§ Mr. Skinnerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many claims have been received for free welfare milk and foods, and for exemption from prescription, dental and optical charges on grounds of low income other than by persons in receipt of supplementary benefit, in each week since his Department's advertising campaign commenced; how many awards were made in each of these weeks; what is the total number of
FREE WELFARE MILK AND VITAMINS PRESCRIPTION CHARGES DENTAL CHARGES OPTICAL CHARGES Number of Claims Number of Claims Number of Claims Number of Claims Week ending Received Granted Received Granted Received Granted Received Granted 27th April, 1971 … 26,300 7,600 12,800 3,300 5,300 700 11,000 1,600 4th May, 1971 … 24,200 10,400 15,700 5,600 6,000 1,400 12,000 2,900 11th May, 1971 … 20,500 11,600 15,000 6,400 7,000 2,100 13,500 4,200 18th May, 1971 … 14,600 9,800 12,700 6,900 6,500 2,400 12,000 4,900 25th May, 1971 … 10,000 8,000 10,100 5,700 6,500 3,100 11,700 5,700 1st June, 1971 … 6,400 3,800 6,000 3,400 5,100 2,300 8,400 4,200 8th June, 1971 … 6,100 4,600 5,500 3,400 4,900 2,300 7,700 4,100 15th June, 1971 … 4,700 3,800 5,700 3,500 5,100 2,700 9,000 5,300 22nd June, 1971 … 3,900 3,400 3,400 2,800 4,100 2,900 6,500 4,700 29th June, 1971 … 4,000 2,100 4,100 2,000 5,600 2,100 9,200 3,500 6th July, 1971 … 3,200 2,200 3,400 2,000 4,600 2,100 7,300 3,300 13th July, 1971 … 2,600 1,800 2,700 1,700 4,200 2,400 6,800 4,000 20th July, 1971 … 2,900 1,800 2,700 1,700 4,300 2,200 6,800 3,800 27th July, 1971 … 2,300 1,500 2,400 1,600 4,200 2,300 6,900 3,700 3rd August, 1971 … 2,100 1,200 2,000 1,100 3,500 2,100 6,200 3,300 10th August, 1971 … 2,200 1,300 2,000 1,200 3,700 2,200 7,200 3,900 17th August, 1971 … 1,900 1,300 2,100 1,300 3,500 2,000 5,800 3,500 24th August, 1971 … 1,700 1,100 2,000 1,400 3,400 2,500 6,100 4,100 Totals for period 21st April, 1971 to 24th August, 1971 (to nearest 1,000) 140,000 77,000 110,000 55,000 88,000 40,000 154,000 71,000 Four weeks ending 21st September, 1971 … Not available 4,900 7,600 4,000 Not available 7,200 Not available 12,400 Four weeks ending 19th October, 1971 … Not available Not available 10,500 5,600 Not available 9,600 Not available 15,200 NOTES:—
1. Numbers of claims granted in any one week do not relate to numbers of claims received in the same week. At 24th August, 1971, some claims remained outstanding.
2. The collection of information on a weekly basis was discontinued at the end of August.
3. Figures for prescription charges may include some claims with entitlement to refund only.