§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many supplementary beneficiaries were assisted, in the last year for which information is available, by exceptional needs grants for, respectively, clothing and footwear, bedding and household expenses, removal expenses, redecorations, starting work, fares, fuel debts and rent arrears, clearance of hire purchase debts, funeral expenses and emergencies; and in each case what was the total annual expenditure and the average annual expenditure per beneficiary.
§ Mr. DeanIn the 12 months ending April, 1972, 649,000 exceptional needs398W grants were made to supplementary benefit recipients, at a total cost of £5,632,000. I regret that information on the nature of of the grants is not available and could not be obtained without inordinate cost.