§ Mr. Craigenasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will estimate the number of mortgage payers on supplementary benefit and the amount involved in the past year in meeting the interest payments of those unemployed.
§ Mr. WhitneyThere are no figures yet available for 1984. The latest information on the number of claimants in Great Britain receiving supplementary benefit housing addition payments for mortgage interest and the estimated cost of meeting the interest payments of those supplementary benefit claimants who are unemployed is as follows:
1982 *1983 Total number of supplementary beneficiaries in receipt of mortgage interest 235,000 25,000 Number of those who are unemployed 140,000 142,000 Average weekly amount of mortgage interest in unemployed cases £16.92 † Estimated annual cost of meeting mortgage interest in unemployed cases £123,000,000 † * (estimate) † Not yet available