§ Mr. EnnisTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate how many pensioners in the Barnsley, East and Mexborough constituency will be eligible for the Minimum Income Guarantee. [73376]
§ Mr. TimmsThe information is not available in the form requested. Such information as is available is as follows.
As at August 1998 (the latest date for which information is available) there were approximately 17,000 pensioners in receipt of Income Support in the Barnsley and Doncaster local authority district. There were 1.65 million pensioners in receipt of Income Support across the country as a whole at the same date. Whilst we do not know the precise effect in each Local Authority area, across the country as a whole, in addition to existing Income Support recipients, we expect around 65,000 pensions will be newly eligible for the Minimum Income Guarantee as a result of the above-inflation increase in the income support rates in April.
Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred and are based on a 5 per cent. sample size.
2. "Pensioners" for the purposes of this question are defined as single people aged 60 or over, or couples where one or both partners is aged 60 or over.