§ Mrs. Chalkerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what are the most recent figures for (a) the annual administrative cost, excluding publicity, of rate rebates, (b) the annual cost of publicity, (c) the total administrative cost per recipient of the benefit, and (d) the number of civil servants employed to administer the scheme.
§ Mr. John SilkinThe information is as follows:
- (a) The cost of administering the scheme falls on local authorities and I cannot quantify their expenditure.
- (b) The Government expenditure to publicise the new scheme this calendar year will amount to over £420,000. In addition local authorities have publicised the scheme at a cost that I cannot quantify.
- (c) This information is not available because (a) is not available.
- (d) My Department does not administer the scheme on a day-to-day basis. Now the scheme is in operation the Civil Service effort devoted to the scheme in the Department does not amount to more than a third of a woman-year.