§ Mr. Roperasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what is her Department's estimate of the number of claimants who have given up supplementary benefit in order to claim rent and rate rebates since October 1972;
(2) how many claimants have been identified in the recent "better-off" exercise conducted by her Department.
§ Mr. O'MalleyInformation is not available on the number of claimants identified as "better off" with housing benefits since the current exercise began last October. When the last count was taken on 13th May, about 70,000 claimants had decided to give up supplementary benefit in favour of housing benefits. Information is not available about claimants who transferred before October 1974.