§ Earl Russellasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Answer given by Lord Mackay of Ardbrecknish on 30th April (H.L. Deb., col. 1472), whether they will place in the Library a list of research papers dealing with the second order effects of benefit changes, stating to which benefit change each paper relates.
§ The Minister of State, Department of Social Security (Lord Mackay of Ardbrecknish)It is not possible to identify all those research papers which may prove useful for assessing the public expenditure consequences of benefit changes, including second order effects. An example of how research informs these assessments can be found inOptions for Equality in State Pension Age (CM 1723, December 1991). Paragraphs 18 and 19 of Appendix 3 describe how the available research was used to estimate the indirect effects on public finances of changing state pension age. All the publications in the department's research report series are placed in the Library and the Research Yearbook provides details of individual projects commissioned by the department.