§ 14. Mr. DunnTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many persons were in receipt of income support (a) on 1 December 1992 and (b) on 1 December 1994; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Roger EvansThe information requested is not available in the precise form requested. However, the total number of claimants as at November 1992 was 5.5 million and, as at February 1994, 5.8 million.
§ Mr. DunnFamily credit benefits more than half a million working families by making it worth their while to work. Will my hon. Friend compare it with the minimum wage, which destroys jobs?
§ Mr. PikeIf the Government accept and believe that income support is the absolute minimum that people need to live on, why is it that when people on income support need assistance from the social fund, they are given loans which the Government tell them that they have to pay back out of income support?
§ Mr. EvansThe hon. Gentleman has asked me questions on that topic before. He has not appreciated the basic point that income may be regular week after week under income support, whereas people's actual needs may vary from week to week, depending on their circumstances or needs. The system of loans offered under the social fund has been strikingly successful; it has helped five times as many people with loans, which are almost entirely repaid. That is more than we could hope for if we made simple grants.