§ Mr. Ronnie CampbellTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will provide a breakdown for each of the last four years for which figures are available of single payments made from his Department's Blyth and Cramlington office to(a) pensioners, (b) single parents, and (c) long-term unemployed.
§ Mr. ScottThe information requested regarding single payments made to single parents and long-term unemployed during the last four years is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
However, information on the yearly totals of numbers and amounts of payments made to claimants of pension age, to claimants registered as unemployed and to those neither registered unemployed nor of pension age for the years April 1983 to April 1987 by the Department's Blyth local office is given in the table:
660W
Year April to April 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 11986–87 Claimants of pension age Number 266 369 588 572 Amount (£) 13,737 20,979 29,719 30,333 Claimants registered unemployed Number 2,348 3,645 4,270 3,232 Amount (£) 160,765 210,233 288,579 215,666 Claimants neither registered unemployed nor of pension age Number 1,803 2,473 3,300 2,675 Amount (£) 120,237 170,575 250,401 185,882 1 The figures for April 1986 to April 1987 are provisional and subject to amendment.