§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will circulate in the Official Report a table showing the amount spent each month since May 1979 on unemployment and unemployment-related benefits by (a) central Government and (b) local government.
§ Mrs. ChalkerI have been asked to reply.
Expenditure on unemployment benefit and supplementary benefit to the unemployed is shown in the following table. Local authorities do not pay any allowances that are related specifically to unemployment.
203W
Unemployment benefit Supplementary benefit £ million Total 1979 May 51 50 101 June 37 51 88 July 40 56 96 August 55 70 125 September 47 65 112 October 52 52 104 November 57 60 117 December 53 64 117 1980 January 69 69 138 February 68 66 134 March 74 70 144 April 72 62 134 May 67 62 129 June 69 72 141 July 87 9a 180 August 81 95 176 Notes: (a)Expenditure for May to August 1979 was not necessarily' recorded in the month in which it was incurred because of industrial action at a computer installation. (b)Fluctuations in expenditure are caused to some extent by the number of pay-days in a month.