§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many claimants of the non-contributory invalidity pension for married women to date have been refused benefit because they were considered able to do their normal household duties.
§ Mr. Alfred MorrisI regret that the information requested is not available. However, up to 9th January 1978, a total of 15,000 claims for the benefit had been disallowed and it seems likely that, in a large proportion of those, the claimant would have been held not to be incapable of normal household duties.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many 48W recipients of the non-contributory invalidity pension for married women have husbands who are receiving contributory benefits with a wife's addition or supplementary benefits.
§ Mr. Alfred MorrisMy estimate is that there may be about 5,000 families where the husband is receiving a national insurance benefit and/or supplementary benefit at the same time as his wife might be entitled to the non-contributory invalidity pension (NCIP). A husband cannot continue drawing a dependency increase of a national insurance benefit for his wife if she is awarded NCIP.