§ Mrs. BeckettTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many retirement pensions were awarded to women aged 60 and men aged 65 years, including married women's pensions on their husbands' insurance, in each month of the latest year for which information is available.
§ Mrs. Gillian Shephard[holding answer 23 May 1990]: Information is not available in the precise form requested.
The latest figures are for 1988–89. These show that in the six-month period ending September 1988 retirement pensions were awarded to 102,970 men aged 65 and 68,010 women aged 60. The awards to women included 20,960 married women's pensions based partially or wholly on their husbands' contributions and 420 retirement pension awards to widows based on their late husbands' contributions.
In the following six-month period, ending March 1989, 96,680 awards were made to men aged 65 and 66,020 to women aged 60. These included 20,320 married women's pensions and 520 retirement pensions awarded to widows based on their late husbands' contributions.