§ Clive EffordTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners in Eltham have benefited from the minimum income guarantee; and what the overall amount paid out through the guarantee to pensioners in Eltham was in the last 12 months. [129409]
§ Mr. PondThe number of pensioners to have benefited from the minimum income guarantee in Eltham during the last 12 months is 2,200. The average annual payment to each pensioner household was £2,400.
Notes:
1. The overall amount is based on the 12 month period ending February, 2003.
2. Figures are based on a 5 per cent. sample and are therefore subject to a degree of sampling variation.
3. Caseload figures have been rounded to the nearest 100.
4. Parliamentary constituencies have been assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant ONS postcode.
5. £2,400 is rounded to the nearest £50, and figures at a local level are subject to greater margins of error than national figures.
§ Clive EffordTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average gain of pensioners in Eltham has been from the Minimum Income Guarantee. [129410]
§ Mr. PondThe average weekly amount of Minimum Income Guarantee received by pension age households in Eltham at February 2003 was £46.30.
Notes:
1. The source of the data is the IAD Information Centre.
2. The figure is based on a 5 per cent. sample and is therefore subject to a degree of sampling variation.
3. The average weekly amount figure has been rounded to the nearest 1p.
4. Parliamentary constituencies have been assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant ONS postcode directory.
5. Pension age is defined as men aged 65 and over and women aged 60 and over.
§ Clive EffordTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the total paid out since May 1997 to increase pensioner incomes has been; and what has been the average gain per pensioner(a) in the UK and (b) in Eltham. [129411]
§ Mr. PondThe information requested is not available at constituency level, but the total paid out since May 1997 to increase pensioner incomes for the UK is shown in the table.
700W
£ billion Total DWP Expenditure on pensioners Discretionary spending on pensioners 1998–99 56.5 0.2 1999–2000 58.6 1.4 2000–01 60.5 2.8 2001–02 63.6 5.1 2002–03 65.1 6.4 2003–04 66.8 8.0 Following the introduction of the pension credit the average pensioner household will be £1,250 per year, or £24 per week, better off than in 1997 due to the Government's personal tax and benefit changes.
Notes:
(a) The information shown is based upon the Family Resources Survey.
(b) Discretionary spending refers to additional spending as a result of changes to pension policy since 1997. This is a subset of total spending.
(c) Figures are in £ billion rounded to the nearest £0.1 billion, in 2003–04 price terms.
(d) Figures include expenditure on all benefits.