§ Mrs. Chalkerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what would be the net cost of paying a non-means-tested, non-contributory benefit to all single parents of £15, plus increases for children, at the rates paid to widowed mothers as from April 1975; and what would be the effect of this measure on the number of single parents claiming supplementary benefit.
§ Mr. Alec JonesThe cost, net of savings in social security benefits, would be about £450 million a year—about £675 million gross with approximately £225 million savings on supplementary benefit. The effect of such a benefit would be to remove virtually all single parents from supplementary benefit.