§ Mr. Stallardasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many pensioners applied for single payments for heating in the period November 1980 to April 1982; and how many were turned down because they had more than £300 capital.
§ Mr. NewtonAs I indicated in my reply to the right hon. Member for Brent, East (Mr. Freeson) on 24 May 1982—[Vol. 24, c.238–9]—a total of about 230,000 supplementary benefit single payments were awarded for fuel costs in the period 16 January 1982 to 13 April 1982. In a pursuant reply to the right hon. Member for Brent, East today, I am publishing the final total for the past winter.
Some information about the numbers of single payments for fuel costs awarded during 1981 should be 144W available later in the year when the results of the annual statistical inquiry have been analysed. I regret, however, that we have no information on the number of these awards that were made to pensioners, or the number of applications that were unsuccessful because of the £300 capital rule.