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Premium Bonds

Volume 957: debated on Tuesday 7 November 1978

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asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer why he has decided to discontinue £1,000 prizes in the weekly premium bond draw; and what steps he takes to ensure a proper balance between large, but restricted, prizes and smaller but more frequent ones.

Experience of operating the premium savings bond scheme for 22 years shows that it is the larger prizes which attract new investment and thereby increase the total size of the prize fund. The recently announced change in prize structure has resulted in the highest sales for one month since the bonds first came on sale in 1956.For the draws in November 1978 there are 120,583 prizes of which 120,521 are smaller prizes—£25 to £1,000—and only 62 are large prizes. As the total investment in premium savings bonds rises, the number of smaller prizes increases each month and therefore the withdrawal of the 25 £1,000 weekly prizes from January 1979 and the introduction of one weekly £75,000 prize will not upset the present balance.