§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many armed forces personnel are currently claiming benefits. [48559]
§ Mr. Keith BradleyThe only available source of data about the number of armed forces personnel in receipt of Social Security benefits is the Family Resources Survey (FRS). This asks respondents in private households in Great Britain for a job description, and therefore includes only armed forces services personnel living at private addresses in Ministry of Defence (MOD) establishments. The latest year for which FRS information is available is 1996–97. For that year, in around half the cases where the respondent was identified as being in the armed forces, the individual, or their partner (if they had one) was in receipt of at least one Social Security benefit. Almost exclusively, the only benefit in payment was Child Benefit.
On 1 April 1997, there were the full-time equivalent of 212,800 UK armed forces services personnel resident in the United Kingdom. Published MOD statistics do not identify within this number servicemen living at private addresses.
Note:The answer refers to cases where the benefit unit to which the respondent belongs is in receipt of at least one Social Security benefit. It is based on a sample and is therefore subject to sampling error and variability in non-response.