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Exceptional Needs Payments (Alarm Clocks)

Volume 942: debated on Monday 23 January 1978

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asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether, in the light of his letter to the hon. Member for Newham, North West dated 10th January 1978 stating that it was very rare for an unemployed person to be supplied with an alarm clock or money to purchase one, he will publish in the Official Report the number of such occasions when this has happened in the past.

As I said in my letter to my hon. Friend, we do not keep figures of the rare cases where payments are made for alarm clocks. The cost of keeping detailed statistics of this kind would not be justified as this information would not assist the administration of the supplementary benefit scheme.