§ Mr. D. E. Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the annual expenditure on supple-
Expenditure Country or Region Annual amount (£ million) Percentage Annual expenditure per head of population £ Great Britain … … … 690.0 100.0 12.78 England … … … 567.6 82.2 12.34 North … … … 54.5 7.9 16.69 Yorkshire and Humberside … … 64.6 9.3 13.54 East Midlands … … … 37.3 5.4 10.91 East Anglia … … … 13.1 1.9 7.7 South-East … … … 193.2 28.0 11.2 South-West … … … 40.0 5.8 10.58 West Midlands … … … 62.1 9.0 12.13 North-West … … … 102.8 14.9 15.28 Wales … … … 40.6 5.9 15.01 Scotland … … … 81.8 11.9 15.68
§ Mrs. Bainasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is her latest estimate of the number of persons in Scotland in receipt of supplementary benefit; and if she will express this figure as a percentage of the United Kingdom total.
§ Mr. O'MalleyAs at 20th May 1975, the latest date for which figures are avilable, 267,000 people in Scotland were in receipt of a regular payment of supplementary benefit; rather less than 10 per cent. of the United Kingdom total.
§ Mrs. Bainasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is her latest estimate of the number of persons under 25 years of age in Scotland who are in receipt of supplementary benefit; and if she will express this figure as a percentage of the United Kingdom total.
§ Mr. O'MalleyI regret that the information is not available in the form requested, but as at November 1974, the latest date for which figures are available, in Scotland about 13,000 people under 21 and about 36,000 under 30 were in receipt of a regular payment of supplementary benefit. These figures represent about 12 per cent. and 11 per cent. respectively of the United Kingdom totals.
244Wmentary benefit in Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and the eight English regions in £ million and per head of population in 1973 and 1974.
§ Mr. MeacherThe latest available information in the form requested relates to 1972–73, when the regional breakdown of expenditure is estimated to have been as follows:
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people are in receipt of supplementary benefit through local offices in the borough of Congleton and Macclesfield, respectively, in the county of Cheshire.
§ Mr. O'MalleyThe information is not available in the form requested, but on 20th May 1975-the latest date for which figures are available-there were about 5,300 people in receipt of regular payments of supplementary benefit within the area covered by Macclesfield local office. That area, in addition to Macclesfield borough and the former Congleton municipal borough, also includes Wilmslow, Alderley Edge and Knutsford.