HC Deb 07 November 1991 vol 198 cc240-3W
Mr. Steen

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much the Government spend anually on war disability pensions; and how many staff are employed in his Department on this.

Miss Widdecombe

Net expenditure on war disablement pensions in the financial year 1990–91 was about £570 million. About 1,050 staff are employed on all aspects of war pensions work, including the welfare service.

Mr. Steen

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the cost to his Department of the 90 per cent. rebates paid to local authorities by central Government by way of the standard rebate scheme for those on war disability pensions.

Miss Widdecombe

The information requested is not available. Overall figures for the amount of subsidy for housing benefit and community charge benefit are held, but it is not possible to obtain a breakdown within that of subsidy paid in respect of particular groups.

Mr. Steen

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the local authorities in the south, south-east and south-west which use their discretionary powers to increase the rebates paid to those on war disability pension to above the 90 per cent. rebate refunded by central Government; and what is the total cost to the community charge payers of each local authority which uses its discretionary powers in this way.

Miss Widdecombe

In the year 1990–91, 277 of the 370 local authorities in England reported that they excercised their discretionary power to disregard more than the statutory £10 of a war disablement pension. These local authorities are listed in the table. The most up-to-date information held of the total cost to local authorities of operating local schemes in respect of war disablement and war widows' pensions is for the 1989–90 financial year. In that year the costs incurred in respect of rate rebates was in the order of £4.3 million and in the order of £10 million in respect of rent rebates and allowances. It is not possible to break down these figures between war disablement and war widows' pensions.

Authorities in England operating a local scheme for war disablement pensions in 1990–91
Adur Allerdale
Amber Valley Arun
Ashfield Ashford
Aylesbury Vale Barking
Barnet Basingstoke
Bassetlaw Bath
Beverley Birmingham
Blaby Blackburn
Blackpool Bolton
Boston Bournemouth
Bracknell Bradford
Braintree Breckland
Brent Brentwood
Brighton Bromley
Bromsgrove Broxbourne
Broxtowe Burnley
Bury Calderdale
Cambridge Camden
Canterbury Carlisle
Carrick Castle Point
Charnwood Chelmsford
Cheltenham Cherwell
Chesterfield Chichester
Chiltern Chorley
Christchurch Congleton
Copeland Corby
Cotswold Coventry
Craven Crawley
Crewe and Nantwich Dacorum
Darlington Dartford
Daventry Derby
Derbyshire Dales Doncaster
Dover Dudley
Ealing East Cambridgeshire
East Devon East Dorset
East Hampshire East Hertfordshire
Eastleigh East Staffordshire
East Yorkshire Eden
Ellesmere Port Elmbridge

Epping Forest Epsom and Ewell
Erewash Exeter
Fareham Fenland
Forest Heath Forest of Dean
Gedling Gillingham
Glanford Gloucester
Gosport Great Yarmouth
Grimsby Guildford
Hackney Halton
Hambleton Hammersmith
Harborough Harlow
Harrow Hartlepool
Hastings Havant
Havering Hereford
Hertsmere Hinckley and Bosworth
Holderness Horsham
Hounslow Hove
Huntingdon Hyndburn
Ipswich Isles of Scilly
Islington Kennet
Kensington and Chelsea Kingston upon Thames
Kingswood Kirklees
Knowsley Lambeth
Lancaster Leicester
Lewes Lewisham
Lichfield Lincoln
Liverpool Luton
Macclesfield Maidstone
Maldon Malvern Hills
Mansfield Medina
Melton Mendip
Merton Mid Bedfordshire
Middlesbrough Mid Suffolk
Mid Sussex Milton Keynes
Mole Valley Newark
Newbury Newcastle under Lyme
New Forest Northampton
Northavon North Bedfordshire
North Cornwall North Dorset
North East Derby North Hertfordshire
North Kesteven North Shropshire
North Tyneside North Warwickshire
North West Leicestershire North Wiltshire
Nottingham Nuneaton
Oldham Penwith
Peterborough Poole
Portsmouth Preston
Purbeck Reading
Redbridge Redditch
Reigate Banstead Ribble Valley
Richmondshire Richmond upon Thames
Rochdale Rochester on Medway
Rochford Rossendale
Rother Rugby
Rushcliffe Rushmoor
Rutland Salford
Salisbury Sandwell
Scarborough Scunthorpe
Sedgefield Sefton
Sevenoaks Slough
Solihull Southampton
South Bedfordshire South Bucks
South Cambridgeshire South Derbyshire
Southend on Sea South Holland
South Kesteven South Lakeland
South Norfolk South Northants
South Oxfordshire South Ribble
South Shropshire South Somerset
South Staffordshire South Tyneside
Southwark South Wight
Spelthorne Staffs Moorlands
St Albans Stevenage
St Helens Stockport
Stockton on Tees Stoke on Trent
Stratford on Avon Stroud
Suffolk Coastal Sutton
Swale Tameside
Tamworth Tandridge
Teignbridge Tendring
Test Valley Tewesbury

Thamesdown Thanet
The Wrekin Three Rivers
Thurrock Tonbridge and Mailing
Torbay Tower Hamlets
Trafford Tunbridge Wells
Vale of White Horse Vale Royal
Wakefield Walsall
Waltham Forest Wandsworth
Wansbeck Wansdyke
Watford Waverley
Wealden Wellingborough
West Devon Westminster
West Norfolk West Oxfordshire
West Wiltshire Wigan
Winchester Windsor and Maidenhead
Wirral Wokingham
Wolverhampton Woodspring
Worcester Worthing
Wycombe Wyre Forest
York

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