§ Lord Balnielasked the Minister of Social Security why the table at the end of Command Paper No. 3515 shows total expenditure on social security at £3,106 million for both 1968–69 and 1969–70, in view of the proposed increase in supple- 368W mentary benefit scales to be introduced this autumn.
§ Mr. DiamondI have been asked to reply.
The Table at the end of Command Paper No. 3515, which gives the results of the announced decisions, shows estimates of expenditure on social security of £3,106 million in 1968–69 and £3,126 million in 1969–70, both at 1967 Survey prices. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, in paragraph 29 of his statement on 16th January, said that the Government would be watching price rises very carefully and intended in the light of this to raise Supplementary Benefits in the autumn of 1968. An increase in Supplementary Benefit rates attributable to price changes would not affect estimates expressed in 1967 Survey prices, such as those given in the Table in Command Paper No. 3515.—[Vol. 756, c. 1586.]