§ 43. Mr. Buchananasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will seek to amend the law so that families and persons who are the financial responsibility of the Supplementary Benefits Commission shall have their exceptional needs met as a right, and that the money allowed to social work departments be used for its original purpose for which it was intended—that is, as a back-up resource.
§ Mr. Alec JonesNo. The widely varying character of exceptional needs, and of the circumstances which give rise to them, require a flexibility in operation such as is achieved by the existing discretionary power vested in the Supplementary Benefits Commission. There are, I understand, agreed arrangements between the commission and social services departments in England and Wales and social work departments in Scotland about their responsibilities for cash payments in particular circumstances.