§ Mr. Ieuan Wyn JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to amend the regulations requiring carers premium allowances and invalid care allowance to be taken into account when considering applications for income support.
§ Mr. BurtInvalid care allowance, like income support, is an income maintenance benefit. It is therefore taken into account when calculating entitlement to income support. The carer premium is an additional amount included in income support for people entitled to invalid care allowance, and increases the amount of benefit payable. We have no plans to change the current rules.
§ Mr. MilburnTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many recipients of income support in each region and as a percentage of the total had deductions made from their benefit for(a) poll tax arrears, (b) fuel bills and (c) social fund loan repayments in each year since 1990.
§ Mr. BurtThe information is in the table. Information is not available for the May 1993 "Annual Statistical Enquiry".
Source:Income Support Statistics Annual Enquiries, May 1990–1992.Income Support Statistics Quarterly Enquiry, August 1993.401W
Region Total Claimants (a) Community Charge Arrears (b) Fuel Bills (c) Social Fund Repayments Cases Per cent. of Region Cases Per cent. of Region Cases Per cent. of Region May 1991 North Eastern 688,000 7,000 0.9 47,000 6.9 78,000 11.3 London North 735,000 2,000 0.2 21,000 2.8 44,000 6.0 South Western 310,000 1,000 0.2 7,000 2.3 20,000 6.4 Wales 257,000 3,000 1.1 13,000 5.0 26,000 10.2 Midlands 699,000 2,000 0.2 17,000 2.4 70,000 10.1 North Western 669,000 6,000 1.0 33,000 4.9 79,000 11.8 Scotland 487,000 13,000 2.7 43,000 8.8 84,000 17x00B7;2 London South 641,000 1,000 0.1 20,000 3.1 42,000 6.6 Great Britain 4,487,000 34,000 0.8 200,000 4.5 443,000 9.9 May 1990 North Eastern 674,000 — — 41,000 6.1 72,000 10.8 London North 638,000 — — 22,000 3.4 40,000 6.3 South Western 274,000 — — 7,000 2.7 17,000 6.1 Wales 248,000 — — 10,000 4.1 24,000 9.6 Midlands 665,000 — — 13,000 2.0 54,000 8.1 North Western 643,000 — — 25,000 3.9 65,000 10.1 Scotland 481,000 — — 47,000 9.8 75,000 15.7 London South 558,000 — — 17,000 3.0 36,000 6.5 Great Britain 4,180,000 — — 183,000 4.4 383,000 9.2 Notes:
1. The figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand. Percentages are correct to one decimal place.
2. The regions given are the social security administrative regions, as used by the Department prior to 1988.
3. Information on deductions to cover direct payment of community charge arrears was not collected in 1990. (The community charge was introduced in April 1989 in Scotland and April 1990 in the rest of Great Britain).
4. Deductions to cover direct payment of fuel bills include current charges and arrears for gas and electricity. An Income Support recipient may have deductions for more than one of these. Such cases are only counted once in the tables.