§ Mr. D. E. Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what would be the cost of reducing the qualifying period for the long-term rate of supplementary benefit from two years to one for lone parents; and how many would benefit.
§ Mr. O'MalleyThe cost would be about £6 million a year and about 44,000 single parents would benefit.
§ Mr. D. E. Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what would be the current rate at today's prices of the supplement proposed at paragraph 5,254 of the Report of the Committee on 334W One-Parent Families (Command Paper No. 5629) for lone parents who receive supplementary benefit; how many lone parents would currently benefit from such a supplement; and what the cost would be.
§ Mr. O'MalleyThe current amount would be £2.50. The cost of introducing such a supplement would be of the order of £35 million and about 270,000 single parents would benefit. This takes no account of single parents not at present entitled to benefit who might be attracted to claim.
§ Mr. D. E. Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many lone mothers with dependent children received a supplementary allowance (a) in November 1975 and (b) at latest date available; and, for each date, how many of these women received the non-house holder's rate, the long-term rate, and the non-householder's long-term rate, respectively.
§ Mr. O'MalleyThe latest information relates to November 1974, when there were 261,000 lone mothers with dependent children receiving a supplementary allowance. Of these, 132,000 were assessed at long-term rates and 64,000 were non-householders. The incidence of the long-term scale rate among the non-householders is not known.