§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services on what date processing was completed of all mobility allowance applications from people aged between 60 and 65 years received before 28 November 1979.
§ Mr. PrenticeThis information is not available. Our records do not relate the date of decision on a claim to the date that claim was made.
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if any eligible applicant for mobility allowance who applied for benefit before 31 December 1979 is still awaiting payment.
§ Mr. PrenticeAs far as we can ascertain, no.
550W
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the cost in a full financial year of allowing people to qualify for the long-term rate of supplementary benefit after one year instead of two.
§ Mrs. ChalkerFor the purpose of the reform of the supplementary benefit scheme at nil cost, the annual cost element attributed to the reduction of the qualifying period for the long-term scale was £26 million at November 1979 benefit rates. The cost of extending the long-term rate to the unemployed on the same basis would be £65 million.
§ Mr. Jim Marshallasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people in Leicester and Leicestershire, respectively, are registered unemployed but receive (a) no unemployment benefit and (b) neither unemployment benefit nor supplementary benefit, respectively, at the latest date for which figures are available.
§ Mrs. ChalkerAt 8 May 1980, the latest date for which figures are available, information in respect of claims made at unemployment benefit offices is as follows:
Mr. AlfredMorris asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his estimate of the increase in (a) the retail price index and (b) the motoring index between the 1978 and current year up-ratings of mobility allowance; by how much in cash terms mobility allowance will exceed after the current year uprating the amount before the 1978 uprating increased in line with (a) and (b) respectively; and what is the consequent additional cost to his Department in a full financial year.
§ Mr. Patrick JenkinThe increase in the retail price index from July 1978 to November 1980 is estimated to be 39–8 per cent. The Government make no forecast of the transport and vehicle group index, but the actual increase in that 551W index from July 1978 to June 1980, which is the latest figure available, was 40–9 per cent; the increase in the retail price index for the same period was 34–1 per cent.
The rate of mobility allowance before July 1978 was £7 a week. Raising this by the estimated increase in the RPI would mean that the rate this November would be £9–80; it will, in fact, be £14–50. The additional annual cost of paying the extra £4–70 a week to the estimated 180,000 people who will be receiving the allowance in November is about £44 million.
As no forecast is available of the transport and vehicle group index, it is not possible to estimate how much this November's rate of mobility allowance will be greater than the rate applying before the 1978 uprating if that had been increased only in line with the rise in the transport and vehicle group index.