§ Mr. Ernie Rossasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will monitor the welfare benefits take-up campaign being undertaken in Dundee; if he will publish its results in the Official Report at a later date; and if he will use its results to sponsor further take-up campaigns.
§ Mr. NewtonWe have asked for a detailed report on this campaign. As soon as the results are available I shall write to the hon. Member. As with all take-up campaigns the results will be evaluated to see whether any lessons can be learnt.
§ Mr. Ernie Rossasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish the percentage take-up rate for each individual welfare benefit in the latest available year.
§ Mr. NewtonInformation about levels of take-up is available only for the limited number of benefits indicated below. The cost of obtaining take-up estimates for other benefits would be disproportionately high.
The latest available estimates indicate that the level of take-up of supplementary benefit was 71 per cent. in 1981; for family income supplement it was 50 per cent. in 1978–79; and for one parent benefit it was 70 per cent. at the end of 1981. Among supplementary benefit and family income supplement recipients take-up of free welfare foods was estimated to be nearly 100 per cent. and among other eligible families about 7 per cent. in 1981.
No information is available on take-up of housing benefit under the new scheme, but for the latest estimates of take-up of rebates and allowances I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Dunfermline, East (Mr. Brown) on 6 March 1984, at column 566.
§ Mr. Ernie Rossasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his estimate of the total amount of unclaimed welfare benefit in the latest year for which figures are available; and if he will disaggregate the information for each welfare benefit available.
§ Mr. NewtonI refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Wolverhampton, North-East (Mrs. Short) on 10 April 1984, at columns196–97.