HC Deb 17 April 2000 vol 348 cc401-2W
Mr. Jack

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much of his Department's expenditure was on people of retirement age and above; and what proportion of GDP this represented, in each year from 1992 to 2000. [118920]

Mr. Rooker

[holding answer 14 April 2000]: The information is in the table.

Expenditure on people over 60 as a percentage of all Social Security benefit expenditure and as a percentage of GDP
Expenditure as a percentage of:
Year Expenditure (cash £ million) All expenditure GDP
1991–92 31,772 47.85 5.39
1992–93 34,145 45.34 5.57
1993–94 36.443 44.21 5.63
1994–95 37,269 43.92 5.43
1995–96 38,681 43.61 5.36
1996–97 40,808 44.25 5.33

Expenditure on people over 60 as a percentage of all Social Security benefit expenditure and as a percentage of GDP
Expenditure as a percentage of:
Year Expenditure (cash £ million) All expenditure GDP
1997–98 42,577 45.61 5.23
1998–99 44,502 46.56 5.19
1999–2000 47,640 47.97 5.29
2000–01 49,962 49.27 5.28

Notes:

1. Expenditure figures are consistent with Table 3 of the 2000 Departmental Report (Cm4614) and earlier equivalents.

2. Social Security benefit expenditure includes non-DSS funded expenditure on Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.

Mr. Flynn

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the cost of the recent research and pilot projects carried out to ascertain the reasons for pensioners not claiming Income Support and the most effective ways of promoting take-up. [118884]

Mr. Bayley

The Department carried out an extensive programme of research including surveys and qualitative work.

The cost of the research to ascertain the reasons for pensioners not claiming Income Support, and to identify possible ways to increase take-up was £325,000.

The costs of running the pilots both at District Office level and centrally were absorbed within existing work loads and no separate costs for this activity have been identified. The evaluation of the pilots, which included analysis of administrative data and a follow-up survey cost £278,063.