§ Miss Richardsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what proportion of male claimants of unemployment benefit have working wives.
§ Mr. PrenticeIt is estimated that about 14 per cent. of unemployed males who made claims for benefit or unemployment credits in the autumn of 1978 had wives at work at the time they became unemployed. Half of the wives were in full-time work.
§ Miss Richardsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his estimate of the proportion of claimants of (a) unemployment benefit and (b) invalidity benefit who (i) are already eligible for supplementary benefit and (ii) will be eligible after November 1980.
§ Mr. PrenticeI will let the hon. Member have a reply as soon as possible.
§ Miss Richardsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what proportion of claimants of invalidity benefit qualify for free prescriptions (a) on any grounds and (b) on low-income grounds.
§ Mr. Bestasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many of those in receipt of invalidity benefit, expressed both numerically and as a percentage of the total, will be exempt from prescription charges.
§ Sir George YoungFrom the latest information available (1978) it is calculated that 6.5 per cent. (36,150) of all those in receipt of invalidity benefit were entitled to exemption on age grounds (men aged 65 and over and women aged 60 and over); and 7.7 per cent. (43,000) were exempt because they were in receipt of supplementary benefit. Information is not available for any of the other exemption categories.
§ Miss Richardsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what percentage of strikers received supplementary benefit 533W in each of the last five years; and what was the average payment in each of those years.
§ Mr. PrenticeThe information is as follows:
Percentage of strikers who received supplementary benefit Average weekly Payment per cent. £ 1975 3.3 10.93 1976 1.5 15.10 1977 4.6 17.49 1978 4.3 15.51 1979 1.1 17.36