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I hope this is helpful.

Morgan Allan Moore

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what meetings (a) he and (b) officials in his Department have had with representatives of the company Morgan Allan Moore in the last 12 months. [179595]

Mr. Hain: Ministers and civil servants meet many people as part of the process of policy development and advice. It is not the usual practice of Government to disclose details of such meetings.

Pension Credit

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of households in which at least one person will receive (a) pension credit and (b) the minimum income guarantee credit in 2008. [174804]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: Current forecasts for 2008-09 show 2.72 million households in receipt of pension credit, of which 2.04 million are estimated to be in receipt of the pension credit guarantee credit.

Notes:

1. Forecasts are rounded to the nearest 10,000 and are annual average case loads consistent with forecasts published at the 2007 pre-Budget report and comprehensive spending review. Benefit expenditure and case load tables are available at www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd4/expenditure.asp

2. Household recipients are those people who claim pension credit either for themselves only or on behalf of a household.

3. The number of households in receipt of guarantee credit includes those in receipt of guarantee credit only and those in receipt of both guarantee credit and savings credit.

Source:

DWP Forecasts

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households in each region have had at least one person in receipt of (a) pensioner credit and (b) the minimum income guarantee credit in each year since their introduction. [174884]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The answer is in the following table.

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Households in receipt of pension credit and the pension credit guarantee credit 2003-07
	November 2003		May 2004		May 2005		May 2006		May 2007
	Pension credit	Guarantee credit	Pension credit	Guarantee credit	Pension credit	Guarantee credit	Pension credit	Guarantee credit	Pension credit	Guarantee credit
All	2,084,700	1,842,690	2,490,760	2,004,780	2,682,730	2,088,990	2,717,390	2,118,830	2,733,500	2,135,850
North East	124,280	106,690	147,570	114,570	156,680	117,740	157,430	118,870	157,440	119,250
North West	285,900	252,980	332,590	271,230	354,960	280,740	357,560	283,640	359,140	285,530
Yorkshire and the Humber	200,810	175,270	241,840	189,990	258,880	195,910	261,650	197,750	262,390	198,420
East Midlands	144,690	126,030	178,600	139,330	193,290	145,490	195,990	148,020	196,580	148,540
West Midlands	216,810	193,350	256,910	208,710	276,840	216,420	279,420	218,570	280,340	219,360
East of England	159,940	141,240	202,300	158,220	220,610	166,890	224,190	169,950	227,080	172,260
London	233,480	218,160	264,860	232,370	285,420	243,410	290,220	247,690	292,420	250,490
South East	205,480	179,090	254,320	199,340	276,770	209,530	282,030	213,660	285,280	217,100
South West	171,570	147,080	205,590	161,720	221,070	169,140	224,820	172,320	225,770	173,520
Wales	121,890	108,170	145,900	119,260	158,370	125,680	161,330	128,360	162,720	129,950
Scotland	219,650	194,440	259,980	209,780	279,370	217,660	282,420	219,720	283,530	220,680
Unknown	190	180	280	240	460	360	330	280	810	740
Notes: 1. The number of households in receipt are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Totals may not sum due to rounding. 3. Pension credit was introduced in October 2003 so data for 2003 are as at November. 4. Household recipients are those people who claim pension credit either for themselves only or on behalf of a household. 5. The number of households in receipt of guarantee credit includes those in receipt of guarantee credit only and those in receipt of both guarantee credit and savings credit. 6. Time series data include minimum income guarantee (MIG) cases: households on income support where the claimant and/or partner are aged 60 or over. About 1.8 million MIG cases transferred to pension credit on 6 October 2003. Source: DWP Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent. data

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) single pensioners and (b) pensioner couples received (i) pension credit and (ii) income support in England in each year since 1997. [175071]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The answer is in the following tables.

Pensioners in receipt of pension credit 2003-07
	Single pensioners in receipt of pension credit	Pensioner couples in receipt of pension credit
November 2003	1,398,000	345,000
May 2004	1,639,000	446,000
May 2005	1,756,000	488,000
May 2006	1,771,000	503,000
May 2007	1,779,000	507,000
Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand. 2. Totals may not sum due to rounding. 3. Pension credit was introduced in October 2003 so data for 2003 are as at November. Source: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent data. DWP Information Directorate

Pensioners in receipt of income support/minimum income guarantee 1997-2003
As at May:	Single pensioners in receipt of income support/minimum income guarantee	Pensioner couples in receipt of income support/minimum income guarantee
1997	1,202,000	224,000
1998	1,161,000	212,000
1999	1,137,000	206,000
2000	1,135,000	214,000
2001	1,205,000	233,000
2002	1,215,000	242,000
2003	1,229,000	259,000
Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand. 2. Totals may not sum due to rounding. 3. Pensioners are defined as benefit units where either the claimant and/or partner are aged 60 or over. 4. From April 1999 income support for pensioners became the minimum income guarantee. 5. Figures from 1997 to 1999 are taken from a five per cent. sample are subject to a degree of sampling variation. They are also adjusted to be consistent with the overall caseload from the Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study. Source: Five per cent. data and Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent. data, DWP Information Directorate

Pensioners

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the net cost would be of increasing the basic state pension for all pensioners to £119.05 a week in 2008-09. [172160]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The estimated net cost is approximately £21 billion in 2008-09 which takes savings from income-related benefits into account.

Notes:

1. ‘All pensioners’ is defined as all individuals over state pension age living in the United Kingdom. The estimate does not include pensioners claiming a UK pension, but living overseas. Including this group would increase the estimated costs.

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2. Savings from income related benefits have been estimated using the Department's Policy Simulation Model.

3. The estimate is consistent with mid-2004 GAD population projections.

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