§ Mr. McMahonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many persons in the Govan area of Glasgow he estimates will be worse off in real terms as a result of the consequences of the social security upratings announced in the Budget; and if he will give the information separately for (a) single persons and (b) families with multiple unemployed in the household.
§ Mrs. ChalkerI regret that information about the numbers of various categories of beneficiaries living in particular areas is not available but next November all those in receipt of periodic payments will benefit from the uprating of benefits. The adjustment of benefits provided for in the Social Security Bill, at present before Parliament, merely takes account of the fact that the benefit rates introduced last November were higher than intended because the estimate of inflation on which the 1980 uprating was based was one percentage point above the actual rise in prices.