HC Deb 15 June 1992 vol 209 cc384-5W
Mr. Wigley

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many claimants of income support were repaying social fund loans during March; and how many of these were(a) under 60 years, (b) over 60 years and (c) in receipt of a disability premium.

Mr. Scott

The information available is in the table. It is not possible to isolate the figures for income support recipients alone.

Number
Total loans being repaid 589,758
Loans being repaid by people under 60 (including)people in receipt of Disability Premium) 571,911
Loans being repaid by people over 60 17,847
Loans being repaid by people in receipt of Disability Premium 33,857

Mr. Flynn

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Moray of 8 June,Official Report, column 6, what was the 1992–93 social fund allocation; what was the total of social fund payments made in 1991–92, adjusted for inflation; and what is the difference between the estimated monthly social fund expenditures for 1992–93 and those of March 1992 expenditures.

Mr. Scott

Information about 1991–92 was contained in my reply to the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire (Mr. Kirkwood) on 2 June at column 481. Details of social fund discretionary budget allocations and discretionary monthly expenditure are in the Library. Monthly expenditure for 1992–93 will not be known until the end of the financial year.

Mr. Simon Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish figures showing(a) the gross and (b) the net social fund budget on a per capita basis of the number of income support claimants in (i) cash and (ii) real terms for the years 1988–89, 1989–90, 1991–92 and 1992–93.

Mr. Scott

Information on social fund expenditure in relation to income support caseload is in the table, except for 1992–93 for which information will not be available until the end of the year. Any comparison between net expenditure in 1988–89 and subsequent years should take into account the substantial additional expenditure made possible by the recycling of money received from loan repayments since 1988–89, as reflected within the higher gross amounts.

Social Fund Expenditure Per Capita of Income Support Caseload
1988–89 1989–90 11991–92
£ £ £
Gross 46.64 57.76 70.12
Gross 1992–93 Prices1 60.14 69.87 73.28
Net 35.27 31.53 39.97
Net 1992–93 Prices1 45.47 38.14 40.97
1 Provisional

Real terms figures have been calculated using the current GDP deflator and may alter.

Mr. Simon Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what the administrative cost is as a proportion of expenditure on the social fund for each year since its inception, including a forecast for 1992–93.

Mr. Scott

Information on social fund expenditure and administration costs for 1988–89 to 1990–91 is in the Library. Details of administration costs for 1991–92 are not yet available. No forecast has been made for 1992–93.

Mr. Flynn

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when he expects to publish the study into the social fund commissioned from the University of York's social policy research unit.

Mr. Scott

We expect the report to be published before the summer recess.