§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how much supplementary benefit was paid to the families of persons serving prison sentences for the latest period for which figures are available.
§ Mr. Prentice[pursuant to his reply, 3 April 1980, c. 398–99] gave the following corrected informationThe annual cost at November 1978 of supplementary benefit paid to prisoners' wives with children is estimated at about £7 million*. A separate figure for wives without children is not available since claims by lone women without dependants are not separately analysed.
*corrected figure.