§ Sir Brandon Rhys Williamsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many new claims for supplementary benefit were submitted and accepted during each year since 1980; and how many dependants as well as claimants were involved in each case.
§ Mr. PortilloThe table shows the total number of claims for supplementary benefit, and the total number where a payment was made, in each year since 1980. (These include repeat claims made by the same person; there are no separate figures on the numbers of people who made claims.) I regret that no figures are available on the numbers of dependants involved.
Claims made Payments made 1980–81 5,488,399 4,004,964 1981–82 5,653,331 4,073,740 1982–83 5,995,965 4,374,982 1983–84 6,031,233 4,646,030 1984–85 6,175,094 4,909,437 1985–86 5,881,790 4,307,714 1986–87 5,613,323 4,053,295
§ Mrs. Beckettasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will arrange for a one-off single payment to supplementary benefit claimants to enable those eligible to register as British citizens before the deadline of 31 December.
§ Mr. ScottThere is no provision in the supplementary benefit regulations for single payments to be made for Home Office citizenship fees. Supplementary benefit is intended to cover necessary living expenses, not the cost of acquiring the rights of citizenship.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will state whether disabled people at present in receipt of supplementary benefit at the long-term rate will continue to receive that rate during training under the job training scheme.
§ Mr. ScottYes. The long-term scale rate is used in calculating entitlement to supplementary allowance while370W a person participates in the job training scheme if he was entitled to that rate when he started the course or becomes entitled during the course.