HC Deb 06 August 1980 vol 990 c210W
Mr. Ralph Howell

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services, further to his reply to the hon. Member for Norfolk, North, Official Report, 23 July, c. 281, whether the "passport" benefits available with family income supplement and supplementary benefit include heating additions; and, if so, what are the weekly rates.

Mrs. Chalker

Supplementary benefit heating additions, where they apply, are included as part of the calculation of the claimants' requirements in assessing entitlement to supplementary benefit. Similarly, the enhancement of family income supplement to help with fuel costs forms part of the main benefit. In neither case, therefore, is the heating addition a "passport" benefit.

I regret that in my reply to my hon. Friend on 23 July the cost of NHS frames under the item "optical treatment" was given incorrectly. The range of the cost of these frames should have read "from £1.84 to £9.27'.—[Vol. 989, c. 281– 82.]