asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what are the criteria under which a person attends a Department of Health and Social Security re-establishment centre; and under what circumstances, if any, payment of supplementary benefit may be made conditional on such attendance.

The criteria are that the person is suffering from the ill-effects of a long period of unemployment or irregular employment and is likely to benefit from a course designed to restore the habit of working; and that his attendance at a centre will not give rise to unreasonable difficulties for his family, if he has one, or for other people whom he will meet while on the course. Where a person not in receipt of unemployment benefit refuses or neglects to maintain himself or his dependants by working, payment of supplementary allowance may be made conditional on attendance at a centre, subject to the direction of an independent appeal tribunal.