Benefits

HC Deb 24 July 1996 vol 282 cc552-4W

Mr. Alan Howarth

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many(a) male and (b) female claimants of (i) severe disablement allowance, (ii) incapacity benefit, (iii) unemployment benefit claimed for an adult dependant but were disqualified; and if he will break the figures down by category of disqualification. [34218]

Mr. Burt

The information is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Howarth

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate of the(a) numbers of claimants gaining or losing and (b) amounts of costs and savings arising from the option of voluntary reporting of changes of circumstances between fixed-term reviews as detailed in his departmental research report No. 45. [37422]

Mr. Roger Evans

The information is not centrally available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Frank Field

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list those benefits where payments currently are lower in real terms than in 1979; and how many people(a) are now and (b) were in 1979 drawing each of those benefits. [35579]

Mr. Roger Evans

I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on Monday 22 July,Official Report, column 65.

Mr. Hoyle

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much was paid out in benefits(a) nationally, (b) in the north-west and (c) in Warrington in 1995–96. [37557]

Mr. Burt

The information is not available in the format requested and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Expenditure on social security benefits in Great Britain in 1995–96 is estimated to have been £88.8 billion.

Mr. Howarth

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate listed by benefit of(a) the numbers gaining from and (b) the costs of amending the Social Security Benefit (Computation of Earnings) Regulations 1978 to calculate earnings (i) net of income tax and (ii) to disregard half of any contribution made towards an occupational or private pension scheme. [39186]

Mr. Heald

Based on the data contained in the family resources survey, it is estimated that the number gaining, and the costs of amending, the Social Security (Computation of Earnings) Regulations to calculate earnings net of income tax and to disregard half of any contribution made towards an occupational or personal pension would be negligible.

Mr. Howarth

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many and what proportion of claimants of(a) unemployment benefit, (b) incapacity benefit and (c) severe disablement allowance received payments from earnings during 1995–96. [39005]

Mr. Evans

The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available relates to unemployment benefit and is set out in the table:

Number and percentage of unemployment benefit recipients receiving payments from earnings—Great Britain
	November 1995	February 1996
Total number of unemployment benefit recipients receiving earnings (thousands)	16	16

Number and percentage of unemployment benefit recipients receiving payments from earnings—Great Britain
	November 1995	February 1996
Percentage of all unemployment benefit recipients receiving earnings	4	4

Notes:

1. A number of recipients who receive earnings do not have the information recorded on the computer system. These figures relate to computerised claims only and should therefore be taken as a broad indication only.

2. Figures apply to claimants who were receiving unemployment benefit on the second Thursday of the months shown and who have earnings in the benefit week in which that date fell.

Source:

Five per cent. sample of unemployed claimants in Great Britain on the second Thursday of the months shown.

Mr. Howarth

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon will receive answers to his questions about the child care disregard, adult dependency increases and benefits uprating tabled on 21 June. [39187]

Mr. Burt

I refer the hon. Member to the replies I gave him on Wednesday 3 July,Official Report, column 469, and today and to the reply given to him by the Under-Secretary, my hon. Friend the Member for Monmouth (Mr. Evans), on Tuesday 23 July.