HC Deb 06 July 1990 vol 175 cc721-3W
Mr. Meacher

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish a table showing the total number of single payments made in 1986–87 and 1987–88 broken down into pensioners, couples with children, lone parents, sick and disabled people and others.

Mr. Scott

[holding answer 21 June 1990]: The information requested is available only for the 12 months prior to each annual statistical inquiry. As marital status applies to all client groups, the data are split into two separate tables.

Number of single payments (thousands)
February 1986 May 1987
Group
Pensioners 410 933
Sick and disabled 175 257
Others 2,498 2,115
Total 3,083 3,305
Marital status
Lone parent 1,038 960
Couples with dependants 876 693
Others 1,169 1,652
Total 3,083 3,305

Source: Annual statistical inquiry

Notes: Columns may not sum due to rounding.

The figures include payments made to cases during the 12 months prior to the inquiry, but exclude those cases which received a payment during the year but were not in receipt of benefit at the date of the inquiry; there is therefore an undercount of the total payments made.

Mr. Meacher

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish a table showing the proportion of pensioners, couples with children, lone parents, sick and disabled people and others on income support who received single payments in 1986–87 and 1987–88.

Mr. Scott

[holding answer 21 June 1990]: The information requested is available only for the 12 months prior to each annual statistical inquiry. As marital status applies to all client groups, the data are split into two separate tables.

Proportion of single payments by client group and marital status
Group February 1986 May 1987
Pensioners 0.14 0.31
Sick and Disabled 0.24 0.30
Others 0.30 0.29
All cases 0.24 0.30
Marital status
Lone parent 0.44 0.52
Couples with dependants 0.59 0.47
Others 0.16 0.24
All cases 0.24 0.30

Source: Annual statistical inquiry.

Note:

The figures include payments to cases during the 12 months prior to the inquiry, but exclude those cases which received a payment during the year but were not in receipt of benefit at the date of the inquiry; there is therefore an undercount of the total payments made.

Mr. Meacher

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish a table showing expenditure on the single payments scheme in each year between 1980–1981 and 1987–1988 in both current prices and 1990–91 prices.

Mr. Scott

[holding answer 21 June 1990]: The information requested is given in the table.

National expenditure on single payments
£ million
Current prices 1990–91 prices
1980–81 48.403 87.302
1981–82 57.295 94.123
1982–83 98.074 150.265
1983–84 166.136 243.197
1984–85 240.663 335.621
1985–86 334.409 442.633
1986–87 329.945 422.376
1987–88 213.084 258.898

Source: Statistical record of actual single payment decisions made.

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