§ Mr. BradleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many disabled people had one or more of the weekly additional requirements for heating or laundry included in their supplementary benefit at the latest available date.
§ Mr. BurtSuch information as is available is for May 1987. At that date 189,000 people received an addition in respect of heating on the ground of disability. This figure does not include those disabled people entitled to a heating addition of a higher amount for reasons other than disability.
A total of 553,000 people recieved a laundry addition. It is not possible to say what proportion received it on the ground of disability rather than other criteria such as illness, infirmity or inadequate washing facilities at home.
The complicated arrangements of the supplementary benefits scheme were replaced in 1988 by the simpler income support scheme. This aims to direct extra help via premiums to groups identified as likely to have extra needs, such as the disabled.
Source: Supplementary Benefit Statistics Annual Enquiry, May 1987.