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Mrs. Marilyn Hume
Mr. Alton: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what representations he has received on behalf of Mrs. Marilyn Hume, 10 St. Anne's court, Aigburth road, Liverpool L17 6BH; and if he will make a statement. [9675]
Mr. Burt: This is a matter for Mr. Peter Mathison, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member. Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. David Alton, dated 24 January 1996:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what representations he has received on behalf of Mrs Marilyn Hume.
The Benefits Agency has received representation from the Citizens Advice Bureau, the Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation, Doctor C A Young and Doctor S A Kumar on behalf of Mrs Marilyn Hume.
I hope you find this reply helpful.
Social Security Fraud
Mr. Wigley: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many instances his Department has identified in the past 12 months of attempted social security fraud based on impersonation with particular reference to attempts to secure benefits by changing a name and assuming the national insurance number of the other person; and if he will make a statement. [9309]
Mr. Heald: The information requested is not available. However, a total of 355 multiple identity investigations are currently under way, comprising 14 investigations with over 150 identities in each investigation and 341 investigations containing between two and 149 identities in each investigation.
Funeral Payments
Sir Andrew Bowden:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many representations he has received in respect of funeral payments from the social fund since the 5 June 1995 amendments were implemented. [10205]
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Mr. Roger Evans:
This Department have responded to 54 letters and 19 parliamentary questions concerning social fund funeral payments since 5 June 1995.
Sir Andrew Bowden:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the value of the basic state retirement pension for (a) a single pensioner and (b) a pensioner couple in 1970 and at each uprating since 1970; and what it would have been if it had been uprated in line with whichever was the higher of average earnings or prices. [10203]
Mr. Heald:
The available information is in the table. As there was no uprating in 1970, the table shows the effect of uprating by the higher of prices and earnings since November 1969.
| Actual rate | Rate if uprated by higher of prices and earnings | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uprating date | Single | Couple | Single | Couple |
| November 1969 | 5.00 | 8.10 | 5.00 | 8.10 |
| September 1971 | 6.00 | 9.70 | 6.15 | 9.95 |
| October 1972 | 6.75 | 10.90 | 7.15 | 11.55 |
| October 1973 | 7.75 | 12.50 | 8.05 | 13.00 |
| July 1974 | 10.00 | 16.00 | 9.30 | 15.00 |
| April 1975 | 11.60 | 18.50 | 11.95 | 19.30 |
| November 1975 | 13.30 | 21.20 | 13.85 | 22.35 |
| November 1976 | 15.30 | 24.50 | 15.95 | 25.70 |
| November 1977 | 17.50 | 28.00 | 18.00 | 29.00 |
| November 1978 | 19.50 | 31.20 | 20.40 | 32.85 |
| November 1979 | 23.30 | 37.30 | 24.30 | 39.15 |
| November 1980 | 27.15 | 43.45 | 28.80 | 46.40 |
| November 1981 | 29.60 | 47.35 | 32.25 | 51.95 |
| November 1982 | 32.85 | 52.55 | 34.95 | 56.30 |
| November 1983 | 34.05 | 54.50 | 38.00 | 61.20 |
| November 1984 | 35.80 | 57.30 | 39.95 | 64.35 |
| November 1985 | 38.30 | 61.30 | 43.45 | 69.95 |
| July 1986 | 38.70 | 61.95 | 45.35 | 73.00 |
| April 1987 | 39.50 | 63.25 | 47.90 | 77.10 |
| April 1988 | 41.15 | 65.90 | 51.65 | 83.15 |
| April 1989 | 43.60 | 69.80 | 56.25 | 90.55 |
| April 1990 | 46.90 | 75.10 | 61.70 | 99.35 |
| April 1991 | 52.00 | 83.25 | 68.45 | 110.20 |
| April 1992 | 54.15 | 86.70 | 73.85 | 118.90 |
| April 1993 | 56.10 | 89.80 | 77.45 | 124.70 |
| April 1994 | 57.60 | 92.10 | 79.70 | 128.30 |
| April 1995 | 58.85 | 94.10 | 82.90 | 133.45 |
Sir Andrew Bowden: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many and what proportion of all pensioners, single pensioners and pensioner couples have total incomes of (a) £0 to £5, (b) £5 to £10, (c) £10 to £15, (d) £15 to £20, (e) £20 to £25 and (f) £25 to £30 above income support levels. [10270]
Mr. Heald: The available information is in the table. Due to the limited sample size available it is not possible to provide reliable information for the proportion of incomes falling within bands of less than £15.
Source:
Analysis of the Family Expenditure Survey 1993.
Notes:
1. Percentages are rounded to the nearest 1 per cent., numbers rounded to the nearest 50,000.
2. The level of Income Support used for this calculation is that for pensioners aged 60/65, at April 1993 benefit levels.
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Housing Benefit
Ms Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will exempt supported lodgings from the proposed housing benefit changes in relation to young people; and if he will make a statement. [11029]
Mr. Roger Evans: The Social Security Advisory Committee has just completed its consultation on these proposals. The local authority associations will be completing their consultation shortly. I will consider all the representations which have been made on the provisions for young people with special needs, and will respond to them in the Command Paper.
Cold Weather Payments
Mr. David Nicholson: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what representations he has received on the system of cold weather payment, in respect of immobile disabled people; and if he will make a statement. [10528]
Mr. Roger Evans:
There have been no representations on this matter. Cold weather payments are focused on the
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most vulnerable groups receiving income support, that is those with a pensioner or disability premium, or a child aged under five. So far this winter, 3.8 million payments worth almost £32 million have been made.
Sir Andrew Bowden:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what was the value of the basic state retirement pension as a proportion of gross average earnings in the United Kingdom for each year since 1970; [10204]
Mr. Heald:
The information is in the table. the rate of increase in the basic pension has been converted to an annual rate where the length of time between upratings was greater or less than 12 months.
As there was no uprating in 1970 the value of the basic pension during that year is shown in the last column of the table as a percentage of average gross earnings at April 1970.
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(2) what was (a) the annual percentage increase in the state pension and (b) the year on year April to April retail prices index for each year since 1970. [10259]
Source:
"The Abstract of Statistics for Social Security Benefits and Contributions and Indices of Prices and Earnings", 1995 edition.
Average earnings index (whole economy, unadjusted) (Tables 2.1 and 2.2 of the abstract).
Retail prices index information taken from table 1.1.
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