§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the percentage of pensioners who pay their fuel costs with pre-payment meters. [26172]
§ Mrs. Liddell[holding answer 29 January 1998]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Chief Executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. David Rendel, 2 February 1998:
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply to your recent question on the percentage of pensioners who pay their fuel costs with pre-payment meters.An estimate from the 1996–97 Family Expenditure Survey is that seven per cent of households headed by a pensioner (including cases where the sole person in the household is a pensioner) made payments for gas and/or electricity using slot meters, cards, discs or tokens.