HC Deb 29 October 1985 vol 84 cc444-5W
Ms. Harman

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was (a) the number of persons claiming supplementary benefit and (b) the number of children estimated to be dependent on those claimants, in each of the nine local offices of his Department which serve the London borough of Southwark in each of the years 1979 to 1985.

1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985
Peckham 5,549 5,911 6,887 7,897 8,552 9,300 9,952
Thames South 420 483 561 576 680 675 716
Southwark *6,697 *7,134 *8,312 9,531 10,275 11,410 12,146
Camberwell *6,442 *6,863 *7,996 9,169 10,378 11,303 11,986
Kennington Park *7,124 *7,499 *7,896 *8,310 8,748 9,331 10,093
Kennington Area Office 5,940 6,318 7,876 8,877 9,745 10,195 11,938
Brixton 5,500 6,200 8,067 9,027 9,791 11,423 12,028
Lewisham 7,196 7,532 8,598 11,049 11,729 12,223 12,998
Crystal Palace 6,521 6,657 7,903 9,197 9,512 10,472 11,341
* Estimated figures

Source: 100 per cent count of cases in action in July each year.

Information is not available from which reliable estimates could be made of the number of children dependent on people claiming at individual offices but I refer the hon. Member to the estimates in the reply I gave her on 21 October, at columns 52–53.

Mr. Boyes

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if, in advance of the consideration by the House of the draft Supplementary Benefit (Requirements and Resources) Miscellaneous and Temporary Provisions Regulations 1985, he will make available to hon. Members a statement of the legal basis and considerations on which he drew up the draft regulations.

Mr. Newton

As the hon. Member will be aware, my right hon. and learned Friend the Solicitor-General has been invited to discuss this matter today with the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments, following its report to the House last week.

Mr. Gordon Brown

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list the costs of meeting mortgage interest payments for claimants of supplementary benefit, other than the unemployed, breaking these down into one-parent families, the sick and disabled and pensioners, and showing how many persons in each category benefit.

Mr. Major

[pursuant to his reply, 21 October 1985, c. 55.]: I regret that I said incorrectly that a copy of the 1983 annual statistical inquiry was held in the Library. apologise for this mistake. The latest tables in the Library are the 1982 tables; for 1983 tables will be deposited at the end of November.