§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish a table showing expenditure on each of short-term national insurance benefits and supplementary benefits, at current and at 1978 prices, in every year since 1966, distinguishing between payments to people with and without dependent children and between two-parent families and one-parent families, and including the numbers of claimants and children involved.
§ Mr. OrmeSome information is not held in the form requested and some could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The first table shows the total cost of each of the short-term national insurance benefits and supplementary allowance without differentiating between persons with and without children. Supplementary allowances will include the cost of long-term rates paid to some 339W persons in receipt of supplementary allowance for two years or more. The
TABLE 1 £ million Sickness benefit Unemployment benefit Maternity allowance Injury benefit Supplementary allowance Current prices 1978 prices Current prices 1978 prices Current prices 1978 prices Current prices 1978 prices Current prices 1978 prices 1966–67 262 859 78 256 17 56 32 105 132 433 1967–68 323 1,043 122 394 16 52 35 113 193 623 1968–69 348 1,061 123 375 19 58 34 104 221 674 1969–70 386 1,119 127 368 19 55 34 99 245 710 1970–71 379 1,027 150 406 19 51 33 89 279 756 1971–72 326 805 239 590 22 54 31 77 366 904 1972–73 295 681 209 483 23 53 33 76 416 961 1973–74 314 663 174 367 25 53 34 72 412 869 1974–75 358 644 214 385 31 56 35 63 532 958 1975–76 443 629 454 645 40 57 39 55 779 1,106 1976–77 518 648 559 699 66 82 46 58 1,060 1,325 1977–78 613 662 629 679 77 83 50 54 1,316 1,421 1978–79* 655 655 688 688 85 85 51 51 1,390 1,390 * Estimated
TABLE 2 Thousands Sickness benefit* Unemployment benefit † Maternity allowance ‡ Injury benefit* Supplementary allowances ç Claimants Children Claimants Children Claimants Children Claimants Children Claimants Children 1966–67 N/A N/A 276 217 249 N/A 74 N/A N/A N/A 1967–68 903 N/A 318 257 244 19 76 N/A 753 695 1968–69 934 N/A 294 235 241 17 76 N/A 777 737 1969–70 923 N/A 279 217 232 14 72 N/A 813 770 1970–71 932 N/A 302 217 239 13 65 N/A 836 783 1971–72 857 433 459 343 243 13 56 52 990 958 1972–73 455 298 352 229 221 11 55 50 1,002 941 1973–74 449 299 197 131 214 10 53 49 831 789 1974–75 455 309 259 181 216 8 50 49 872 867 1975–76 403 284 525 322 252 11 45 43 1,113 1,069 1976–77 424 288 587 362 243 9 49 39 1,253 1,166 1977–78 452 302 561 284 N/A N/A 46 37 1,253 1,149 1978–79 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 1,215 N/A * Numbers in receipt of sickness and injury benefit are based on a sample of claims made on a day in June. Long-term sickness cases received invalidity benefit from 23rd September 1971. † Numbers in receipt of unemployment benefit are based on a 5 per cent, sample of claims made on a day in November except for 1976 which was a 4 per cent, sample in May. % Numbers for maternity allowance are the number of claims in the year ending March based on a sample The numbers of children are also annual figures but the relevant year ending was not March in all years. ç The numbers of supplementary allowance claimants will include some persons in receipt of the short-term national insurance benefits. Prior to November 1977 the figures were obtained by counting live documents in supplementary benefit local offices. From that date the figures are estimates derived from a sample of cases receiving a payment for the week of the inquiry and exclude some cases previously included in the count. With the exception of 1978, which is based on a May sample, figures relate to a week in November.