HC Deb 18 November 1957 vol 578 cc4-6
8. Mr. G. Thomas

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance the number of people in receipt of National Assistance in Wales during November, 1957; and the comparative number for 1956, 1955, and 1950, respectively.

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

The National Assistance Board informs me that 129,000 weekly assistance grants were being paid in Wales at 29th October, 1957, the latest date for which information is available, and that the comparable figures for 1956, 1955 and 1950 were 127,000 125,000 and 110,000, respectively.

Mr. Thomas

Is not the Minister disturbed by this steady increase—if I heard aright—in the number in receipt of National Assistance in Wales?

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

The impression of a steady increase is, I think, occasioned by the hon. Gentleman's selectivity in the choice of dates. If he looks at 1952, 1953 and 1954, he will see that the figures were then higher than the latest, which I have just given.

Mr. Gower

Can my right hon. Friend tell us the proportion of people on assistance in relation to pensioners, for example? Is there any marked difference between Wales and the rest of the United Kingdom?

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

I should like notice of that.

9. Mr. G. Thomas

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance the number of people in Cardiff who have been granted extra National Assistance to meet increased rent charges; and what is the total amount of money involved each week.

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

Up to 2nd November, 1957, the National Assistance Board's offices in Cardiff, which serve an area extending beyond the city, had increased about 1,600 weekly assistance grants to provide for rent increases under the Rent Act. The increased assistance averaged about 5s. 7d, a week, but as some of the recipients of such grants will have ceased to require assistance since the increases were granted, the figure asked for in The latter part of the Question is not known.

Mr. Thomas

As I am rather weak in arithmetic, I have found the Minister's Answer rather difficult to follow. Am I right in assuming that, taking out those who have fallen out in the meantime, about £250 a week subsidy to the landlords of Cardiff is being undertaken by the Assistance Board?

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

Without venturing to comment on the right hon. Gentleman's mathematics, I would put this to him, if I may: that if it is necessary to help a poor person who is unable to pay the full rent of his house, it is, on the whole, fairer for that to be done by the community as a whole, through the National Assistance Board, than on an individual basis by his landlord.