§ Mrs. Wiseasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will list in the Official Report any means-tested grants or benefits which test the income of a person or persons from whom the claimant has no legal right to demand financial support.
§ Mr. Orme, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 17th March 1978; Vol. 946, c. 347], gave the following information:
I take it that my hon. Friend has in mind taking into account, for the purposes of assessing a person's entitlement when administering means-tested benefits, the income of a person from whom the claimant has no legal right to demand financial support. This would arise for example when a person was living as the 373W spouse of another person from whom that person had no legal right to maintenance as a spouse or in respect of children, where entitlement depended on their aggregated income and on whether the other person was in full-time work. The main benefits are supplementary benefit, family income supplement, help with or exemption from National Health Service charges, patients' hospital travelling expenses and free milk and vitamins. There may also be some discretionary benefits administered by local authorities but this would depend on the policies of individual authorities.
If my hon. Friend has a particular case in mind I would be glad to make inquiries.