§ Mr. Knoxasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing for each year since 1973 the number of people in Great Britain (a) in receipt of supplementary benefit, including wives and other dependants, (b) in receipt of rent rebates and rent allowances, including those granted to recipients of supplementary benefit, including wives and other dependants, (c) in receipt of rate rebates, including those granted, if any, to recipients of supplementary benefit, including wives and other dependants, (d) in receipt of free school meals, and (e) in receipt of family income supplement, including wives and other dependants.
§ Mrs. ChalkerFollowing is the information: 201W
NUMBERS OF PEOPLE RECEIVING VARIOUS MEANS-TESTED BENEFITS IN GREAT BRITAIN, 1973 TO 1978 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 Supplementary benefit (a) Number of claimants … 2,675,000 2,680,000 2,793,000 2,940,000 2,991,000 2,932,000 Number of wives … 549,000 538,000 564,000 614,000 611,000 584,000 Number of children … 798,000 874,000 1,078,000 1,172,000 1,156,000 1,082,000 All claimants and dependants … 4,022,000 4,092,000 4,434,000 4,725,000 4,759,000 4,598,000 Rent rebates and allowances (b) Number of rebates … 1,930,000 2,087,000 2,160,000 2,382,000 2,423,000 2,287,000 Number of allowance … 235,000 333,000 400,000 616,000 614,000 700,000 Rate rebates (c) Number of rebates … 1,110,000 2,630,000 2,930,000 3,020,000 3,090,000 3,135,000 Free school meals (d) Number of children receiving free school meals: in England and Wales … 795,000 750,000 784,000 839,000 997,000 1,074,000 (e) in Scotland … 137,000 130,000 122,000 117,000 118,000 156,000 In Great Britain … 932,000 880,000 906,000 956,000 1,115,000 1,230,000 (e) Family income supplement (f) Number of claimants … 95,000 70,000 60,000 77,000 89,000 81,000 Number of wives … 50,000 32,000 28,000 42,000 51,000 44,000 Number of children … 221,000 161,000 135,000 176,000 205,000 183,000 All claimants and dependants … 366,000 261,000 223,000 295,000 345,000 308,000 Notes:
(a) Supplementary benefit: The source of the figures is the supplementary benefit annual enquiry in November 1973 and 1974, and December 1975, 1976, 1977 and 1978. The figures from 1977 are not directly comparable with those for earlier years, due to a change in the method of estimation.
(b) Rent rebates and allowances: The source is the Department of the Environment. The figures relate to October of each year. They include supplementary benefit recipients who received direct rebates and allowances up to 31 March 1974 and indirect rebates and allowances since that date. Estimates of family composition are not available.
(c) Rate rebates: The source is the Department of the Environment. The figures relate to March of each year. The estimates are for the number of households receiving a rate rebate and include those few who may be receiving supplementary benefit for a short-term transitional period. Estimates of family composition are not available.
(d) Free school meals: The source is the Department of Education and Science census at October of each year in respect of England and Wales and the Scottish Education Department census at January of each year in respect of Scotland. The figures are for numbers of children receiving free school meals at the stated dates; estimates of family composition are not available.
(e) The 1978 figures for Wales are not yet available. The figure of 1,074,000 therefore relates only to England and the total of 1,230,000 only to England and Scotland.
(f) Family income supplement: The source is a 10 per cent. statistical sample at December of each year.
All figures relate to Great Britain except where explicitly stated to the contrary and are rounded to the nearest thousand. Because of rounding, the component figures may not add up to the totals shown.
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