asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what would be the cost to the central Exchequer of making available free telephone rentals to all retirement pensioners.

The number of telephone subscribers who are retirement pensioners is not known. As recently announced, the annual rental charge for a telephone is, as from 28th April, £33. There are approximately 8 million retirement pensioners in the United Kingdom, and approximately 6 million households containing one or more member who is of retirement age.