§ Mr. Ernie Rossasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the number of people in Dundee in receipt of supplementary benefit in May 1979; what is the current figure; and how the figures are broken down for pensioners, one-parent families and unemployed claimants.
§ Mr. WhitneyDundee is covered for supplementary benefit purposes by two DHSS Offices.
The total number of supplementary benefit cases handled by these two offices at may 1979 and May 1984, the latest date of which figures are available, was:—
May 1979 May 1984 Dundee (East) 7,904 11,542 Dundee (West) 7,140 10,358 Of these, the figures for pensioners, single parent families and unemployed claimants at these dates were:—
May 1979 May 1984 Dundee (East) Pensioners 3,524 2,912 Single parent families 1,086 1,645 Unemployed 2,497 5,485 Dundee (West) Pensioners 3,944 3,671 Single parent families 588 1,011 Unemployed 1,810 4,196
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what have been the public expenditure savings in each year since 1980 arising from the deduction from the supplementary benefit of strikers of amounts which they are deemed to be receiving in strike pay; and what is his estimate of the savings for the current year.
§ Mr. NewtonThe deductions which are made under Section 6(1) of the Social Security (No. 2) Act do not depend upon, or assume, payment of strike pay.
It is not possible to provide precise figures for total public expenditure savings arising from these deductions.
587WThis is because, in cases where the amount of supplementary benefit entitlement is less than the amount of the deduction, the application of the deduction will result in no benefit being paid; records are not kept of these cases.
Records are however available for the total number of actual payments to strikers and estimates of the amount of benefit withheld from these as a result of the deduction are as follows:
Year Number of payments to strikers Estimated benefit savings arising from deductions £ 1981 28,032 341,000 1982 16,848 219,000 1983 48,648 707,000 1984* 1,322,170 19,833,000 * To 20 November