HC Deb 05 February 1968 vol 758 cc10-1W
Mr. Bob Brown

asked the Minister of Social Security if she will state the number of persons per 1,000 of the population of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the Northern Region in receipt of supplementary benefits, with comparisons for the South-East of England, the rest of England, England and Wales, England, Wales and Scotland, and the whole country, respectively.

Mr. Pentland

The number of persons receiving regular weekly payments of Supplementary Benefits in the Northern Region in December 1967 was 212,000; the numbers in England. Wales and Scotland were 2,128,000, 178,000 and 271,000, and in South-East England 698,000. The total of 2,577,000 recipients in Great Britain, with their dependent wives and children, represented about 3.5 million people or about 70 per 1,000 of the population. I regret that insufficient information is available to enable comparable ratios to be calculated for Scotland, Wales, England or parts of England.