§ Mr. Clemitsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will publish figures of the number of families claiming family income supplement in 1973, the total amount of supplement awarded, the total number of families estimated to be eligible to claim the supplement and the cost of advertising the scheme.
§ Mr. Robert C. BrownDuring 1973, 170,000 claims for family income supplement were made and at the end of the year it is provisionally estimated that 95,000 families were receiving the benefit; the total amount of benefit awarded was £12 million and the cost of advertising was £150,000.
Estimates of the number of families eligible to receive the supplement are based on limited information and are 159W subject to wide margins of error; it is estimated that about one-half of those eligible take up the benefit.