HC Deb 15 October 1975 vol 897 cc729-30W
Mr. Hannam

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what factors she took into account in deciding to allocate a further £2,000,000 to the Family Fund; what is her estimate of the amount of money the Family Fund will be able to pay in grants each month in the coming year; and if she will make a statement;

(2) how much money has been paid in grants by the Family Fund in each of the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Mr. Alfred Morris

Figures of grants up to the end of June have been as follows:

£
July 1974 256,704
August 1974 232,831
September 1974 247,244
October 1974 254,748
November 1974 183,924
December 1974 301,561
January 1975 282,149
February 1975 329,503
March 1975 232,977
April 1975 364,574
May 1975 346,947
June 1975 310,231

Expenditure was particularly heavy in the first half of 1975 in dealing with a backlog of several thousand applications, and the second payment of £3 million which had been made to the fund will soon have been exhausted. Allowing for the likely drop in future in the number of initial applications, I decided to provide allocations for continuing the work of the fund at a level of £2 million a year.

Forward to