§ Mr. Kirkwoodasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the number of (a) single payments and (b) urgent needs payments, weekly and one-off, paid to claimants who are (i) under pensionable age and are not required to register for work, (ii) persons under pensionable age required to register for work and (iii) persons over pensionable age; and what is the average rate per 1,000 claimants, the average payment made to claimants, and the number of claimants with dependent children in each of the categories (i), (ii) and (iii) for the Galashiels ILO for the latest year for which figures are available.
§ Mr. MajorThe following table sets out the information available on(a) single payments and (b) urgent need payments made by Galashiels office during the year ended April 1986 for the categories of claimants specified. Information about payments made to claimants with dependent children is not available.
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Claimants under pensionable age not required to register for work Claimants under pensionable age required to register for work Claimants over pensionable age Average rate per 1,000 1,242 1,330 215 Average payment £88.42 £73.82 £62.19 (b). Urgent needs payments Number of awards 80 219 1 Average rate per 1,000 50 113 — Information is not kept of the amounts of urgent needs payments made.
Single and urgent need payment awards for year ending April 1986 have been set against the counts of live cases in action at 12 February 1986 for the calculation of a rate for 1,000 claimants (these are the latest available figures).
§ Mr. Kirkwoodasked the Secretary of State for Social Services, what is the number of claimants in receipt of (a) unemployment benefit only, (b) supplementary benefit only and (c) unemployment and supplementary benefits at Galashiels ILO for the latest year for which figures are available.
§ Mr. MajorThe number of claimants in receipt of unemployment benefit only from Galashiels unemployment benefit office at the last count on 10 April 1986 was 938. The number of claimants in receipt of either supplementary benefit only or unemployment benefit and supplementary benefit from Galashiels ILO at the last count on 11 February 1986 was 1941. I regret that information on the breakdown between the two is not available.
§ Mr. Kirkwoodasked the Secretary of State for Social Services, what is the number of claimant couples with children in receipt of (a) unemployment benefit only, (b) supplementary benefit only and (c) unemployment and supplementary benefit for the Galashiels ILO for the latest year for which figures are available.
§ Mr. MajorI regret that this information is not available centrally. Statistics are not kept routinely so that the information requested could be obtained only by a special exercise which would be disproportionately expensive.
§ Mr. Kirkwoodasked the Secretary of State for Social Services, what is the number of claimants in receipt of (a) sick benefit, (b) invalidity benefit/pension, (c) industrial disablement benefit and (d) non-contributory invalidity pension, housewives' non-contributory invalidity pension or severe disablement allowance for the latest available year for Galashiels ILO.
§ Mr. MajorThe number of claimants at the Galashiels ILO in receipt of sickness and invalidity benefit/pension and severe disablement allowance as at 8 April 1986, and in receipt of industrial disablement benefit as at 11 February 1986 (the latest dates for which information is available) is as follows:
Number Sickness and invalidity benefit/pension 1,195 Severe disablement allowance 464 Industrial disablement benefit 386 Separate records are not kept of the number of claimants in receipt of sickness and invalidity benefit/pension.