§ 43. Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will bring forward proposals to extend unemployment benefit to the long-term unemployed.
§ 70. Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Social Services why the long-term unemployed do not receive unemployment benefit.
§ Mr. RossiThe cost of paying unemployment benefit to long-term unemployed people would be very great. The people who would gain most would be those not entitled to supplementary benefit because they had other income, for example an occupational pension or a spouse's earnings, or because their capital was above the supplementary benefit limit. A proposal of this kind cannot be a high priority for expenditure, particularly when the pressure on resources is as great as it is now.