§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what is the current total number of families in receipt of family income supplement; and what is estimated to be the total number of families eligible for this benefit at the present time;
(2) what has been the total number of families in receipt of family income supplement each week since 3rd August, 1971; and for each of these weeks what has been, respectively, the total extra number of awards of this benefit and the total number withdrawing from receipt of the benefit.
§ Mr. David HowellAt 28th April, 1971 11,591 families in Northern Ireland were receiving family income supplement. It was originally estimated that about 16,000 families would qualify for the benefit. This figure was based on a very small sample in the family expenditure survey and is subject to appreciable sampling errors.
Information is not available on the number of families receiving family 144W income supplement each week but the following table shows the number of awards in respect of new claims.
Awards made* To 6th August,1971 … 5,263 Week ending 13th August,1971 … 255 20th August,1971 … 667 27th August,1971 … 689 3rd September,1971 … 260 10th September,1971 … 456 17th September,1971 … 576 24th September,1971 … 501 1st October,1971 … 362 8th October,1971 … 369 15th October,1971 … 353 22nd October,1971 … 334 29th October,1971 … 278 5th November, 1971 … 351 12th November,1971 … 395 19th November, 1971 … 326 26th November, 1971 … 341 3rd December, 1971 … 133 10th December, 1971 … 141 17th December, 1971 … 127 24th December, 1971 … 90 31st December, 1971 … 45 7th January, 1972 … 83 14th January,1972 … 109 21st January,1972 … 133 28th January,1972 … 91 4th February, 1972 … 94 11th February, 972 … 101 18th February, 1972 … 120 25th February, 1972 … 138 3rd March, 1972 … 139 10th March, 1972 … 162 17th March, 1972 … 141 24th March, 1972 … 158 31st March, 1972 … 135 7th April, 1972 … 170 14th April, 1972 … 227 21st April, 1972 … 321 28th April, 1972 … 302 5th May, 1972 … 304 *Ralating to claims made two to three weeks earlier. The first awards of the supplement ended on 1st November, 1971, and since that date 1,813 families have not applied for renewal following expiry of the first award.