§ Mr. Cookasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his estimate of the number of children living in households where at least one adult member is unemployed.
§ Mrs. ChalkerI regret that a reply cannot be given in the form requested. However, information is available about the number of children for whom a dependency increase of unemployment benefit was being paid at the date when a count was made, or who were included in the calculation of the requirements of an unemployed person getting a supplementary allowance—that is, broadly,
Table 1 Merseyside (1980)—Appeals Lodged, Withdrawn and Revised Subject of Appeal Total Appeals Lodged of each type Withdrawn of each type And as percentage of Column 2 Revised and not heard of each type And as percentage of Column 2 Appeals against amount/refusal of benefit—unspecified items 3,711 729 19.6 1,360 36.6 Appeals against specified item Single payments for Exceptional Needs 3,350 350 10.4 485 14.5 Exceptional circumstances additions 110 10 17.3 29 26.4 "Living together" 688 11.8 9 13.2 Trade disputes 68 8 11.8 9 13.2 Allowances for rent 83 16 19.3 23 27.7 Issue of benefit to third party 113 22 19.5 21 18.6 Condition of registration for work 24 3 12.5 8 33.3 Payment of benefit in kind 2 -- -- — — Recovery of emergency payments 5 — — 3 60.0 Recovery of emergency payments 128 25 19.5 40 31.3 Recovery of overpayments 135 26 19.3 51 37.7 Report under Section 10(1) 9 1 11.1 1 11.1 Total 7,804 1,205 15.4 2,050 26.3 It would be very misleading to attach undue importance to percentages based on small numbers of cases.
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TABLE 2 Merseyside—Appeals heard and success rates (all cases) Total appeals heard Appeallant successful Appellant unsuccessful Subject of appeal 1977 1978 1979 1980 1977 1978 1979 1980 1977 1978 1979 1980 Total appeals 5,705 6,596 4,787 4,419 858 1,243 868 862 4,847 5,353 3,919 3,557 Appeals against amount/ refusal of benefit—unspecified items 2,080 2,153 1,742 1,544 150 205 159 184 1,930 1,948 1,583 1,360 Specified items: Single payments for exceptional needs 3,320 3,370 2,524 2,479 675 965 650 629 2,645 2,405 1,874 1,850 Exceptional circumstances additions 47 80 96 60 7 16 23 14 40 64 73 46 "Living together" 35 47 38 40 10 11 4 7 25 36 34 33 Trade disputes 46 688 108 49 1 19 6 — 45 669 102 49 Allowance for rent 19 16 41 42 6 5 6 13 13 11 35 29 Issue of benefit to third party 34 72 53 64 2 11 3 10 32 61 50 54 Condition of registration 7 21 25 12 1 3 1 2 6 18 24 10 Payment in Kind 2 2 1 2 — — 1 — 2 22 — 2 Recovery of emergency payments 2 3 7 2 1 — 1 — 1 3 6 2 Recovery from NI benefits 48 52 65 61 1 — — 1 47 52 65 60 Recovery of overpayments 64 92 85 57 4 8 13 2 60 84 72 55 Report under section 10(1) 1 — 2 7 — — 1 — 1 — 1 7 those children who were dependent on an unemployed adult. At November 1980 it is estimated that about ¾ million children were in such circumstances.