§ Mr. Home Robertsonasked the Secretary of State for social Services, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for East Lothian on 21 February, Official Report, column 493, whether he will now publish statistics showing the number of Scottish gas and electricity consumers who pay their fuel bills by direct deduction from supplementary benefit to the latest available date.
§ Dr. BoysonNo more recent detailed figures on the number and amounts of direct payment arrangements for gas and electricity in Scotland are available than the figures given to the hon. Member in reply to his earlier question on 21 February at column493. It is estimated that there was a total of about 55,000 direct payment arrangements for gas and electricity in Scotland in November 1983.