To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many 16 and 17-year-olds for each month since January 1992 have made applications for income support on grounds of extreme hardship by region and for Great Britain as a whole, shown separately for male and female; how many have been granted or refused; what information he has about the grounds on which applications were turned down; and if he will make a statement.

I refer the hon. Member to my reply to her on 21 May 1992 at columns 238–9 and on 30 October 1992 at columns 923–4. Such information as is available about claims after September 1992 is in the tables. Some people will have made more than one claim.

To ask the Secretary of state for social Security how many recipients of income support who have deductions for voluntary unemployment are also subject to other deductions; and what is the average amount per person of these deductions.

There are 1,000 recipients of income support whose benefit is reduced because of voluntary unemployment who also have other deductions. The average amount of these other deductions is £5·15 (£19·86 including the voluntary unemployment deduction).

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many overpayments of income support have been caused by a failure to report a reduction in interest rates.

I understand from Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency, that the information is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the total amount spent by local authorities in Wales on housing benefit in the last three available financial years.

[pursuant to his reply, 19 July 1993, c. 73]: I am advised that the reply contained incorrect information. The correct information is:

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many claimants who receive the lower rate of income support for persons aged under 25 years and are living away from home also have deductions; and what is the average amount per person of these deductions.

The information requested is not available.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many recipients of income support had reductions in their benefit (a) including and (b) excluding deductions for voluntary unemployment, but excluding payments of current mortgage interest in each year since 1989.

The information available is in the table.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many claimants who receive the lower rate of income support for person aged under 25 years also have deductions; and what is the average amount per person of these deductions.

There are 85,000 recipients receiving the lower rate of income support for a person aged less than 25 years who have deductions from benefit. The average amount of the deductions is £4·85. The corresponding figures where benefit is also reduced because of voluntary unemployment are 98,000 and £6·13.