§ 19. Mr. Carmichaelasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will now publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT a job analysis of successful applicants for family income supplement, and what the average payment has been per job classification.
§ 28. Mr. Lawsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT a job analysis of successful applicants for family income supplement who are living in Scotland, and what the average payment has been per job classification.
§ Sir K. JosephI regret that the information is not at present available.
§ 46. Mr. Duffyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will indicate in percentage terms the take-up of family income supplement; and how this compares with the Government's target forecast.
§ Sir K. JosephThe latest estimate of the potential field, which is still subject to wide margins of error and which I originally estimated as 164,000, is approximately 140,000. On this basis current take-up at 68,000 is now in the region of 50 per cent. and continuing to rise. The cost estimates given on Second Reading of the Family Income Supplement Bill in November, 1970, were based on a take-up of 85 per cent. and implied an average weekly payment of £1.
At present we have a take-up of 50 per cent. with an average payment of £1.72, so that the current rate of expenditure is not far short of the annual rate for which we budgeted. These figures do not include the approximately 25,000 people on supplementary benefit whose wage-stop is either reduced or eliminated as a result of family income supplement.
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§ Mr. Raisonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services when he proposes to increase the prescribed amounts for entitlement to family income supplement.
§ Sir K. JosephSubject to parliamentary approval of the necessary regulations, I propose to increase the prescribed amounts by £2 with effect from 4th April next. The new prescribed amounts will be £20 per week for a one-child family, £22 for a two-child family, and so on in steps of £2. As family income supplement is half the difference between the family's income and the appropriate prescribed amount, this will mean that for any given level of income below the existing prescribed amounts family income supplement will go up by £1 per week. I propose at the same time to raise the upper limit on family
Number of children in family Two-parent families One-parent families headed by[...] Total families Woman Man 1 … … … … 9,800 15,000 400 25,200 2 … … … … 10,800 4,700 250 15,750 3 … … … … 9,100 1,500 200 10,800 4 … … … … 7,100 520 130 7,750 5 … … … … 4,200 200 60 4,460 6 or more … … … 3,900 80 60 4,040 Total families … … 44,900 22,000 1,100 68,000
§ Mr. Hayhoeasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what percentage take-up he estimates has been achieved with the family income supplement schemes; and whether he will give separate figures for various levels of benefit in approximately 50p steps.
§ Sir K. JosephAs I indicated in my reply earlier today to the hon. Member for Sheffield, Attercliffe (Mr. Duffy), I estimate overall take-up now to be in the region of 50 per cent. I regret the information asked for in the second part of the Question is not available but it is already clear that there is a substantial take-up from families eligible for higher weekly awards.
§ Mr. Hayhoeasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he can estimate the increase in take-up, consequent upon the introduction of the family income supplement, of those social benefits like free prescription charges for which the supplement carries with it an entitlement.
268Wincome supplement from £4 to £5 per week.
§ Mr. Hayhoeasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will give a breakdown, according to job classification of the wage earner, of those families receiving family income supplement.
§ Sir K. JosephI regret that the information is not at present available.
§ Mr. Hayhoeasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will give a breakdown, according to family size and type of one-parent family, of those families receiving family income supplement.
§ Sir K. JosephThe information is as follows:
§ Mr. AlisonOn welfare milk I would refer my hon. Friend to my hon. Friend's reply to the hon. Member for Oldham. West (Mr. Meacher) on 9th December As regards the National Health Service, no reliable estimate can be made of the numbers of people who during any period both make use of a service for which a charge is payable and are eligible for remission of the charge; but I have no reason to doubt that most people take advantage of the benefits of which they are automatically informed when they are awarded a family income supplement. The number of families receiving the supplement is 68,000.—[Vol. 827, c.373–4.]