§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 13 January 2000,Official Report, column 231W, on stakeholder pensions, what have been the findings of recent departmental surveys on (a) the number of people with non-mortgage debt and (b) the distribution of non-mortgage debts among persons with annual earnings in the range £9,000 to £21,500 who are not members of an occupational or personal pension scheme. [106805]
§ Mr. RookerThe necessary combined information on non-mortgage debt, earnings and pension provision is not available from departmental surveys. Some data are available from one wave of the British Household Panel Survey, which showed the following distribution of reported non-mortgage debt among survey respondents with earnings between £9,000 and £21,500 and who were not current members of an occupational or a personal pension scheme. Reliable estimates of the numbers of such persons with non-mortgage debt cannot, however, be derived from this source.
Level of non-mortgage debt Percentage of respondents Nil 55 Less than £500 12 £500 to £1,500 11 £1,500 to £4,000 13 Over £4,000 10 Notes:
1. Sample base—respondents with earnings between £9,000 and £21,500 (in current earnings terms) who reported no current membership of an occupational or personal pension scheme.
2. The size of debt is self-assessed debt.
3. Figures do not sum to 100 per cent. because of rounding.
Source:
British Household Panel Survey, wave of interviews conducted between September 1995 and June 1996.