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Occupational Pension

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the size of (a) the occupational pension payments referred to in paragraph 5 of his consultation paper on bereavement support and (b) such payments currently. [76105]

Mr. Bayley: The information is not available in the form requested.

The average size of the occupational pension payments referred to in the consultation paper was around £80 for both of the financial years 1995-96 and 1996-97.

31 Mar 1999 : Column: 831

Notes:
1. These figures are estimates and are taken from the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) data set which is based on the Family Resources Survey (FRS). The FRS does not include Northern Ireland.
2. The financial year 1995-96 was the basis for the figures quoted in paragraph 5 of the consultation paper on bereavement support. The financial year 1996-97 is the latest for which data are available. Sample sizes for the requested cross-section of the population are small and therefore liable to a large degree of year on year variation due to sampling error. The estimate for both years is subject to this error.
3. The figures quoted refer to the gross amount of occupational pension payments where they are received by widows who are both under the age of 60 and in receipt of widow's benefit. All monetary values are given in April 1998 prices.

State Pension

Mr. Fearn: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the number of women for each year from 1999-2000 to 2009-10 who will receive (a) reduced SERPS pensions and (b) reduced widow's pensions as a result of the changes in payments to beneficiaries being introduced in April. [77757]

Mr. Timms: Information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the table.

Forecast information on the average number of women pensioners and widows who could be affected at any one time in each year Thousand

	Potential number of women pensioners affected	Potential number of widows affected
1999-2000	145	15
2000-01	430	50
2001-02	710	90
2002-03	1,010	130
2003-04	1,325	175
2004-05	1,650	225
2005-06	1,975	275
2006-07	2,335	330
2007-08	2,720	390
2008-09	3,090	450
2009-10	3,435	515

Notes:

1. Figures relate to the total number of women pensioners. Some will have no SERPS entitlement and will not be affected by the change.

2. All numbers have been supplied by Government Actuary's Department.

3. Numbers are given in thousands and are rounded to the nearest 5,000.

4. There is some double counting as widows over pension age appear in both columns.

5. The proposed new schemes for widows and widowers under state pension age have not been taken into account, nor have the half rate inheritance changes beginning in April 2000.

6. Figures are for GB only.

Mr. Steinberg: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much would it cost to increase the old age pension to £75 per week for a single pensioner and £116.60 per week for a married couple; and what the net cost would be taking into account savings in respect of other benefits and tax revenue. [78894]

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Mr. Timms: The information requested is not available. Such information as is available is in the tables.

Estimated gross cost of raising Retirement Pension rates to £75 per week for a single person and £116.60 per week for a couple from April 1999£ million

	Excluding linked benefits	Including linked benefits
Gross cost (1999-2000)	3,580	4,280

Estimated cost net of tax of raising Retirement Pension rates to £75 per week for a single person and £116.60 per week for a couple from April 1999£ million

	Excluding linked benefits	Including linked benefits
Cost net of tax (1999-2000)	3,280	(39)--

(39) Tax offsets have been provided by the Inland Revenue. Cost net of tax including linked benefits not available.

Notes:

1. Means-tested benefit offsets are not available as the Family Resources Survey which is used to calculate these cannot differentiate between married women who receive a Category A pension on their own insurance (and would require a 12.4 per cent. increase) and those who receive a Category B pension based on the their husbands' contributions (these would require a 4.1 per cent. increase). Offset calculations cannot therefore be made where, as here, different percentage changes are made to different categories of Retirement Pension.

2. Figures are rounded to the nearest £10 million and are expressed in cash terms.

3. Contributory benefit estimates have been provided by the Government Actuary's Department.

4. Linked benefits are those statutorily linked in value to basic State pension, for example widows' pensions.

Bereavement Allowance

Mr. Rendel: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the cost of extending the Bereavement Allowance to unmarried partners. [78032]

Angela Eagle [holding answer 22 March 1999]: It is proposed that Bereavement Allowance will be paid for six months only to widows and widowers aged 45 or over on bereavement who have no dependent children. Entitlement to Bereavement Allowance will be based on the deceased spouse's National Insurance contribution record.

It would be very difficult to establish who were "partners". As a result, there is limited information available on the circumstances of cohabiting partners and we are able to provide only broad estimates of the gross costs of extending it to unmarried cohabiting partners. We estimate this would cost less than £5 million in the first year, and less than £25 million in 2020-21.

It is estimated that extending basic bereavement benefits to unmarried partners would cost around £100 million per year by 2020-21.

Notes:

1. The estimates are provided by the Government Actuary's Department and do not include means-tested benefit offsets.

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2. The estimates are based on 1998-99 benefit rates. Estimates for 2020 are rounded to the nearest £25 million.
3. There would also be an additional cost to Retirement Pension (RP) which has not been estimated.

Family Credit

Mr. Steinberg: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what percentage of children aged (a) under five years and (b) five to 15 years from two-parent families in the United Kingdom were in families in receipt of Family Credit in each of the last five years. [78279]

Mr. Timms: The information is in the table.

Children in two parent families receiving Family Credit:Great Britain

	Under 5		5 to 15
	Thousand	Percentage	Thousand	Percentage
May 1994	238	7.6	451	7.1
May 1995	258	8.6	486	7.7
May 1996	286	9.6	555	8.8
May 1997	307	10.0	579	9.1
May 1998	293	9.6	566	9.0

Notes:

1. Numbers are based on a 5 per cent. sample of Family Credit awards and as such are subject to a degree of sampling error.

2. Caseload figures are rounded to the nearest thousand.

3. Children are defined as aged under 16.

Sources:

1. Family Credit 5 per cent. sample.

2. Office for National Statistics Labour Force Survey Household Datasets.

Departmental Staff (Ethnic Origin)

Mr. Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will provide a breakdown, in numerical and percentage terms, of the ethnic origin, at 1 March, of (a) his private office, (b) Government special advisers, (c) his Policy Unit and (d) staff in total. [78508]

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Mr. Timms: Information on the ethnic origin of civil servants is collected using a voluntary, confidential questionnaire. The number and percentage of ethnic minority staff in Ministers' private offices in this Department are set out in the table.

	Number of Staff	Number of ethnic minority staff	Percentage of ethnic minority staff
Private Office	45	6	13.3

Note:

The number of staff is based on the number of respondents.

For information on staff total, my right hon. Friend, the Minister for the Cabinet Office will be providing a central response. For information on special advisers, I refer my hon. Friend to the written answer my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Brent, East (Mr. Livingstone) on 22 February 1999, Official Report, column 39.

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