§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will state for a single invalidity pensioner, for an invalidity pensioner with a dependent wife and no children and for an invalidity pensioner with a dependent wife and one, two and three children, respectively (a) the total benefit, invalidity pension plus child benefit where applicable, which will be received after 23 November 1981, (b) the total benefit which would be payable if the benefit were restored to its value after the November 1979 uprating, assuming 10 per cent. inflation in the year to November 1981, (c) the difference between the figures given in (a) and (b) above and (d) the percentage drop in value of total benefit received between November 1979 and November 1981.
§ Mrs. ChalkerThe information requested is shown in the following table:
§ Mrs. ChalkerA total of 34,000 in November 1979, representing about 5.5 per cent. of all invalidity benefit recipients. The figure includes supplementary benefit claimants' wives who were receiving invalidity benefit in their own right.
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services, at the latest date for which figures are available, how many and what proportion (a) of invalidity pensioners and (b) of claimants of any incapacity benefit who were not eligible for weekly supplementary benefit received exceptional needs payments under the supplementary benefits scheme.
§ Mrs. ChalkerThese payments, which were awarded by the Supplementary Benefits Commission, were not recorded separately. Since November 1980 only those entitled to supplementary benefit can qualify for such payments.
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services, at the latest date for which figures are available, how many invalidity pensioners receive (a) mobility allowance and (b) attendance allowance.
§ Mr. RossiI regret that the number of invalidity pensioners receiving mobility allowance is not available. It is estimated that in the region of 35,000 receive attendance allowance.
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services by how much the increase in (a) invalidity 281W pension for a single person, (b) invalidity pension for a married couple, (c) higher rate invalidity allowance, (d) middle rate invalidity allowance and (e) lower rate invalidity allowance in 1979 and 1980 fell short of the increase in average industrial earnings in those years.
§ Mr. RossiAt the 1979 and 1980 upratings the percentage increases in the benefits concerned exceeded (+) or fell short of (-) the percentage increase in average industrial earnings* by the percentage points shown in the following table:
November 1979 November 1980 Invalidity pension for single person +1.0 -4.7 Invalidity pension for married couple +1.1 -4.8 Invalidity allowance (higher rate) -0.4 -5.1 Invalidity allowance (middle rate) +0.7 -5.0 Invalidity allowance (lower rate) +0.7 -3.4 * Based on seasonally adjusted index—older series—as published by the Department of Employment, which shows the percentage increase of earnings for the 12 months periods November 1978 to November 1979 and November 1979 to November 1980 as 18.5 and 16.3 respectively.