§ Mr. Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people are claiming supplementary benefit analysed in the same way as in table 34.30 of Social Security Statistics for the latest available year.
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§ Mr. PrenticeIt is not possible to provide the information requested in the time available. I shall let the hon. Member have a reply when it has been assembled.
§ Mr. Lyellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will now announce details of the uprating to family income supplement in November 1979.
§ Mr. PrenticeDetails of our proposals for uprating family income supplement (FIS) in November 1979 are as follows for families including up to four children. There will be corresponding increases for larger families.
§ Mr. PrenticeProvisional figures for November 1978 are as follows:
Thousands All supplementary benefits 2,929 All supplementary pensions 1,731 Retirement, etc. pensioners 1,628 Others 103 All supplementary allowances 1,198 Unemployed with contributory benefit 93 Unemployed without contributory benefit 509 Sick and disabled* 220 NI widows under age 60 19 One parent families not included in other groups 327 Others 29 * Breakdown according to receipt of contributory benefit not yet available.
§ Mr. Ernie Rossasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the number of people in Great Britain currently in receipt of supplementary benefit; and what percentage of those in receipt of supplementary benefit is (a) the head of a one-parent family and (b) retirement pensioners.
§ Mr. PrenticeIn November 1978 about 2.9 million people were receiving supplementary benefit and of these 56 per cent. were retirement pensioners and 12 per cent. were heads of one-parent families.
§ Mr. Ernie Rossasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people in Dundee are currently in receipt of supplementary benefit; and how many of 659W them are (a) the head of a one-parent family and (b) retirement pensioners.
§ Mr. PrenticeIn May 1979, the two Dundee offices of the Department were paying supplementary benefit to about 15,000 people, most of whom would have been living in Dundee. About 7,000 of these beneficiaries were retirement pensioners and about 1,700 were heads of one-parent families.