§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) when he expects to give a substantive answer to the question of the hon. Member for Oldham, West, tabled for priority written answer on 8 January, about the basis of his calculation that average incomes of pensioners had increased by about 23 per cent. since 1979;
(2) when he expects to provide substantive replies to the questions tabled by the hon. Member for Oldham, West for priority written answer on (a) 26 February about the proportion of women pensioners receiving national insurance pensions on their husband's contributions and an income support pension; (b) 9 February about the savings as a result of the break in the pension uprating and earnings link; (c) 23 January about the additional gross and net cost of uprating the basic national insurance pension and (d) 22 January about the cumulative increase above inflation on the basic national insurance pension in specified periods;
(3) when he expects to provide substantive replies to the questions of the hon. Member for Oldham, West, tabled for priority written answer on 26 February on (a) pensioners' income after the deduction of housing costs and (b) net income at 1986 prices of pensioner tax units who obtained all their income from state benefits.
§ Mrs. Gillian ShephardI am answering today the hon. Member's question about the proportion of women pensioners receiving pensions on their husbands' contributions, and about the costs of uprating the basic 597W national insurance pension in line with earnings rather than prices over the period 1980 to 1989. I expect shortly to be able to give him a comprehensive answer covering the available information on his question concerning changes in various components in pensioners' incomes, including state benefits, broken down where possible to deciles of income distribution, using the latest information drawn from the 1987 family expenditure survey data now available.
§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if he has any figures available to show the additional gross and net cost of uprating the basic national insurance pension in line with average earnings in each year from 1980 to 1989, inclusive;
(2) what have been the savings each year to the Government since 1979 as a result of the break in the pension uprating and earnings link both at current prices and at constant 1990 prices; and what has been the cumulative saving over the whole of this period.
§ Mrs. Gillian Shephard[holding answers 23 January and 9 February 1990]: The table shows the gross additional cost of uprating retirement pension in line with average earnings since 1980–81. It is not possible to provide net costs for each year, but in 1989–90 the net cost would have been £3.28 billion allowing for reduction of £ 130 million in income support and £770 million in housing benefit.
It should be noted that any such cost would attract consequent increase in the national insurance contribution. It is estimated that the necessary increase in contribution rate to support the additional cost in 1989 if divided equally between employers and employees would be 1.15 per cent. on the basic rate of both employers' and employees' contributions, increasing them to 11.6 per cent. and 10.15 per cent. respectively. This would have meant for example a contribution increase for an employee on average earnings of £2.70 per week, together with an additional contribution of £3.20 per week for his employer.
Gross cost—1989 prices £ billion 1980–81 0.01 1981–82 0.31 1982–83 0.44 1983–84 0.47 1984–85 1.10 1985–86 1.24 1986–87 2.28 1987–88 3.10 1988–89 3.86 1989–90 4.17
§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Stafford (Mr. Cash) on 24 January,Official Report, column 702, what was the equivalent increase in pensioners' income after the deduction of housing costs.
§ Mrs. Gillian Shephard[holding answer 26 February 1990]: I regret that information is not available in the form requested, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many and what proportion of women pensioners receive(a) a national insurance pension on their husband's contributions and (b) an income support pension.
598W
§ Mrs. Gillian Shephard[holding answer 26 February 1990]: Latest available information shows that in March 1989 24.1 per cent. (1,549,080) of women pensioners received a national insurance pension on the basis of their husbands' contributions. In May 1988 18.5 per cent. (1,185,000) of single women aged 60 and over were in receipt of income support.