§ Mr. WillettsTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many pensioners had an income less than £10 above the minimum income guarantee in(a) 1999–2000 and (b) 2000–01; and what is his estimate for 2001–02. [119943]
§ Mr. Bayley[holding answer 20 April 2000]Estimates for the years 1999–2000 and 2001–02 are not available. This is because the Departments modelling system cannot make future projections, and producing like for like figures for previous years would involve disproportionate costs due to modelling and data changes between years.
In 2000–01 an estimated 515,000 pensioners have an income of up to £10 above the minimum income guarantee level.
Notes:
- 1. Figures are in 2000–01 prices and benefit levels.
- 2. Cases have been rounded to the nearest 5,000.
- 3. The figure has been calculated using the Pensioner Income Series Data based on the 1997–98 FRS and the Policy Simulation Model (PSM) for Income Related benefits, based on 1997–98 Family Resources Survey data.
- 4. The Department's Policy Simulation Model is built to represent the baseline situation in mid-2000–01 and is then used to assess the effect of changing policy against that base case. Consequently estimates are only available for the part of the question that relates to this time period.