asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many supplementary benefit claimants in each area office in the North-West (Manchester) Region now have deductions made from benefit for direct payment of fuel accounts rendered by the North-Western Electricity Board and North-West Gas, respectively.

Information about payment of fuel accounts direct to electricity and gas boards is not available on a local or regional basis and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.Sample information on a national basis will be published later this year. There is no such information at present because the present arrangements were not introduced until between February and May 1976.