§ Mr. Frank Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how much money has been spent by his Department in each of the past five years on take-up of the following benefits (a) statutory sick pay, (b) family income supplement, (c) national insurance benefits, (d) supplementary benefits and (e) housing benefits.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe amounts spent in each of the past five financial years on promoting take-up of the benefits listed is in the table:
525W
1979–80 £000 1980–81 £'000 1981–82 £000 1982–83 £f000 1983–84 £'000 (d) Supplementary benefits Nil Nil Nil 98 Nil (e) Housing benefits †l57 †42 †261 300 Nil All social security leaflets and posters means-tested, non-contributory and NI benefits (including those above) and NI contributions 628 736 832 1,376 ‡1,500 * Pre-introduction advertising directed at employers. † Rent and rate rebates advertising by Department of the Environment. ‡ Approximately Estimated figure. In addition to expenditure on publicity, the Department takes other steps to ensure that those concerned have access to information about benefits to which they may be entitled. These include: information about other benefits at the back of order books, local media activity by our regional information officers, the new freephone information and advice service, and improvements in service to the public in the Department's network of local offices.