§ Ms. Harmanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many death grant payments were made in the London borough of Southwark in each of the last three years and how many of those who received the payments will be eligible for the new means-tested death grant.
§ Mr. Major[pursuant to his reply, 6 April 1987, c. 110]: Information is not available in the precise form requested. The London borough of Southwark is covered by the Department's offices in Peckham, Southwark, Brixton, Kennington Park and Lewisham, although their boundaries are not conterminous with the borough. The number of claims for death grant received in each of the five local offices during the last three years (April to April) were as follows: 246W
1984–85 198–86 1986–87 Peckham 1,245 1,331 1,126 Southwark 723 728 649 Brixton 800 926 739 Kennington Park 598 610 495 Lewisham 1,198 1,531 1,224 1 To 10 March 1987. It is not possible to predict how many people in the borough of Southwark will qualify for funeral payments from the social fund from April 1987.
§ Ms. Harmanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what information he has as to what percentage of the residents of the London borough of Southwark will be eligible for the new means-tested death grant.
§ Mr. Major[pursuant to his reply, 6 April 1987, c. 110]: Such a prediction depends, in part, on the number of people in the London borough of Southwark who receive supplementary benefit, or housing benefit, or family income supplement. Since all of this information is not available on the basis of local authority areas, no estimates of local levels of eligibility have been made.