§ Mr. Roger Kingasked the Secretary of State for Social. Services what is the average cost of issuing a giro benefit cheque; and how many have been issued to a value below that average cost figure during the last 12 months.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe average cost of issuing a giro benefit cheque varies from 65 pence for a computer produced cheque up to £1.20 for a manually produced cheque. Wherever possible, small amounts of benefit are not paid by giro but are added to other payments due, but figures are not available for the number of cases in which small payments have proved necessary.