asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance how many persons in Scotland are receiving a reduced National Assistance allowance because of the operation of the wage pause.

I regret that the information is not available.

Is not this information which should be available? Is the hon. Lady aware that all the people coming within this category are living below the National Assistance scale level, which is supposed to be the lowest level at which anyone in this country lives? Will she, at least, see that this particular measure is operated in as humane a manner as possible, not in as harsh a way as possible, as seems to have been the case in many instances?

The hon. Gentleman has directed his Question to the "wage pause". I take it that his supplementary question is directed to the operation of the wage stop.

In response to the latter part of his supplementary question, may I remind the hon. Gentleman that in individual cases, which on rare occasions come to us, we try to operate the rule as humanely as possible. We have a lot of questions on this topic put to us, with well rehearsed arguments, but very few individual cases are brought to our attention.

I take it that the hon. Lady knew what was meant by the use of the word "pause" instead of "stop" in this connection. Is she aware that we have regular examples of what seem to us to be a harsh application of the rule, where there seems to have been an effort to find the very lowest possible wage rate at which the calculation could begin? Will she ensure that this kind of practice is not continued?

The hon. Gentleman says that he has a large number of cases—

Frequent cases.

—frequent individual cases. I can only remember one coming to me since I have been answering, and that was the one which the hon. Gentleman himself forwarded, which, as he knows, resulted in considerable relief to his constituent. If he or other hon. Members know of more cases, I should be grateful if they would forward them.

The hon. Lady may think that she has given a smart reply to my hon. Friend, but is not she aware that there are many hundreds of people—married men with their wives and children—who are suffering under the wage pause in Scotland particularly because of the lower rates of wages there? Is there nothing at all that she can do to help these hundreds of families in Scotland who are living below what even this Government regard as the minimum subsistence level at which families can live?

The hon. Lady is very unjust in her strictures. Before I came here this morning, I went through every single file we had on this topic so that I could give the House an accurate answer. The hon. Lady knows the general principle—I do not think that the Labour Party would go against it, or, at least, I should be interested if they were to suggest it—that we cannot pay more to a person when he is out of work than he could expect to get on his return to work. We try to operate this principle very humanely, and we shall continue to do so, in spite of what the hon. Lady says.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance how many retired persons in Scotland are in receipt of an allowance from the National Assistance Board.

On 31st March, 1964, 109,339. Some of the allowances provided for the requirements of more than one person.

In the light of a figure as large as that, does not the hon. Lady agree that the basic pension is totally inadequate and that it is time that it was reviewed upwards?

In fact, the figure is slightly lower than it was a year ago. As the hon. Gentleman knows, the cost of financing an increase in the rates of pension is borne by contributors and the taxpayer, and this is one of the matters which has to be taken into account. It was raised, at a cost of £227 million all round, last year.

But have not we recently been told that the Government have budgeted for an increase? When shall we hear more about it?

If the hon. Gentleman will read the Government's White Paper on future expenditure he will find the relevant paragraph.