§ Mr. SwinneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the cost of providing(a) a £3 supplement for single pensioners aged over 75 years and (b) a £5 supplement for pensioner couples aged over 75 years in (i) Scotland and (ii) the UK. [153070]
§ Mr. RookerWe will increase basic state pension from April 2001 by £5 for a single person and £8 per couple. This is at an overall cost of £1.3 billion and will benefit over 10 million British pensioners of which 900,000 reside in Scotland. The information is in the table.
£ million Gross and net cost Great Britain 2001–02 Scotland Gross 660 50 Net of income-related benefit savings 450 30 Notes:
1. The figures in the table are for basic state pension obtained as of right through the recipients own national insurance contributions (Category A pension). Because the Category A pension is paid to both single and married pensioners it is not possible to estimate the costs. Therefore, it is assumed that the Category A rate of state pension is increased by £3 per week for those aged 75 and over and the Category BL married woman's rate is increased by £2 per week for those aged 75 and over.
2. Estimates of gross costs provided by the Government Actuary's Department. Income-related benefit offsets are estimated using the Policy Simulation Model.
3. United Kingdom figures are not available. Costs associated with overseas pensioners are included and are apportioned on a pro-rata basis between Scotland and the rest of Great Britain.
4. Costs are rounded to the nearest £10 million.