§ Mr. Ovendenasked the Secretary of State for Social Services when she expects to make a decision concerning the recommendation of the Finer Committee on long-term supplementary benefit rates for one-parent families.
§ Mr. O'MalleyThe question of reducing the qualifying period for the long-term supplementary benefit scale rates for families with children, as recommended by the committee, will be considered
218Wadministered by local authorities—i.e. the local authorities have little or no discretion to amend the assessment scales. In addition these authorities administer a number of other means-tested benefits but both the extent of assistance given and the income scale used in determining entitlement are at the discretion of these authorities; no information is available about the extent to which these benefits are available to people above the tax threshold.
§ Mr. George Cunninghamasked the Secretary of State for Social Services, in respect of those benefits paid out of the National Insurance Fund which are available only partially to self-employed contributors, what were the amounts paid in respect of the part of the benefit not available to the self-employed, and the percentage these payments represented of total payments out of the fund, in the years 1970 to 1974.
§ Mr. O'MalleyThe graduated part of retirement pension, the earnings-related supplement to sickness benefit and the earnings-related addition to widow's allowance are the parts of those national insurance benefits only partially available to self-employed contributors which are not payable in respect of class 2 contributions. Graduated retirement pension will cease to accrue in respect of class 1 contributions paid from 6th April 1975. The amounts are as follows:
along with other improvements in the supplementary benefit scheme as resources permit.