§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what percentage take-up of benefit under the Family Income Supplement Scheme he will regard at a point in time 12 months after the scheme comes into operation, as the minimum criterion for the satisfactory operation of the scheme.
§ Sir K. JosephI do not think it would be right to set in advance a single statistical criterion for judging the success of the scheme in alleviating poverty. Other relevant considerations, whether or not they can be precisely measured, would include the proportion of claimants to non-claimants according to income and according to duration of low income.