§ Mrs. RuddockTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish figures showing the numbers of people dependent on supplementary benefit/income support in each region of the United Kingdom; and what proportion of each region's population they made up in 1979, 1987, 1988 and the latest available period.
§ 1. Mr. BurtThe latest available information for England, Scotland and Wales is in the table.
Number of supplementary benefit/income support claimants partners and dependants as a percentage of the population Number of claimants Number of partners Number of dependants Percentage of population receiving supplementary benefit 1979 England 2,396,000 472,000 784,000 8 Scotland 286,000 53,000 112,000 9 Wales 172,000 36,000 59,000 10 1987 England 4,073,000 909,000 1,880,000 14 Scotland 535,000 102,000 225,000 17 Wales 287,000 63,000 131,000 17 1988 England 3,594,000 696,000 1,830,000 13 Scotland 499,000 92,000 236,000 16 Wales 259,000 53,000 129,000 15 1991 England 3,743,000 647,000 2,110,000 14 Scotland 487,000 69,000 249,000 See note 2 Wales 257,000 46,000 138,000 15 Notes:
Source: Supplementary Benefit/Income Support Annual Statistical Enquiries 1979, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991.
2. Percentage cannot be derived because population figures have not yet been published by the Office of Population and Census Survey.
3. All figures rounded to the nearest thousand.
4. Population statistics for DSS regions are not available. Social Security information based on other definitions of United Kingdom regions also not available. The tables therefore focus on England, Scotland and Wales.