§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if, further to the reply to the hon. Member for Eccles on 20 January, Official Report, c. 142, he will estimate the cost of extending the long-term rate of supplementary benefit to people required to register for employment only quarterly on the assumption that they, like all other claimants, would have to have spent one year on the short-term rate before qualifying for the long-term rate.
§ Mrs. ChalkerAs I said in my reply to the hon. Member on 20 January, the estimated cost would approach £20 million; a decision that an unemployed person need register for work only quarterly is taken only after benefit has been received, at the short-term rate, for at least a year.