HC Deb 22 March 1932 vol 263 cc890-3W
Mr. RHYS DAVIES

asked the Minister of Labour the number of claims for transitional benefit received by each of the public assistance authorities in Lancashire, including the county authority, up to the last convenient date, and in percentage form the number of such claims totally rejected, partially, and fully met, respectively?

Mr. TINKER

asked the Minister of Labour the latest figures available of cases determined under the means test, and the number allowed full benefit, partial benefit, and no benefit at all, expressed in terms of percentage; and will he also give the figures of the counties with the highest percentage and lowest percentage of claims disallowed altogether?

Public Assistance Authority. Applications. Payment allowed at maximum benefit rates. Payment allowed at rates lower than the maximum benefit rates. Needs of applicants held not to justify payment being made.
Initial applications. Renewals and Revisions. Total.
Per cent. Per cent. Per cent.
Lancashire Administrative County. 95,543 96,732 192,275 17.4 56.5 26.1
County Boroughs:
Barrow-in-Furness. 3,707 5,268 8,975 75.2 23.4 1.4
Blackburn 19,631 16,176 35,807 48.9 38.6 12.5
Blackpool 2,238 2,490 4,728 38.1 44.0 17.9
Bolton 11,304 12,492 23,796 33.9 42.6 23.5
Bootle 4,336 6,804 11,140 2.6 91.7 5.7
Burnley 12,246 9,566 21,812 37.3 32.0 30.7
Bury 3,148 3,716 6,864 11.7 67.4 20.9
Liverpool 45,215 72,420 117,635 19.6 73.7 6.7
Manchester 33,493 36,831 70,329 55.5 28.1 16.4
Oldham 14,617 19,006 33,623 10.3 74.1 15.6
Preston 6,766 6,087 12,853 23.8 50.5 25.7
Rochdale 6,353 4,583 10,936 7.7 60.2 32.1
St. Helens 5,650 8,982 14,632 64.4 25.1 10.5
Salford 10,181 10,065 20,246 31.1 50.2 18.7
Southport 1,351 1,676 3,027 69.4 17.9 12.7
Warrington 2,936 3,296 6,232 33.7 43.8 22.5
Wigan 6,273 8,208 14,481 49.1 39.3 11.6
Total Administrative County and County Boroughs. 284,993 324,398 609,391 28.4 53.5 18.1

The reply to the first part of the question by the hon. Member for Leigh was given on 17th March [OFFICIAL REPORT,

Period: 12th November, 1931, to 20th February, 1932.
— Applications. Payment allowed at maximum benefit rates. Payment allowed at rates lower than maximum rate. Needs of applicants held not to justify payment being made.
Initial applications. Renewals and Revisions. Total.
Per cent. Per cent. Per cent.
Leicestershire Administrative County. 4,321 3,575 7,896 38.8 29.7 31.5
Durham Administrative County. 59,952 85,605 145,557 90.4 8.3 1.3

I should point out that any comparisons between authorities on the basis of these statistics must be subject to many qualifi-

Sir H. BETTERTON

The following table gives determinations by public assistance authorities in Lancashire on applications for transitional payments submitted to them between 12th November, 1931, and 20th February, 1932.

17th March, 1932, columns 432–3, Vol. 263]. As regards the second part, the following table gives the particulars:

cations. The percentage of determinations providing for transitional payments at less than the full rate of benefit or for no payments at all in any particular area are substantially affected by various factors as, for example, the general economic conditions of the area, the extent to which the income coming into the household is commonly that of one or of a number of wage earners, the relation between the maximum scale adopted by the authority for public assistance purposes and the corresponding rate of benefit applicable, and the proportions of the determinations given on initial applications and on renewal applications and revisions. As regards the last mentioned point, statistics showing the proportion of full, partial and nil determinations separately for initial applications and renewals and revisions are not available for the whole period.