§ Mrs. FyfeTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the budget proposals for 1993 for(a) income support, (b) family credit, ((c) council tax benefit and (d) the social fund; and if he will list these budgets indexed against, (i) the retail price index and (ii) average male earnings.
§ Mr. BurtDetails of our expenditure plans, including those for income support, family credit and council tax benefit for the next financial year will be available when the departmental report is published in February 1993. On 12 November it was announced that income support, family credit, and council tax benefit would be uprated, from April 1993, by the Rossi index (3.6 per cent.), which increased at the same rate as the retail price index (RPI) for September 1991 to September 1992. The average male earnings index for the same period was 4.7 per cent.
The social fund discretionary budget will be around £340 million in 1993–94. This represents an increase of 12 per cent. over the previous year.