§ Mr. Skinnerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what is the value in real terms of child benefit as compared with the figure for April 1979;
(2) what is the value in real terms of unemployment benefit for a married couple compared with the figure for November 1979;
(3) what is the value in real terms of the invalidity pension for a married couple as compared with the figure for November 1979.
§ Mr. Newton[pursuant to his reply, 2 December 1982, c. 275–6.]: In order to have the same value now as it did in April 1979, child benefit would need to be £6.09 per child per week. In order to have the same value now as they did in November 1979, unemployment benefit for a married couple would need to be £41.09 per week and invalidity pension for a married couple would need to be £51.17 per week.
§ Mr. Gordon Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list, for Scotland, for each of the past 10 years (a) the amount paid out in social security benefits, broken down by benefit type, (b) the percentage of the Scottish population in receipt of each type of benefit, and (c) estimates of social security benefits not claimed by those entitled to do so.
§ Mr. Rossi[pursuant to his reply, 13 December 1982, c. 36]: Estimates for eight main types of benefits for the 10 years to 1980–81 are provided in the following table in respect of (a) and (b). Information for 1981–82 is not yet available. General information about the value of social security benefits unclaimed in Scotland is not available, but in 1979 the estimated annual value of unclaimed supplementary benefit in Scotland was £30 million.
593W
Benefit 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 Population (per cent.) 1.3 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.1 1.1 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 Unemployment Expenditure (£ million) 37 32 23 25 59 73 91 95 103 165 Population (per cent.) 1.5 1.2 0.6 0.7 1.2 ‡1.4 1.6 1.4 1.4 2.3 Disablement Expenditure (£ million) 7 9 14 13 17 19 21 23 22 25 Population†(per cent.) 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 Supplementary benefit Expenditure (£ million) 74 82 82 95 120 157 185 230 218 286 Population (per cent.) 6.2 6.2 5.5 5.4 5.3 n/a 5.6 5.6 5.5 5.9 Family allowances or child benefit Expenditure (£ million) 37 37 37 36 56 58 84 175 274 292 Population (per cent.) 8.4 8.4 8.5 8.4 8.4 8.3 13.3 13.3 13.3 13.3 War pensions Expenditure (£ million) 13 14 15 19 24 26 29 36 40 46 Population (per cent.) 0.9 0.9 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 * May, June or July. † September. ‡ May. n/a Not available.