§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many pensioners receive (a) the higher rate of heating addition, (b) the higher rate of dietary addition and (c) single payments.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe latest available figures are as follows:
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Year ending April 1985 Number Pensioners in receipt of higher rate of heating addition 336,000 Pensioners in receipt of higher rate of dietary addition 143,000 Number of single payments made to pensioners 341,000 * * Provisional; December 1983 Report, column 160. when he intends to lay regulations amending the supplementary benefit rules so as to allow payment to strikers for funeral expenses.
Mr. Newton [pursuant to his reply, 24 May 1985, c. 587]I regret that my earlier reply was incorrect. We expect to make the necessary amendment to the Supplementary Benefit (Trade Disputes and Recovery from Earnings) Regulations 1980 within the next few weeks. At the same time we shall take the opportunity to amend the Supplementary Benefit (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1981 to provide for the backdating of claims to supplementary benefit to be related to entitlement to statutory sick pay, in accordance with the undertaking given at Committee stage of the Social Security Bill. —[Official Report, Standing Committee E, 17 January 1985, c. 231.]