asked the Secretary of State for Defence how many soldiers in each battalion in the Army are on rent rebate or receive any form of national assistance or social security pay.

Centralised records are not kept of the number of soldiers in receipt of social security benefits or rebates other than those receiving payments under the rent and rates rebate scheme administered by the Ministry of Defence. The total number of soldiers obtaining such rebates on 1st December 1977 was 5,533, but I regret that it is not possible to provide detailed figures for individual units without disproportionate effort.