§ Mr. Maxwell-Hyslopasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what is the average delay between a self-employed person applying for family income supplement and the first payment being made;
(2) what proportion of successful applicants for family income supplement are self-employed.
§ Mr. NewtonAt the end of April 1983, 19,000 self-employed individuals were receiving family income supplement. This is 10.2 per cent. of the total. Information is not available about the average time taken to process claims from self-employed people. However, such cases often require further inquiries to be made before entitlement can be determined. If my hon. Friend has particular cases in mind perhaps he will write to me.