§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will take steps to remove the current practice whereby wives are required to obtain the written agreement of their husbands to claim benefits on their behalf if the husband is, for example, a drug addict or otherwise indisposed or handicapped when the same procedure is not required in the reverse situation.
§ Mr. NewtonThere should be no distinction for either contributory benefit or supplementary benefit purposes between the procedures used for husbands and for wives in these circumstances. If the hon. Member has a particular problem in mind, I should be happy to look into it.