§ Miss Geraldine SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will calculate the extra cost if state retirement pensions had been linked to earnings since 1997. [149082]
§ Mr. RookerIf our policy had been only to link the basic pension to earnings we would have spent £5.2 billion less over a five-year period. Instead we will have spent an estimated £3.5 billion extra in the five years since 1997–98 as a result of our discretionary measures for pensioners. This is over £5 billion more than uprating the basic state pension by earnings since April 1998.
Further details arc in the table.
Maternity Payment (MP) and Sure Start Maternity Grant (SSMG) awards for the Benefits Agency's Yorkshire area directorate £ Financial year Application type Number of awards Amount awarded 1999–2000 MP 12,950 1,312,264.05 SSMG 2 300.00 Total 12,952 1,312,564.05 2000–2001 MP 1,415 144,100.00 SSMG 9,038 2,071,767.00 Total 10,453 2,215,867.00 Notes:
1. These figures are for the BA Yorkshire area directorate which comprise the following districts—South East Yorkshire, Rother and Dearne, Sheffield, Bradford and Keighley, Calderdale and Kirklees, Wakefield, East Yorkshire, Leeds and North Yorkshire.
2. Sure Start Maternity Grant replaced the Social Fund Maternity Payment from 27 March 2000 for confinements/adoptions on or after 11 June 2000. The Social Fund Maternity Payment was £100 per child and the Sure Start Maternity Grant was initially £200 per child. This was increased to £300 for babies due, born or adopted from 3 December 2000. The amount of the SFMP or SSMG is reduced on a pound for pound basis by any savings over£500 held by an applicant or partner (£1,000 for applicants aged 60 or over).
3. Figures for year 2000–2001 are for April to December 2000 only.