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Family Benefits
Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many children were living in families dependent on benefit in each year since 1979; and if he will make a statement. [1083]
Mr. Heald: Information prior to 1991 is not available. The information that is available is set out in the table:
| Year | Number of children in families receiving one or more income-related benefit |
|---|---|
| 1991 | 3,340 |
| 1992 | 3,720 |
| 1993 | 4,100 |
| 1994 | 4,170 |
Notes: 1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10,000. 2. Children may be in families receiving more than one income-related benefit. Overlaps between benefits have been taken into account. 3. Children are defined as aged 15 and under. Source: Income Support Statistics May 1991-May 1994. Family Credit Statistics April 1991-April 1994. Disability Working Allowance Statistics April 1992-April 1994. Housing Benefit Management Information System Enquiries May 1991-May 1994.
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Occupational Pensions
Mr. Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has of the percentage of those in employment but not in an occupational pension scheme who (a) earn more than £10,000 per annum, (b) earn less than £8,000 per annum and (c) earn less than £6,000 per annum. [1843]
Mr. Heald: The information requested is as follows:
| Annual earnings | All employees |
|---|---|
| More than £10,000 | 32 |
| Less than £8,000 | 57 |
| Less than £6,000 | 44 |
Note: Excluding a few people who were not sure if they were in a scheme but thought it possible. Source: 1993 General Household Survey.
Mr. Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the percentage of (i) men and (ii) women, between the ages 20 to 59 years and broken down by five-year age groups, who belong to (a) an occupational pension scheme and (b) a personal pension scheme; what are the average yearly contributions made by each group; and what estimate he has of the average pension receivable in (i) 1995, (ii) 2000, (iii) 2005, (iv) 2010, (v) 2015, (vi) 2020, (vii) 2025 and (viii) 2030 for those whose membership will have been (1) 10 years, (2) 20 years, (3) 30 years and (4) 40 years, respectively. [1828]
Mr. Heald: Information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is as follows:
| 20-24 | 25-29 | 30-34 | 35-39 | 40-44 | 45-49 | 50-54 | 55-59 | Total 20-59 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Occupational pension scheme member(3) | 21 | 31 | 41 | 43 | 43 | 48 | 42 | 32 | 38 |
| Personal pension scheme member | 18 | 34 | 33 | 30 | 29 | 31 | 27 | 19 | 28 |
Note:
(3) Including a few people who were not sure if they were in a scheme but thought it possible.
Source: General Household Survey 1993.
| 20-24 | 25-29 | 30-34 | 35-39 | 40-44 | 45-49 | 50-54 | 55-59 | Total 20-59 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Occupational pension scheme member(4) | 18 | 26 | 25 | 25 | 28 | 28 | 25 | 18 | 24 |
| Personal pension scheme member | 13 | 16 | 12 | 13 | 16 | 15 | 11 | 6 | 13 |
Source: General Household Survey 1993. Note:
(4) Including a few people who were not sure if they were in a scheme but thought it possible.
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Retirement Pensions
Mr. Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people of pensionable age fail to qualify for a full pension in their own right. [1844]
Mr. Heald: Information on the number of people who have no entitlement to retirement pension is not immediately available. I will let the hon. Member have such information as becomes available as soon as possible.
The available information is in the table.
| Category | All rates | Less than full rate |
|---|---|---|
| Cat A men | 3,321,170 | 179,370 |
| Cat A women | 2,395,760 | 692,890 |
| Cat BL wives | 1,279,970 | 49,030 |
| Cat ABL wives | 682,490 | 2,890 |
| Cat B widows | 1,779,040 | 62,790 |
Note: Cat A--pension derived from own contributions. Cat BL--pension derived from spouse's contributions. Full rate is about 60 per cent. Cat A rate. Cat ABL--pension derived from both own and spouse's contributions. Full rate is about 60 per cent. of Cat A rate. Cat B--pension derived from late spouse's contributions. Full rate same as Cat A rate. Source: Retirement Pension Biannual enquiry September 1994.
Mr. Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate of the cost to his Department of paying retirement pension to people (a) who die before their next pay day and (b) whose benefit was due to be reduced for a hospital stay. [1749]
Mr. Heald: Retirement pension is payable for complete weeks only. There is, therefore, no cost if people die before their next pay day and their benefit was due to be reduced as a result of a stay in hospital.
Disability Working Allowance
Mr. Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate of (a) the numbers of new claimants and (b) the cost of reducing the disability working allowance taper from 70 per cent. to (i) 60 per cent., (ii) 50 per cent. and (iii) 30 per cent. [1751]
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: The estimated effects of changes in the disability working allowance taper are given in the table. The costs are given in 1995-96 prices rounded to the nearest £1 million, and are net of housing benefit and council tax benefit offsets. The numbers of new DWA claimants are rounded to the nearest 1,000.
| Disability working allowance | 60 per cent. taper | 50 per cent. taper | 30 per cent. taper |
|---|---|---|---|
| New claimants | 1,000 | 2,000 | 7,000 |
| Net cost £ million | 1 | 4 | 14 |
Source: Family Expenditure Surveys of 1991, 1992 and 1993. Disability Working Allowance Statistics Quarterly Enquiry January 1995.
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The use of proxy groups means that the estimates are subject to wide margins of error. They will be accurate only to the extent that the proxy groups have the same characteristics as those eligible for DWA.
Mr. Bradley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people are currently in receipt of reduced earnings allowance; how many are aged (a) 39 or under, (b) 40 to 49, (c) 50 to 59, (d) 60 to 65 and (e) 65 to 70 years, by gender; and what is the average amount payable. [1755]
Mr. Roger Evans:
Information is not available in the format requested. At 2 April 1994--the latest date for which information is available--there were 142,796 people receiving reduced earnings allowance.
| Males | Females | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age at 31 March 1994 | Reduced earnings allowance | Frozen or restricted reduced earnings allowance | Reduced earnings allowance | Frozen or restricted reduced earnings allowance | ||
| 39 or under | 8,342 | -- | 2,501 | -- | ||
| 40-49 | 17,604 | -- | 4,874 | -- | ||
| 50-59 | 29,196 | -- | 7,965 | -- | ||
| 60-64 | 17,480 | -- | 3,628 | 30 | ||
| 65-69 | 14,992 | 109 | 217 | 2,382 | ||
Based on a 10 per cent. sample with an allowance for late returns.
The average rate of reduced earnings allowance at 2 April 1994 was £36.05 and the average rate of frozen or restricted reduced earnings allowance was £24.64.
Housing Benefit
Mr. Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many families on housing benefit receive (a) the disabled child premium and (b) the lone parent premium; and how many who receive the lone parent premium also receive the disabled child premium. [1839]
Mr. Roger Evans: The information is set out in the table.
| Numbers of families | |
|---|---|
| (a) Disabled child premium | 39,000 |
| (b) Lone parent premium | 859,000 |
| (c) Disabled child premium and lone parent premium | 21,000 |
Notes: 1. Figures relate to the number of benefit units which may be a single person or a couple. 2. Families have been defined as single people or couples who have dependants. 3. The figure for (c) is included within the figures given for (a) and (b). Source: Housing Benefit Management Information System annual 1 per cent. sample taken May 1994.
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