§ Mr. Cartwrightasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many estates have been proposed to his Department as qualifying for estate rate heating additions; how many have so far been approved; and what is the estimated number of claimants involved in each case.
§ Mr. WhitneyThis information is not available in the form requested and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Over 650 submissions concerning estate rate heating additions have so far been received at the Department's headquarters. Each may cover all or part of one or several estates. 469 certificates have so far been issued designating estate heating systems as disproportionately expensive to run: again, each certificate may cover heating systems in all or part of one of several estates. Information is not available on the total number of claimants living in estates for which submissions have been received. The latest available estimate for the numbers of claimants entitled to estate rate heating additions (as at March 1984) is of the order of 50,000.