asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will seek to extend the rule whereby deductions for rent due to housing authorities are made from supplementary benefit recipients so far as to cover all other types of benefit.

No. The addition of an element for rent and rates to the statutory scale of supplementary benefit is intended to be used specifically for rent and rates. Entitlement to national insurance benefits, on the other hand, is not related to financial need or particular expenditure. There is no ground, therefore, for interfering with the freedom of a national insurance beneficiary to arrange his own financial affairs as he wishes.