§ Mr. BattleTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if he will publish his Department's estimates of the level of public expenditure on the old housing benefit scheme in operation prior to April 1988 in 1988–89 and 1989–90 had the scheme been retained;
(2) if he will publish his Department's estimates of the level of public expenditure on the old family income supplement scheme in operation prior to April 1988 in 1988–89 and 1989–90 had the scheme been retained;
(3) if he will publish his Department's estimates of the level of public expenditure on the old supplementary benefit scheme in operation prior to April 1988 in 1988–89 and 1989–90 had the scheme been retained.
§ Mr. Peter LloydIt is not possible to state what expenditure would have been had the former benefits remained in place. There have been many changes in economic conditions and in public knowledge of benefits. Expenditure would also have depended on decisions about uprating the old schemes.
§ Mr. BlairTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many supplementary benefit single payments were made for each of his Department's local offices in the counties of(a) Cleveland, (b) Cumbria, (c) Durham, (d) Northumberland and (e) Tyne and Wear, for the months of July, August and September, in each year from 1985–86 up to and including 1987–88.
§ Mr. Peter Lloyd[holding answer 12 December 1988]: The information requested is given in the table.
391W
Dates:1 30 July 1985 27 August 1985 24 September 1985 29 July 1986 26 August 1986 23 September 1986 28 July 1987 25 August 1987 22 September 1987 Ashington 512 350 471 360 290 466 424 399 339 Berwick 50 67 89 69 65 49 61 43 45 Blyth 650 540 640 536 490 614 401 365 311 Hexham 109 106 109 127 109 93 96 53 62 (e) Tyne and Wear Gateshead 1,953 1,701 1,917 1,581 2,375 1,894 1,291 1,193 1,051 Houghton le Spring 461 443 580 539 611 297 329 261 320 Jarrow 1,152 867 1,016 1,536 1,452 1,023 552 591 473 Newcastle on Tyne (St. James') 1,920 1,707 1,593 1,582 2,058 1,633 893 960 895 Newcastle on Tyne (East) 1,328 1,069 1,329 1,130 1,016 1,436 661 538 543 Newcastle on Tyne (West) 1,231 1,175 1,428 1,519 1,352 1,457 786 835 644 North Shields 898 809 978 813 892 851 479 562 575 South Shields 1,401 1,125 1,349 1,887 1,604 2,057 767 853 721 Sunderland (North) 2,791 2,428 2,456 2,474 2,088 3,261 1,157 1,197 1,051 Sunderland (South) 1,819 1,807 1,428 1,547 1,676 2,009 1,034 845 689 Wallsend 765 666 835 873 826 746 484 485 367 1 The Annual Period for DHSS was from April to April and statistics were collected four weekly. For each year the total of 4 four weekly periods is given. In 1987 these ended on 28 July, 25 August and 22 September 1987 and corresponding periods are given for each of the other years. 2 The Department has 33 offices within the five areas mentioned. However, the boundaries of the local offices and those of the county/administrative district are not conterminous. 3 These are estimated figures. Local industrial action prevented the provision of accurate statistics. 4 Because of industrial action only a few payments were made.