HC Deb 06 April 1971 vol 815 cc79-80W
Mr. Meacher

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many households are at present rent-stopped; how they are distributed throughout the Department's administrative regions; and what is the average size of shortfall in coverage of the rent in each of these areas.

Mr. Dean

At November, 1970, the latest date for which information is available, the net rent payable by 32,000 claimants of supplementary benefit was not met in full, or 1.4 per cent. of 2,330,000 householder claimants. The average amount of rent unmet was £1.20. Information about the regional distribution is not available.

These figures are to the nearest thousand and are based on a sample using 1 in 160 supplementary pension cases and 1 in 40 supplementary allowance cases.