§ Sir Brandon Rhys Williamsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many and what percentage of supplementary benefit claimants of working age have mortgages on domestic property; and how the figure compares with the previous year.
§ Mrs. ChalkerThe latest detailed information is for December 1980 when there were 84,000 claimants below pension age whose outgoings included mortgage interest payments. This is 6 per cent. of all claimants under pension age. The corresponding figures for the previous year are 52,000 and 5 per cent. Less detailed information for August 1981 indicates that the December 1980 figure may have risen by as much as 50 per cent. by that date.