§ Mr. KnoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what, for the latest date available, are the average weekly incomes excluding mean-tested benefits of(a) men aged 65 years and over and (b) women aged 60 years and over, distinguishing between husbands, wives, single men and single women respectively.
§ Miss WiddecombeInformation is not available in the form requested. The latest data available from the 1988 family expenditure survey shows that the average gross income (excluding housing benefit) of a single woman aged 60 and over is £74.90; for a single man aged 65 and over it is £89.80 and for a couple where the husband is over state pension age it is £168.00.
The nature of the survey techniques used in the family expenditure survey means that reliable information about pensioner income from income support is not available, nor can the separate incomes of husbands and wives within a couple be identified reliably.