§ Mr. Cartwrightasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what is his estimate of the administrative costs incurred by the Supplementary Benefits Commission in the operation of the direct deduction scheme for fuel bills announced in February 1976;
(2) how many exceptional needs payments in respect of electricity and gas bills were made by the Supplementary Benefits Commission during the period from February to September 1976 compared with the same period in the preceding year;
(3) what is his estimate of the total sums deducted from supplementary benefit recipients for direct payment to gas and electricity authorities since the start of the fuel liaison scheme announced by the Supplementary Benefits Commission in February 1976.
§ Mr. DeakinsFigures were collected only for the first three months of these arrangements, and were given in my reply to the hon. Member for Bedwellty (Mr. Kinnock) on 22nd June—[Vol. 913, c.567.] Further data will be available in due course from the Supplementary Benefits Commission's annual statistical inquiry which is to take place next month. It is not practicable to identify separately the administrative activity on the direct deduction scheme with sufficient precision to make a realistic estimate of the scheme's administrative costs.