HC Deb 29 July 1988 vol 138 cc817-8W
Mrs. Wise

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people have lost housing benefit as a result of the replacement of free milk and free school dinners by a cash payment which is then reckoned as income for the purpose of calculating housing benefit(a) in Preston and (b) nationally.

Mr. Scott

Compensation is provided in the basic rates of family credit for the loss of entitlement to free school meals and free welfare milk. We estimate that 160,000 people nationally saw a reduction in their housing benefit as a result of this; but this reduction will have been more than outweighed by the increase in family credit. Information is not available other than on a national basis.

Mr. Austin Mitchell

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) whether he will publish in theOfficial Report a table showing the amount by which child benefit could be increased on a revenue neutral basis, if taxable, the gross and net cost to the Exchequer of raising the benefit to £20 for the first child and £15 for subsequent children, the estimated saving to public authorities as a result of the consequential reduction in other benefits, the tax saving from the abolition of the additional allowance for income tax purposes, and the estimated distribution of individual child benefits by range of income and tax status of their parents or guardians;

(2) how many adult male and female workers have been unemployed for one, two and three complete years, respectively; and whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the cost of paying each person a bonus of four weeks' benefit for each complete year of unemployment;

(3) how many children are being helped by payments from social security under the various headings and at what cost to the national insurance fund; how many would still need help if child benefit were raised to £20 taxable for the first and £15 taxable for subsequent children; and at what cost to the national insurance fund;

(4) how many unemployed adult males and females of working age have exhausted their entitlement to unemployment benefit; what is his estimate of the gross cost of removing the time limit in the case of (a) males and (b) females; and what would be the saving in each case in (i) other benefits and (ii) increased tax.

Mr. Scott

I will write to the hon. Member.

Mr. Redmond

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many working days, on average, his Department's offices take to deal with supplementary benefit claims(a) nationally and (b) in Doncaster.

Mr. Scott

Supplementary benefit was replaced by income support from 11 April 1988. The average clearance times for claims to income support between 11 April to 30 June is as follows:

Days
National 5.8
Doncaster East local office 3.0
Doncaster West local office 6.5

Source: Internal Management Statistics. This information is provisional and subject to amendment).

Mr. Frank Field

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish a table showing the value of(a) child benefit and (b) invalidity benefit for a married couple as a proportion of average net earnings for all males and all manually employed males for each year between November 1978 and the latest date available.

Mr. Scott

I shall write to the hon. Member.

Mr. Soley

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security which types of accommodation currently qualify for funding under schedule 5 to the Supplementary Benefits Act 1976.

Mr. Scott

Schedule 5 to the Supplementary Benefits Act 1976, as amended, lays a duty on the Secretary of State to provide and maintain resettlement units at which persons without a settled way of life are afforded temporary board and lodging with a view to influencing them to lead a more settled life. That duty may be discharged by the actual provision of units, or by funding local authorities or voluntary organisations to do so, provided the purpose of these facilities is similar to that of resettlement units. My right hon. Friend the Member for Braintree (Mr. Newton) announced in February 1985 that we intended to move towards the closure of the directly administered units and use the money saved to finance further facilities to be set up and run by local authorities and voluntary organisations.