HC Deb 10 November 1987 vol 122 cc153-4W
Sir Brandon Rhys Williams

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what estimate he has made of the change in the number of people entitled to means-tested benefits in consequence of the introduction of the proposed community charge; and what would be the number of their dependants.

Mr. Scott

Figure J9 of the Green Paper "Paying for Local Government" (Cmnd. 9714) estimated that the housing benefit caseload in Great Britain would rise from 6.49 million to 7.66 million when the community charge was fully in place. These estimates are derived from a computer model and are sensitive to assumptions made about community charge levels and to income support rates, and therefore give a broad indication only of the possible outcome. No estimate has been made of the number of their dependants.

Mr. Nellist

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people in Coventry are currently in receipt of(a) supplementary benefit, (b) invalidity benefit, (c) housing benefit, (d) sickness benefit, (e) mobility allowance and (f) maternity benefit; and how many people have received single payments in each month of the current financial year.

Mr. Portillo

Social security benefits for Coventry are dealt with by the Department's local offices at Coventry (East) and Coventry (West), but their boundaries are not conterminous with the city.

The number of people receiving supplementary benefit, sickness and invalidity benefits, and maternity benefit on the latest dates for which information is available is as follows:

25 August 1987 20 October 1987
Supplementary Benefit1 41,328 —
Sickness and Invalidity Benefit — 6,822
Maternity Benefit — 87
1 Source: 100 per cent, of cases in action.

Information about housing benefit is not available in the precise form requested. In the current financial year the provisional figure for rate rebate recipients is 46,094. This figure is the normal pointer used for housing benefit recipients.

During the current financial year until 20 October 1987 the number of single payment decisions which resulted in either a full or part payment is as follows:

Four-week period ending:
Number
5 May 1987 1,074
26 June 1987 1,565
30 June 1987 1,416
28 July 1987 1,698
25 August 1987 1,610
22 September 1987 1,474
20 October 1987 1,859

I regret that information about mobility allowance is not available.