to provide separate figures on the average amounts of certificated and standard Housing Benefit.