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Halliday Case
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment her Department has made of the implications for Government policy and expenditure of the recent judgment of the House of Lords in respect of the Halliday case; and if she will make a statement. [1520]
Mr. Denham: The implications of the House of Lords' Judgment are being considered urgently. The Chief Adjudication Officer will issue guidance as soon as practicable. In the meantime, the Benefits Agency are taking all steps necessary to ensure proper compliance with the judgment.
Benefits Statistics
Mr. Corbyn:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if she will publish the income levels of recipients
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of benefits relative to the Council of Europe poverty threshold; and if she will make it her policy to publish such figures regularly in the future. [1755]
Mr. Keith Bradley:
The information is not available in the format requested.
The income levels of benefit recipients vary widely and, in particular, benefits which are not income-related are spread across the income distribution. Information on the distribution of benefit expenditure by household income of recipient is given in the 1997 Social Security Departmental Report, page 47. Information on the numbers of individuals reporting income-related benefit receipt by position in the income distribution is provided in Table G of 'Households Below Average Income'; the analysis for 1979 to 1993-94 was published in November 1996. The Council of Europe decency threshold relates to individual earnings, but the income levels of recipients of benefits are more appropriately measured as total income on a benefit unit or household basis as they are in the publications listed above. It is therefore not meaningful to compare these income levels with the Council of Europe threshold.
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Mr. Flynn:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the present value of the basic retirement pension as a percentage of average earnings; and what it will be in the years (a) 2000, (b) 2010, (c) 2020, (d) 2030 and (e) 2040 if it is increased only in line with prices, assuming that average earnings increase by two per cent. more per year than the retail prices index. [1743]
| Year | Basic standard rate of retirement pension as a percentage of average earnings |
|---|---|
| 1996 | 17.4 |
| 2000 | 16.1 |
| 2010 | 13.2 |
| 2020 | 10.8 |
| 2030 | 8.9 |
| 2040 | 7.3 |
1. The figure for 1996 is based on average full time earnings for all employees in April 1996, from the New Earnings Survey.
2. Forecast figures are on the assumption that average earnings increase by 2 per cent. per year, while the real value of the standard rate of basic retirement pension remains at the 1996-97 level.
3. Percentages in the table are rounded to the nearest 0.1 per cent.
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