§ Mr. Frank Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will detail the results of the survey carried out in each local office on claimants covered by the board and lodging rules, detailing the number of case papers studied, the numbers awarded back pay and the numbers exempted from the board and lodging rules.
§ Mr. NewtonI assume the hon. Member is concerned about the payment of arrears of supplementary benefit board and lodging allowances following the Court Appeal ruling in December 1985. Information is not available in the precise form requested. The available information to date shows some 25,000 individual claimants have received back payments of supplementary benefit totalling some £3 million. On the application of the time restrictions on payment as a boarder since November, a recent survey of some 1,400 new and repeat claimants under 26 in the south-east, south-west and the midlands showed that some 25 per cent. qualified for exemption.