§ Mr. Butterfillasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) whether he will estimate the number of supplementary benefit claimants who claimed a single payment for help towards the cost of a funeral in each of the past 10 years; and whether he will calculate the total costs of such payments;
(2) whether he will estimate the average of single payments made to supplementary benefit claimants for help towards funeral costs in each of the last 10 years.
§ Mr. WhitneyFigures on supplementary benefit single payments for funeral expenses are not yet available for 1983, nor are any available for years before 1981. The table shows the approximate number, total amount paid and average amount of such awards recorded in the annual statistical inquiries of December 1981 and December 1982 respectively. Because these figures relate to payments made during the 12 months preceding each enquiry to claimants still in receipt of supplementary benefit at the time of the inquiry, they are an under-estimate of the total number and overall cost of such payments made during the year. Figures are not available on the number of people who claimed such payments (as opposed to the number of payments actually made).
Date of annual statistical inquiry Number of payments Average amount (£) Total amount paid (£ million) December 1981 11,000 165 1.8 December 1982 12,500 210 2.6