§ Mr. LesterTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish figures giving expenditure on family credit and housing benefit paid to people above and below retirement age who are not in receipt of income support and the revenue received from the same people through income tax, national insurance contributions and local authority rates.
§ Mr. Peter LloydExpenditure on family credit is running at the sorts of levels expected in Cm. 288—the 1988 public expenditure White Paper. Estimates of expenditure on reformed housing benefit will become available when the 1989 public expenditure White Paper is published. Reliable estimates of the kind specified in the question will be possible only when historical survey data on the numbers in receipt of the reformed income related benefits, along with corresponding information on incomes, earnings and local authority rates payments, are available. Even then, it is likely that the kind of information mentioned in the question could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.