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Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Cold Weather Payments on 2nd April 1987.

Mrs. Beckett Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the estimated cost of administering cold weather payments for the period January to March 1987, assuming maximum take-up; and how much was spent on publicising these payments.

Mr. Major [pursuant to his reply, 30 March 1987, c. 412]: The full cost of advertising and administering the exceptionally cold weather scheme in the current year will be assessed at the end of the winter period. However, total advertising costs for January 1987 were about £670,000.

Additional manpower in the form of 300 overtime man-years was allocated to local offices to help process cold weather claims at a cost of some £4 million. Extra travel and subsistence in connection with overtime working and increased postage costs were also incurred.

Mrs. Beckett Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many cold weather payments have been made in 1987, in each week for which information is available, to claimants in each of the categories (a) over 65 years (b) chronically sick or disabled and (c) with a child under the age of two years.

Mr. Major [pursuant to his reply, 30 March 1987, c. 412]: Information is not available in the form requested. However, up to 24 February 1987, the latest date for which figures are available, approximately 1.9 million exceptionally cold weather £5 payments were made at a cost of £9.5 million.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on the Retirement Pension on 2nd April 1987.

Mr. Knox Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the percentage increase in the state retirement pension in each year since 1979.

Mr. Major I refer my hon. Friend to my reply to the hon. Member for Oldham, West (Mr. Meacher) on 27 February at columns 444–47.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on National Insurance Contributions on 2nd April 1987.

Mr. Hancock Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people currently make national insurance contributions.

Mr. Major The most recent available information is that 23,603,000 people in the United Kingdom paid at least one national insurance contribution during 1984-85.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Orthotic Services on 2nd April 1987.

Mr. Alfred Morris Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what representations his Department has received from the director of the disabilities study unit concerning the future of orthotic services; what reply is being sent; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Major The director of the disabilities study unit has written to me about “A Future for the Orthotic Services”, the report of a working party set up by the Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation. I have told the director that we are anxious to ensure that the orthotic service should cater for patient needs in a cost effective way which would at the same time provide a good standard of service for patients. We are considering how best to take this forward.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Occupational Pensioners on 2nd April 1987.

Mr. Andrew Bowden Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his most recent estimates of the number of occupational pensioners who both pay income tax and are in receipt of housing benefit.

Mr. Major The latest estimate, based on information from the family expenditure survey 1985, is that the number of tax units (single people or married couples) in receipt of an occupational pension, paying income tax and in receipt of housing benefit is 1 million.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Supplementary Benefit on 1st April 1987.

Mr. McCrindle Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) whether any consideration is being given to amending supplementary benefit regulations for people aged over 50 years to allow higher part-time earnings before supplementary benefit is reduced; and if he will make a statement;
(2) if he will estimate the cost of raising the earnings limit to £20 per week for people aged over 50 years, before supplementary benefit is reduced; how many people he estimates would benefit; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Major We have no present plans to increase the amount that people, including those aged over 50, can earn before supplementary benefit is reduced. To increase the limit to £20 for all those in this age group including those who are already receiving supplementary benefit would give increased entitlement to some 35,000 people at a cost of £20 million a year. We do not have a reliable estimate of the number who might be brought into entitlement or what the additional cost might be.

For the future we have announced proposals for changes in the levels of disregards of earnings in the income support scheme that replaces supplementary benefit from April 1988. The standard disregard would be increased from £4 to £5 a week although the separate disregard of work expenses would end. There would be a higher disregard of £15 a week for couples who have been unemployed two years, lone parents and those qualifying for the disability premium.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Benefits (Age Limit) on 1st April 1987.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what information he has about the age at which young people are entitled to claim social security payments on their own behalf in (a) the United Kingdom and (b) other OECD countries.

Mr. Major In all countries social security payments under contributory benefits schemes depend primarily on the individual’s contribution record, which is normally a function of length of time in covered employment. The minimum age for the payment of contributions to the United Kingdom national insurance scheme is 16.

Payment of non-contributory benefits is much more various. The age at which child allowance ceases ranges between 16 and 27 in the countries referred to, and is linked with the status – student, trainee or other – of the young person. This clearly influences the age at which social welfare payments can be made available to the young person on his own behalf. There may in any case be a gap between the end of the child allowance and entitlement (if any) to welfare payments during which a young person is still considered dependent on his parents. In some countries (for example, United States of America, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland) young people without dependants have no entitlement to social welfare payments.

In the United Kingdom child benefit continues to age 19 if the young person is in non-advanced education. Young people aged over 16 are eligible to claim supplementary benefit in their own right from fixed dates at the end of the holiday following the term in which they complete their full-time non-advanced education.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Motability on 1st April 1987.

Mr. Freud Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he has any plans to review the criteria for eligibility to Motability; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Major Motability is an independent voluntary organisation set up in 1977 with Government support, specifically to help disabled people in receipt of mobility allowance to exchange the cash benefit for a vehicle.

In view of Motability’s independent status any review of the criteria for eligibility under the scheme would be essentially a matter for Motability itself in conjunction with the Department which meets the organisation’s administration expenses. There are, however, no plans for such a review at present.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Pensioners (Benefits) on 1st April 1987.

Mr. Austin Mitchell Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will estimate the cost in a full year at 1987-88 rates of (a) increasing the state pension by £5 per week for single and £8 for married persons, respectively, and (b) increasing supplementary benefits for pensioners between mid-December and the end of March by £5 per week to cover fuel bills.

Mr. Major The estimated cost (a) of increasing the state pension (retirement, invalidity and widow’s pension, supplementary pension and the linked needs allowance for housing benefit) by £5 a week for single and £8 a week for married persons would be £2.7 billion in a full year, (b) of paying £5 a week between mid-December and the end of March to those pensioners currently receiving supplementary benefit would be £150 million; there could also be a substantial extra cost in respect of other pensioners who would then become entitled to supplementary pension during the winter months.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on the Disabled Persons Act 1986 on 1st April 1987.

Mr. Wigley Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many representations he has received in the current year concerning the implementations of the Disabled Persons Act 1986.

Mr. Major Since the beginning of 1987, 60 written representations have been received from organisations or individuals relating to implementation of the Disabled Persons (Services, Consultation and Representation) Act 1986. I also met representatives of the local authority associations on 24 February to discuss a number of issues relating to the implementation of the Act and today, at their request, I met members of the steering group of major disability organisations which has been set up to monitor implementation.