§ Mr. MullinTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answers of 6 June to the questions by the hon. Member for Sunderland, South on income support, what information is maintained at(a) national and (b) sub-national level on the numbers of, and expenditure on, people on income support living in private residential care.
§ Mrs. Gillian ShephardInformation on all income support claimants is collected by way of quarterly and annual 1 per cent. samples of live cases in each local office. This method means that, for the small population of claimants in homes, reliable information is limited to numbers of claimants and expenditure at national level. Reliable data on claimant numbers at regional level can be obtained from averages of a number of quarterly surveys.