asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many claimants have had (a) direct payment deduction from the benefit for fuel and (b) a savings deduction for fuel, for each year since 1974; and if he will classify the information by the amount of the deduction or saving by convenient categories;

(2) if he will update table 10.1 in the Supplementary Benefits Commission report for 1977;

(3) if he will detail the number of deductions for (a) electricity and (b) gas bills currently being made from a claimant's weekly benefit; and if these data could be classified according to weekly deductions (a) under £1, (b) over £1 but less than £2, (c) over £2 but less than £3, (d) over £3 but less than £4, (e)

Table 1
		Supplementary pensioners		Supplementary allowances		Total
		Number	Average amount	Number	Average amount	Number	Average amount
November 1974	…	Not available
December 1975	…	7,000	£1·91	30,000	£2·28	36,000	£2·21
December 1976	…	9,000	£2·44	64,000	£2·92	72,000	£2·86
November 1977	…	17,000	£2·58	85,000	£3·44	101,000	£3·30
November 1978	…	12,000	£3·68	85,000	£4·09	97,000	£4·04

Table 2
Type of fuel	Supplementary pensioners	Unemployed	Sick and disabled	1-Parent families	Others	Total
Electricity:
Number	8,000	18,000	4,000	33,000	1,000	65,000
Average deduction	£3·96	£4·24	£3·42	£4·58	£3·64	£4·31
Gas:
Number	3,000	9,000	2,000	16,000	1,000	31,000
Average deduction	£2·91	£3·71	£2·77	£3·59	£3·32	£3·49

Table 3
Range						Electricity bills	Gas bills
£1 and under	…	…	…	…	…	7,000	2,000
£l·01-£2·00	…	…	…	…	…	11,000	8,000
£2·0l-£3·00	…	…	…	…	…	15,000	14,000
£3·01-£4·00	…	…	…	…	…	15,000	8,000
£4·01-£5·00	…	…	…	…	…	8,000	2,000
£5·01-£6·00	…	…	…	…	…	6,000	1,000
£6·01-£7·00	…	…	…	…	…	4,000	Less than 500
£7·01-£8·00	…	…	…	…	…	2,000	—
£8·01 and over	…	…	…	…	…	1,000	—

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many supple-

[pursuant to her reply, 30 November 1979, c. 829–30]: Table 1 below shows the number of deductions from benefit to meet fuel costs. Table 2 updates table 10.1 in the annual report of the Supplementary Benefits Commission for 1977 and shows the number of deductions being made from benefit for fuel in November 1978. Table 3 gives a breakdown of deductions by amounts in November 1977, the latest date for which such statistics are readily available. Statistics for deductions from benefit for fuel do not distinguish between voluntary savings and deductions made under arrangements for payment direct to fuel suppliers, and the heading to table 10.1 of the annual report of the Supplementary Benefits Commission for 1977 was therefore slightly misleading.mentary benefit claimants have dependants aged under five years.

[pursuant to her reply, 30 November 1979, c. 829–30]: 238,000 at November 1978.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many supplementary benefit claimants are aged 75 years and over; and how many dependants are covered by these claimants.

[pursuant to her reply, 30 November 1979, c. 829–30]: At November 1978 there were 769,000 claimants aged 75 years and over of

ANALYSIS OF EXTRA HEATING ADDITIONS
Thousands
	Supplementary pensioners		Supplementary allowance		Total
Rate	1977 November	1978 November	1977 November	1978 November	1977 November	1978 November
Lower	619	657	72	78	691	735
Middle	301	307	34	39	334	346
Higher	18	24	3	4	21	28
Others (including central heating)	232	245	178	191	410	436
Totals	1,169	1,234	287	312	1,456	1,546
Percentage of total beneficiaries	67	71	23	26	49	53

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how much the Supplementary Benefits Commission has paid out to claimants in (a) extra weekly payments and (b) lump sum payments for each year since 1970; and if these data could be classified according to (i) the

Date				Number of cases with additions	Average weekly amount £	Estimated annual equivalent gross cost in benefit £ million
November 1970	…	…	…	445,000	0·37	8½
November 1971	…	…	…	425,000	0·39	8½
November 1972	…	…	…	482,000	0·49	12
November 1973	…	…	…	753,000	0·47	18
November 1974	…	…	…	913,000	0·67	31
December 1975	…	…	…	1,090,000	0·90	50
December 1976	…	…	…	1,431,000	1·24	91
November 1977	…	…	…	1,619,000	1·34	112
November 1978	…	…	…	1,666,000	1·48	127

Information on exceptional needs payments from 1968 to 1978 is contained in table 15.3 of the report of the Supplementary Benefits Commission for 1978 (Cmnd. 7725). It is not possible to say how many claimants benefited from these payments.