§ Mr. Wrigglesworthasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his latest estimate of the cost of extending the long-term rate of supplementary benefit to the adult unemployed under 60 years.
§ Mr. NewtonAbout £500 million. Our proposals in the Social Security Bill currently before Parliament would replace the present supplementary benefit scheme structure, including the distinction between the ordinary and long-term rates, by income support based on personal allowances and premiums.
§ Mr. Waltersasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what information he has as to the frequency with which supplementary benefit claimants change addresses; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MajorI regret that no information is available centrally on the frequency with which supplementary benefit claimants change addresses. Statistics are not kept routinely so that information could only be obtained by a special exercise which would be disproportionately expensive.
§ Mr. Frank Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish the number of families with children with additional requirements included in their supplementary benefit assessment, by type and average amount of additional requirement.
§ Mr. Newton[pursuant to his reply, 16 January 1986, c. 702.]: The information at December 1983, the latest date for which information is available, is as follows:
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(1) (2) (3) Type of additional requirement (AR) Number of families with children in receipt of AR (thousands) Average amount of AR for families at (2) £ Extra heating 692 3.09 Special diet 48 2.48 Extra laundry 20 2.47 Heavy wear and tear on clothing 6 1.25 Extra baths 6 1.42 Hire purchase 1 2.59 Hospital visiting fares 1 8.24 Blindness 1 1.41 Domestic assistance * 10.00 Storage of furniture * 5.44 Over 80 age addition * 0.25 * Less than 500
Source: Annual Statistical Enquiry.
About 706,000 families with children were in receipt of one or more additional requirements, averaging £3.31 a week for those families. This amount does not take account of the effect of the available scale margin in relevant cases, so that the average amount of additional benefit actually received would be somewhat lower.
§ Dr. Godmanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people claimed supplementary benefit in Greenock and Port Glasgow in each of the years 1979 to 1985; and what percentage this represents.
§ Mr. Major[pursuant to his reply, 30 January 1986, c. 621.]: The table shows the number of claims to supplementary benefit processed by the Department's offices at Greenock and Port Glasgow in each of the years from April 1979 to April 1985, and the percentage changes they represent.
Greenock Percentage change Port Glasgow Percentage change 1979/80 13,013 — 7,118 — 1980/81 14,268 +10 6,879 -3 1981/82 13,409 -6 6,716 -2 1982/83 13,173 -2 5,544 -17 1983/84 13,486 +2 5,720 +3 1984/85 12,731 -6 5,645 -1 Per cent. change between 1979/80 and 1984/85 -2 -21