MEANS-TESTED BENEFITS (Hansard, 10 June 1980)

The information requested is shown in the following table:

NUMBERS OF PEOPLE RECEIVING CERTAIN MEANS-TESTED BENEFITS IN GREAT BRITAIN, 1973–1978
	Thousands
	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978
Supplementary Benefit(1)
No. of claimants	2,675	2,680	2,793	2,940	2,991	2,932
No. of wives	549	538	564	614	611	584
No. of children	798	874	1,078	1,172	1,156	1,082
All claimants and dependants	4,022	4,092	4,434	4,725	4,759	4,598
Family income supplement(2)
No. of claimants	95	70	60	77	89	81
No. of wives	50	32	28	42	51	44
No. of children	221	161	135	176	205	183
All claimants and dependants	336	261	223	295	345	308
Rent rebates and allowances(3)
No. of rebates	1,930	2,087	2,160	2,382	2,423	2,322
No. of allowances	235	333	400	616	614	565
Rate rebates(4)
No. of rebates	1,110	2,630	2,930	3,020	3,090	2,987
Free school meals(5)
No. of children receiving free school meals:
in England and Wales	795	750	784	839	997	1,159
in Scotland	137	130	122	117	118	156
in Great Britain	932	880	906	956	1,115	1,315
Notes:
(1) Supplementary Benefit: source—supplementary benefit annual statistical inquiry in November or December each year.
(2) Family income supplement: source—10 per cent. statistical sample at December of each year.
(3) Rent rebates and allowances: source—Department of the Environment, relating to October of each year. The figures include supplementary benefit recipients who received direct rebates and allowances up to 31st March 1974 and, except for recipients in Scotland in 1978, indirect rebates and allowances since that date. Estimates of family composition are not available.
(4) Rate rebate: source—Department of the Environment, relating to March of each year. The estimates are for the number of house holds receiving a rate rebate and include those few who may be receiving supplementary benefit for a short-term transitional period. The slight decrease in numbers is mainly attributable to the effects of the Scottish rating revaluation in 1978 which resulted in a shift of the rate burden from the domestic sector to the industrial sector. Estimates of family composition are not available.
(5) Free school meals: source—Department of Education and Science census at October of each year in respect of England and Wales; Scottish Education Department census at January of each year in respect of Scotland. The figures are for number of children receiving free school meals at the stated dates; estimates of family composition are not available.
(6) All figures relate to Great Britain except where explicitly stated to the contrary and are rounded to the nearest thousand. Because of rounding component figures may not add up to the total.