§ Mr. ClayTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give a breakdown of estimated expenditure on income support for 1988–89 by claimant group(a) including the compensation for 20 per cent, contribution to rates and (b) excluding the 20 per cent, rates compensation.
§ Mr. ScottThe information requested is as follows:
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(a) Including compensation for 20 per cent, rates contribution (b) Excluding compensation for 20 per cent, rates contribution (£ million) (£ million) Pensioners age 80 + 190 160 Pensioners age 60–79 1,160 1,080 Sick or Disabled 510 500 Lone Parents 1,830 1,790 Couples with Children 2,030 2,010 Others 2,850 2,760 Total (figures do not add owing to rounding) 8,570 8,290
Mr. YoungTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if Her Majesty's Government plan to withhold income support from Easter school leavers.
§ Mr. ScottYoung people who leave school this Easter will, subject to satisfying the normal conditions, be entitled to receive income support.
It is the Government's intention that from September 1988 there will be no general entitlement to income support for 16 and 17-year-olds. Only certain groups of people, to be prescribed in regulations and expected to include such groups as lone parents and the severely disabled, will be entitled in their own right. We also intend to provide benefit for a limited period for those young people who are unable to live at home, because, for example, of risk of physical or sexual abuse, and who would otherwise suffer severe hardship.