HC Deb 20 April 1998 vol 310 cc539-40W
Mr. Bendel

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when the report of the Pensions Education Working Group will be published. [39162]

Mr. Denham

Developing greater financial literacy and economic awareness is crucial if we are to give everyone the confidence to make informed choices and take control of their financial future.

Income Support (IS) claimants by client group
000s
Client group 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98
All IS claimants 3,383 3,682 3,804 3,936 4,030 3,972
Pensioners 1,668 1,789 1,776 1,761 1,766 1,714
Long term sick and disabled 493 592 690 773 843 878
Lone parents 978 1,035 1,048 1,066 1,061 1,012
Short term sick and others 245 267 290 337 361 367

Notes:

  1. 1. Numbers are rounded to the nearest thousand cases.
  2. 2. Lone parents are defined as those receiving the family premium (lone parent) or the lone parent premium. This will exclude some lone parents who receive a premium of a higher value ie pensioner or disabled lone parents.
  3. 3. Disabled are defined as those receiving the disability premium.
  4. 4. Sample size is 1 per cent. for 1992–93 and 1993–94 and 5 per cent. thereafter.
  5. 5. Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance replaced Income Support for the unemployed from October 1996.

Source:

  1. 1. Income Support Statistics Quarterly Inquiry, August 1992 to August 1997.
  2. 2. Jobseeker's Allowance Statistics Quarterly Inquiry, August 1997.

We are currently considering a number of initial recommendations from the Pensions Education Working Group on how awareness of pensions and financial education could be improved. We have asked the Group to continue to develop their work in a number of key areas.

We will be giving details of the Group's findings and the Government's responses in due course.