§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish figures in the Official Report showing the numbers currently receiving supplementary benefit and the average weekly amounts of benefit on the same basis as in tables 3.27 and 3.28 of the 1980 edition of the Annual Abstract of Statistics.
§ Mr. NewtonThe latest available comparable information is contained in the 1982Annual Abstract of Statistics, a copy of which is in the Library.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what are the numbers of persons currently receiving benefit under the social security Acts broken down on the same basis as in table 3.16 of the 1980 edition of the Annual Abstract of Statistics.
§ Mr. NewtonFor most benefits the latest available end-of-year figures for the number of persons receiving social security benefits in the United Kingdom are shown in table 3.16 of the 1982 edition of theAnnual Abstract of Statistics, a copy of which is in the Library. The United Kingdom figures for maternity benefit are 685,000 and for industrial disablement pensions 200,000. A United Kingdom estimate for the numbers receiving widows benefit is not available. I should point out that the figures for maternity benefit are the total number of awards of maternity grant, with or without maternity allowance, during the year ending 31 December 1980.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish a table in the Official Report showing unemployed claimants analysed by benefit entitlement at the latest date on the basis of table 3.17 of the 1980 edition of the Annual Abstract of Statistics.
§ Mr. NewtonThe comparable figures for November 1980, which are the latest available, are shown in table 3.17 of the 1982 edition of theAnnual Abstract of Statistics.
§ Mr. Arthur Davidsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how much money the Government have paid to the North-East Lancashire area since 1979, including a yearly breakdown in the form of (a) unemployment benefit and (b) social security benefit.
§ Mr. NewtonNo central records of expenditure by area are kept. Expenditure by region, however, is given in the Government statistical service publication "Regional Trends"—copies of which are available in the House of Commons Library. Volume 16 covers 1978–79 and volume 17 covers 1979–80.
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§ Mr. Marksasked the Secretary of State for Social Services, assuming that price rises between November 1981 and November 1982 are as forecast, what will be the loss or savings to the Exchequer in social security benefits payment from November 1979 to November 1983 as a result of inaccurate forecasting in that period and subsequent adjustment of benefits.
§ Mr. Newton[pursuant to his reply, 17 March 1982, c. 130.]: A net saving of about £85 million to the Exchequer, and about £10 million cost to the national insurance fund, including the cost of making good in November 1979 the shortfall from the 1978 uprating.