HC Deb 01 March 2004 vol 418 cc703-4W
Lady Hermon

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people were in receipt of state benefits in Northern Ireland at 1 February, broken down by benefit. [156941]

Mr. Spellar

The information requested for 1 February 2004 is not available. The most up to date information is shown in the following table.

Benefit statistics
Benefit type Date Number of

recipients

Income Support August 2003 181,580
Job Seeker's Allowance August 2003 33.795
Incapacity Benefit August 2003 72,208
Attendance Allowance November 2003 65,404
Disability Living Allowance November 2003 155.295
Carers Allowance November 2003 38,967
Carers Allowance November 2003 38,967
Housing Benefit August 2003 126,814
Retirement Pension March 2003 248.564
Widow's Benefit March 2003 6,003
Bereavement Benefit March 2003 1,350