§ 38. Mr. Canavanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the effect on the November 1982 increase in supplementary benefit caused by the use of a new price index in calculating the increase.
§ Mr. Newton:The effect of excluding housing costs from the retail price index in the uprating calculation will be to increase the main supplementary benefits scale rates by half a percentage point less than if housing costs had been included. This will make a difference for single householders of 15p a week in the long-term rate and 10p in the short-term rate. For married couples the difference will be 25p in the long-term rate and 20p in the short-term.