asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will take steps to give powers of discretion to the Social Security Commission and its officers under paragraph 3 of Schedule 2 of the Ministry of Social Security Act, 1966, to ignore a child's savings where an application has been made for exceptional need.

In cases of exceptional need, the Supplementary Benefits Commission already has discretion, under paragraph 6 of Schedule 2 to the Act, to decide how far resources which would otherwise fall to be disregarded should be taken into account. These resources include the savings of a child aggregated under paragraph 3 of Schedule 2. In practice the Commission normally ignores capital of up to £100 for this purpose.