§ Mrs. GilroyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many inquiries have been received concerning eligibility for the Minimum Income Guarantee since the campaign was launched in June 2000(a) nationally, (b) from Plymouth, Sutton constituency, (c) from Plymouth, Devonport constituency, (d) from South-West Devon constituency and (e) from the City of Plymouth. [134311]
§ Mr. BayleySince the announcement of our plans at the end of March, we have received around 500,000 inquiries in response to the Minimum Income Guarantee take-up campaign. We do not hold information on inquiries made at a local level.
§ Mrs. GilroyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many pensioners he estimates are(a) eligible for, and (b) claiming the Minimum Income Guarantee in (i) Plymouth Sutton constituency, (ii) Plymouth. Devonport constituency, (iii) South-West Devon constituency and (iv) the City of Plymouth. [134310]
§ Mr. BayleyThe information requested is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the table.
Income support pensioners by parliamentary constituency and unitary authority—May 2000 Thousand Area Number of claimants Plymouth, Sutton 3.2 Plymouth, Devonport 2.5 South-West Devon 1.6 Plymouth 6.7 Notes:
1. Figures are based on a 5 per cent. sample and therefore subject to sampling error.
2. Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred and quoted in thousands.
3. Pensioners are defined as benefit units where the claimant and/or their partner are aged 60 or over.
Source:
Income Support Statistics Quarterly Enquiry, May 2000.
In addition, some half a million pensioners in Great Britain are missing out on their entitlement. We cannot routinely disaggregate take-up statistics for the income-related benefits. Inspection of the available data suggests that take-up of Minimum Income Guarantee in Devon is likely to be broadly the same as take-up for Great Britain as a whole.