§ 12. Mr. Browneasked the Minister of National Insurance in what proportions it is estimated that the 26s. per week National Assistance Board allowance is spent on food, fuel and light, clothing, shoes and renewals and repairs thereto, household and toilet requisites, and all other expenditure, respectively.
§ Dr. SummerskillIn view of the differing ways in which people live the Board consider that it would be useless and misleading to compile and publish a typical budget purporting to be the basis for a general scale.
§ Mr. BrowneIs the right hon. Lady aware that I am astonished and, indeed, alarmed to learn that, with the facilities available to her for securing this information, she does not know the answer? Will she tell the House how, if she does not 2078 know these facts, we can possibly know whether the allowance of 26s. a week is adequate or not?
§ Dr. SummerskillThe hon. Gentleman has overlooked the lump sums which are given. Perhaps I might remind him of these: 132,500 lump sum grants for clothing were made during 1950; a little over 16,000 allowances containing a special addition for fuel were made last September; and in about 400,000 cases, at a cost of about £4,700,000 a year, additions to weekly allowances to meet special needs, such as extra nourishment, fuel and laundry, were made.
§ Mr. BrowneAs the right hon. Lady mentioned clothing and fuel allowances, she must know that very many questions are being asked about the unsatisfactory nature of these all the time.