§ Mr. BattleTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the total amount paid by central Government through social security payments to home owners in mortgage interest payments each year since 1975–76 at(a) real and (b) 1990 costings.
§ Miss Widdecombe[pursuant to the reply, 9 July 1991, cols 331–32]: Corrected figures for 1988 and estimates of amounts included for mortgage interest in the assessment of supplementary benefit and, from 1988, income support, are given in the table.
No. of claimants Average weekly payment (£) Total payment per annum(£m) Current 1990 prices 1975 98,000 3.93 20 68 1976 123,000 4.22 27 80 1977 124,000 5.12 33 87 1978 105,000 4.81 26 63 1979 98,000 5.96 31 64 1980 134,000 10.18 71 128 1981 196,000 12.18 124 200 1982 235,000 13.87 170 260 1983 242,000 11.93 150 218 1984 277,000 15.18 219 304 1986 356,000 18.96 351 458 1987 334,000 19.31 335 415 1988 300,000 18.33 286 340 1989 281,000 24.18 353 387 1990 310,000 34.32 553 553 Source: Annual Statistical Enquiries.
Notes:
55WFigures for numbers of claimants are rounded to the nearest 100,000.
Figures from 1983 onwards are not comparable with earlier figures because they were collected on a different basis.
Current prices are inflated to 1990 price level by use of the RPI index.
In 1985 no Enquiry was undertaken.