§ Mr. Marksasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is her estimate of the net cost of paying a non-means-tested, non-contributory benefit of £15 for all persons who would otherwise be in paid employment but who stay at home to care for disabled, sick or elderly relatives, assuming the benefits to be taxable; and what the effect of this measure would be on the numbers claiming supplementary benefit.
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§ Mr. Alec JonesAn estimate is not possible, since only limited information is available on the number of people who are of working age and capable of employment but who stay at home of necessity to care for disabled, sick or elderly relatives. Some 15,000 such people currently receive supplementary benefit and almost all of them would cease to receive that benefit if it were replaced by a benefit of the kind envisaged in the Question.
§ Mr. Marksasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what would be the cost of paying a non-means-tested, noncontributory benefit to all single parents, excluding widows, of £15 plus increases for children at the rates paid to widowed mothers as from April 1975, assuming the benefit were taxable.
§ Mr. Alec JonesAbout £400 million net of savings on social security benefits. The extra income tax payable as the result of the introduction of such a benefit would be of the order of £100 million.