§ Mr. D. E. Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the total number of recipients of national 370W assistance/supplementary benefit in the following categories in each year since 1948 in Great Britain, England, Scotland, Wales and the English regions: (a) retirement pensioners and national insurance widows aged 60 years or over, (b) others over pensionable age, (c) unemployed without national insurance benefit, (d) unemployed with national insurance benefit; (e) sick and disabled with national insurance benefit, (f) sick and disabled without national insurance benefit, (g) women under 60 years of age without dependents, (h) national insurance widows under 60 years of age and (i) others.
§ Mr. MeacherI regret that the collation of all the available information in the form requested would involve a disproportionate expenditure of staff time. Much of it is published in the tables of the annual reports of the former National Assistance Board, the former Ministry of Social Security and the Department of Health and Social Security, and in "Social Security Statistics" 1972 to 1974, copies of which are in the Library. As far as the figures for Great Britain are concerned, I would refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Pembroke (Mr. Edwards) on 10th December 1975. The provisional December 1975 figures for Great Britain are given in the table below. Regional information for years before 1962 could only be provided at disproportionate cost. Regional information for the years between 1962 and 1965 is available in the annual reports of the National Assistance Board, Appendix 4, but is not all in the precise form requested. For information on England and Scotland in selected years I would refer the hon. Member to the reply my right hon. Friend gave to my right hon. Friend the Member for Walsall, North (Mr. Stonehouse) on 9th February and to my reply to the hon. Member for Clackmannan and East Stirlingshire (Mr. Reid) on 10th February.—[Vol. 902, c.217–8; Vol. 905, c. 80–2, c. 184–6.]—For information on the English regions in 1974 I would refer the hon. Member to Table 34.34 in "Social Security Statistics 1974", and to parallel tables for earlier years in the publications mentioned above. Prior to 1967 the English regions were not all defined in the same way as they are now. Information for Wales in selected years is as folows:
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SUPPLEMENTARY BENIFEIT—NUMBER OF RECIPIENTS (Thousands) Grerat Britain Wales December 1975 (Provisional) November 1967 November 1970 November 1971 November 1972 November 1973 November 1974 December 1975 (Provisional) All supplementary benefits 2,793 177 184 189 187 168 166 172 All supplementary pensions 1,675 113 119 118 115 108 104 96 Retirement pensioners and widows over 60 in receipt of NI widows benefit 1,583 103 107 111 105 101 96 90 Others over pension age 92 12 11 7 10 7 8 6 All supplementary allowances 1,118 64 65 71 72 60 62 76 Unemployed with NI benefits 135 19 5 7 6 3 5 9 Unemployed without NI benefits 410 13 17 22 12 16 27 Sick and disabled with NI benefits 80 15 15 13 13 10 8 7 Sick and disabled without NI benefits 158 12 14 13 11 13 13 13 Widows under 60 in receipt of NI widows benefit 32 6 6 6 5 5 3 3 One parent families not included in the above groups 276 9 11 12 13 14 14 17 Miscellaneous 27 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 Based on samples of 1 in 80 supplementary benefits cases for 1968 and 1 in 40 supplementary allowances and 1 in 160 supplementary pension cases for subsequent years from 1973 figures exclude those cases who received no payment of supplementary benefit during the week of the enquiry.
These figures have been published in: (a) Annual Report of Ministry of Social Security for 1967 (Table No. 29); (b) Annual Reports of Department of Health and Social Security for 1968 to 1971 (Table No. 28, 110, 111 and 109 respectively); (c) Social Security Statistics 1972, 1973 and 1974 (Table 34.34).
Regional figures for ealier years were published in the Annual Reports of the National Assistance Board for 1962 to 1965 (App. IV).
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