asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will now instruct all local offices of his Department that all benefits paid to a social security claimant in respect of rent and rates are in future paid direct to the landlord, whether private landlord or local authority, in order to prevent the benefit being spent on objects for which they were not given.
I would refer the hon, Member to my replies to the hon and gallant Member for Winchester (Rear-Admiral Morgan-Giles) on 15th November 1976 and to the hon. Member for Hazel Grove (Mr. Arnold) on 7th February 1977.—[Vol. 919, c. 399; Vol. 925, c. 569–70.]
asked the Secretary of State for Social Services on how many occasions in the last 12 months for which figures are available it has been drawn to the attention of his Department that benefits paid by his Department in respect of rent and rates were not in fact being paid to the claimant's landlord, whether private landlord or local authority.
The information is not available. In December 1975 direct payments were being made in respect of some
| 1973–74 | 1974–75 | 1975–76 (provisional) | ||||||
| Number of households supplied | Expenditure | Number of households supplied | Expenditure | Number of households supplied | Expenditure | |||
| £ | £ | £ | ||||||
| Personal aids (including communication aids) | … | … | 1,311 | 22,680 | 1,464 | 24,994 | 1,754 | 27,743 |
| Adaptations | … | 498 | 11,777 | 525 | 14,726 | 472 | 21,648 | |