The Lord Bishop of Southwarkasked Her Majesty's Government:
What are the comparative numbers of single homeless people (including residents of common lodging houses, resettlement units and hostels) who have claimed and received both interim payments and weekly payments at London's two special supplementary benefits offices (6–8 Marshalsea Road and 31 Scarborough Street) in a similar week in November or early December for each of the years from 1978 through to 1983.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Security (Lord Glenarthur)Records of payments cannot be broken down by claimants' marital status. Details of payments are collected on a four-weekly basis. The total number of payments made at the two special benefit offices during December 1979—the earliest date for which figures are available—and during comparable periods to 1983 were as follows:
Source:100 per cent, count of decisions.
1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 (thousands) Scarborough Street 3.9 5.7 5.4 2.3 1.8 Marshalsea Road 0.9 0.7 0.5 0.6 0.6