HC Deb 31 March 1998 vol 309 c451W
Mr. Loughton

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many pensioners currently hold private medical insurance policies; and what the figure was in April 1997. [37049]

Mrs. Liddell

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. Tim Loughton, dated 31 March 1998: As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your recent question requesting figures for the number of pensioners holding private medical insurance policies. The most recent estimate available is from the 1996–97 Family Expenditure Survey, which is based on information collected from April 1996 to March 1997. This shows that among those households headed by a pensioner, seven per cent. included one or more people who made payments into a private medical insurance scheme.