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Mr. Elfyn Llwyd (Meirionnydd Nant Conwy): Will the hon. Gentleman confirm that that compensation was awarded after a long, hard-fought and ultimately successful High Court action?
Mr. O'Brien: Indeed, and I congratulate the mine workers who pioneered that claim. However, credit must go to the Government for not challenging that decision and for establishing the means of awarding that compensation.
There is still much to be done to improve the quality of life of old and disabled pensioners and to tackle pensioner poverty. After 18 years of Tory Government, which took so much away from our old people, pensioner poverty remains. I am pleased to have an opportunity this morning to express views on behalf of my constituents.
The Government must have regard to the gross inequality of the concessionary television licence scheme, which is part of the pensioner poverty issue. The concessionary television licence scheme required urgent review, and I am pleased that the Government have kept their promise and are in the process of that analysis. However, I plead with the Government to treat all old people equally under that scheme, as occurs with the winter fuel allowance. Many old people cannot afford BSkyB, so they miss out on those programmes that used to be broadcast on terrestrial television. Since BSkyB purchased the television rights of major sporting events, many of my constituents who are interested in sport have difficulty viewing those programmes. Television is the only means of entertainment for many old people, and I congratulate the Government on taking the initiative and deciding to review the concessionary television licence scheme. Let us get it right this time.
I draw the attention of the House to the previous Government's attitude towards local government. Under the Tories, many local government services upon which old people relied were withdrawn or charges for such services were levied or increased. As a result of the Tory Government's attacks and their application of capping and the rate support grant to local government expenditure, local government was forced to withdraw, or to levy charges for, services such as home help, assistance with bathing and personal hygiene, and help with gardening and decorating.
Bus deregulation has made it difficult for many old people to travel around their districts because of reduced services and the withdrawal of buses from certain routes. It has created pensioner poverty because pensioners must now rely on taxis. We all know that, when local government provided bus services, old people received more attention and were catered for better. Cross- subsidisation helped many of our constituents. I support the national bus pass scheme that the Deputy Prime Minister is considering, and I urge the Government to speed up its implementation. It will provide major assistance to our old people and help to reduce pensioner poverty further. That is another example of the Government's delivering on their promise to equalise public transport facilities for our old people.
It is the same with law and order. Every week, we hear about attacks on the elderly--many of which occur in their own homes. Our old people are very vulnerable to attacks because they cannot afford to install security lighting, extra-strong doors or window grills. It is those pensioners that we need to support, and I am pleased that the Government are helping people to be more secure in their own homes and providing better street lighting so that old people can feel more comfortable in their community. All those issues are part of pensioner poverty, but the Government are tackling them and making provisions to help elderly people.
As I said, there is still a great deal to be done to erase pensioner poverty. In 1980, the Tories cut the link between pensions and wages, and single pensioners suffered a loss of £22 a week. After the 17 years of Tory rule that followed the severing of that link, the reduced quality of life of many of our pensioners is apparent, and the Government must take action. I am pleased that they are reviewing future pension provision and keeping the promise that they made to the people. The hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam referred to the Green Paper on pension reform.
We must at all times remember that today's pensioners contributed a percentage of their earnings to their pension, but the pension does not relate to earnings. In comparison with today's rates of income from investment, the rate of return on those pension contributions is poor, particularly when we consider the number of years for which people paid into the pension scheme. Rich people tend to get more out of what they have paid in because they live longer than poor pensioners. With means-tested benefits, the pensioners who have saved more lose out.
The state pension is about 15 per cent. of average earnings, and that percentage is falling because wages are increasing. Between 5 and 6 per cent. of the UK's gross domestic product is paid in pensions. Pensioners in many European Union countries receive around 15 per cent. of GDP.
Mr. Elfyn Llwyd (Meirionnydd Nant Conwy):
I congratulate the hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam (Mr. Burstow) on securing time for this debate. I am pleased to take part because the issue is important for many thousands of our constituents.
Poverty among the elderly is probably worse in Wales than anywhere else in the UK. In my constituency, 22 per cent. of the Meirionnydd section of the population are elderly, retired people. In the Conwy valley, that proportion is as high as 26 per cent. Thankfully, people are living to a greater age, so the proportion of elderly people is set to increase for the foreseeable future. Life expectancy for a woman in Wales is 79 and, for a man, 74. By 2016, there will be approximately 696,000 pensioners in Wales, and about 9 per cent. of the population will be over 75. That figure is 14 per cent. higher than that expected for England.
According to Shelter Cymru, at present, 60 per cent. of pensioners in Wales live on or below the poverty line. In Wales, a majority of pensioners rely on state pensions and other state benefits as their principal source of income. In 1997, 79,000 pensioners were receiving income support. It is estimated that a further 55,000 to 71,000 elderly people who are eligible for income support did not claim their benefits. Also in 1997, 13,700 disabled pensioners and 2,700 widows were in receipt of war pensions.
In that year, the average household in Wales spent £14 a week, or 7 per cent. of its income, on fuel, light and power. Single pensioners who are dependent on a state pension spent between £7.60 and £8.40 a week on lighting, fuel and power, while those not dependent on state pensions spent between £9.30 and £16.20 on those items.
The number of unfit homes occupied in Wales is about twice as high as that in England. Wales has the worst housing stock in western Europe if the age of the housing stock is used as an indicator. Over one third of the houses were constructed before 1919, and 52 per cent. of older people in Wales live in pre-1919 dwellings.
Since older people tend to be concerned about owing money and sliding into debt, I often come across people who choose to prioritise their spending as best they can, frequently choosing between eating and heating. Is that how we shall treat old people? They have, after all, given us a good start in life and a reasonable standard of living. We owe it to them to treat them better.
It is a long-standing indictment of successive Governments that so many hard-working, honest and decent people have been pushed below the poverty line. One of the reasons for that is that Baroness Thatcher's Administration decoupled state pensions from the average rise in wages and imposed the softer option of price inflation. That has meant that, in real terms, the value of retirement pensions has slipped back considerably over the past 15 years, and that is why there is such a shameful disparity between what pensioners receive and what they should receive. The situation appears far worse when one compares the UK's retirement pension with other European examples.
Pensioners in rural Wales often have to bear the brunt of petrol price rises. Although the Government say that they will introduce free or reduced price travel for pensioners, they will have to leave that measure to local authorities, which cannot, at present, make ends meet to pay for it. I should welcome a full and honest commitment to introduce centrally funded free transport for all pensioners.
Recently, two of my constituents, Mr. Arthur Holland Williams and Mrs. Jenny Hyde, both of Blaenau Ffestiniog--that should give Hansard something to think about--came to see me at my advice surgery. They were speaking out on behalf of many other pensioners in the constituency. Mr. Williams told me that the net effect of the Government's recent pension increases has given him an extra 38p a week. His story is similar to many thousands of others. We ought to remember, at a time when water rates in Wales are crippling, and every outgoing, such as electricity standing charges, fuel, transport and food, is racing upwards, that 38p a week does not even buy a cup of coffee.
A few weeks ago, a pensioner wrote an anonymous letter to me in which he told me off most severely for criticising the Budget. Perhaps when he realises that he is less than 40p a week better off, he will understand what I meant by saying that the Budget was really a poor one--all smoke and mirrors and a spin doctor's triumph.
The Budget is hardly as generous as it seems. The basic minimum income guarantee is extended only to those who claim income support. As I said, it is estimated that between 55,000 and 71,000 pensioners in Wales are entitled to income support but do not claim it. Furthermore, those people who are just above income
support levels gain nothing from that new income. There is a 7 per cent. increase in council tax and an increase in the price of fuel and other utilities, so that increase has already been cancelled out. Age Concern, for example, says that, on balance, it would prefer a Budget that helps pensioners by making a generous increase in the basic state pension. That is the crux of the whole matter.
Mr. Williams and Mrs. Hyde, to whom I referred, gave me the following figures relating to a neighbour of theirs, whose outgoings I shall briefly detail. They are as follows: rent, £1,371.76 per annum; water rates, £254.25; council tax, £361.81; telephone, £240; electricity, £210; coal and gas, £523.08; clothing and other items, £260; food and cleaning materials, £1,300; television licence and piping service, £320.24, and household and personal insurance, £185. That is a grand total of £5,026.14. The state pension is £4,464.02, which means a deficit of £562.12. Even working out a very careful and meagre budget, and despite what one could hardly call high living, that person still has a shortfall. She hardly has a lavish life style. She must avoid buying any kind of luxury and is desperately worried about sliding into debt. Her health is being affected by the worry, and that example is typical of many cases that I have come across over the past few months.
The treatment of our pensioners is downright unfair, and that is something that I greatly resent. At a time when they should be enjoying life, having made a great contribution to our comforts, pensioners are desperately worried about making ends meet. On Monday, I met a constituent who was widowed in 1983. Her late husband was an acquaintance of mine. He was a hard-working man who was as conscientious as they come. Sadly--it was a great blow to everyone in the Bala area who knew him--he died of an industrial disease. His widow is being paid £66.75 a week in industrial benefits, which is the lowest rate of income support. Her only other means of support is a retirement pension of £38.77. She is in dire straits and unable to make ends meet. She pleads with the Government to do something.
I appreciate what the hon. Member for Normanton (Mr. O'Brien) said about the efforts being made and the pledges being given, but nothing much is changing on the ground. It is a grave injustice that the lady to whom I referred not only lost the companionship of her husband in 1983 but--after all that he and, indeed, she, suffered--is paid the lowest rate possible. I shall be writing to the Minister about the case to seek more and proper explanations and, better still, I hope, some changes.
The time has surely come to stop tinkering with pensions and to stop hiding behind the elusive £1 excess income, which deprives people of benefit. Surely the time has come to overhaul and simplify the system to ensure that pensions are substantially increased. I welcome some of the Government's proposals, but they are merely tinkering at the edges. We should be considering abolishing utility standing charges for the elderly and ensuring that pensioners' means are taken into account when calling for the payment of council tax and water charges. There are many more things that could be done to improve the quality of life of our elderly citizens. I am angry and ashamed, as I am sure many other hon. Members are, about a system which cuts taxes for the well-off but denies the elderly the decent standard of living that they richly deserve.
I conclude by quoting from a report entitled "The Financial Situations of Older People in Wales" by Age Concern Cymru, Help the Aged and the Welsh Consumer Council. The report concludes:
"It is said that a society is judged by the way it treats its young and its old: if this is the case then the treatment of older people in Wales and Britain as a whole reflects very badly on the British state and British society. While notions of poverty are subjective in many respects it is objectively evident that older people in Britain are the poor relations of the European Union--they deserve more."
I fully agree with those words.
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