§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many persons on supplementary benefit were assisted, in the last year for which information is available, by discretionary grants over and above the long-term addition concerning, respectively, special diets, extra heating, laundry costs, and other special expenses; and in each case what was the total annual expenditure and the average weekly expenditure per beneficiary.
§ Mr. DeanI regret that information in the form requested is not available and could not be obtained for the reason given in my reply to the hon. Member for Southampton, Itchen (Mr. R. C. Mitchell) on 13th June.
At November, 1971, 358,000 recipients of supplementary benefit had exceptional circumstances additions over and above the long-term addition. The average weekly addition was 33p. These figures are based on a statistical sample.—[Vol. 838, c. 251.]