§ Mr. Berminghamasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will provide figures for the number of people in St. Helens dependent on social security benefits, broken down by category of benefit and age group.
§ Mr. LyellInformation cannot be provided in the precise form requested. The table shows the number of supplementary benefit claimants at the St. Helens local social security office. The office covers St. Helens, Prescot, Whiston and other outlying areas.
Supplementary Benefit Claimants on 13 August 19861 Number of thousands Unemployed claimants 9,084 Pensioners 5,372 Other cases2 5,072 Total3 19,528 Notes:
1100 per cent. count of cases in action.
2 These are claimants under pension age who are not required to be available for work.
3A proportion of this total will be in receipt of other benefits as well as supplementary benefits.
§ Mr. Berminghamasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what estimate he has of the number of households in St. Helens at or below 140 per cent. of supplementary benefit level, showing type of house and age group.
§ Mr. LyellI regret that the survey statistics cannot be broken down reliably in the manner requested.