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Housing Benefit

Dr. Godman: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when the hon. Member for Greenock and Port Glasgow can expect an answer to his letter of 18 June to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary about the Housing Benefit (General) Amendment Regulations 1996, S.I. 1996, No. 965. [39000]

Mr. Roger Evans: I replied to the hon. Member on Monday 22 July 1996.

Mr. Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much housing benefit was paid to residents of (a) York and (b) North Yorkshire in each year since 1979-80. [38939]

Mr. Evans: The available information is set out in the table:

£ millions

Year	York	North Yorkshire
1983-84	3.8	18.4
1984-85	4.4	20.9
1985-86	5.3	23.7
1986-87	5.6	25.6
1987-88	5.6	25.8
1988-89	5.7	26.2
1989-90	7.2	29.5
1990-91	9.2	32.8
1991-92	10.1	38.8
1992-93	14.1	56.4
1993-94	16.8	67.3
1994-95	19.5	78.5

Source:

DSS Finance and Planning Division and Department of the Environment.

Notes:

1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred thousand.

2. Information is only available from the introduction of the national scheme in 1983-84.

23 Jul 1996 : Column: 294

Mr. Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what percentage of families with children aged under 18 years received housing benefit in (a) York, (b) North Yorkshire, (c) Yorkshire and Humberside and (d) England in each year since 1979. [38941]

Mr. Evans: The available information is set out in the table:

Percentages of families with children aged under 18, who are in receipt of Housing Benefit for England

Year	Percentage
1990	13
1991	14
1992	17
1993	19
1994	19
1995	20

Source:

1. Housing Benefit Management Information System, annual 1 per cent. sample enquiry taken at May of each year given.

2. Child Benefit 1 per cent. sample enquiry at December 1994 and 4 per cent. sample enquiry at December for 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990 and 1989. Includes families with children aged only 18 and 19.

Note:

Information is not available for York, North Yorkshire and Yorkshire and Humberside and the relevant national data were not collected prior to 1990.

Mr. Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate in each case of (a) the cost of and (b) the numbers gaining from a reduction in the housing benefit taper to 50 per cent. to people in receipt of (i) the carer premium, (ii) the lone parent premium and (iii) the disability premium. [39045]

Mr. Evans: The information is set out in the table.

The table shows, for each of the three groups, the estimated annual cost, the estimated number of current claimants who will gain from the change--gainers--and the estimated number of cases who will become newly entitled to and claim housing benefit as a result of the change--floaters on.

		Caseloads
Group	Cost (£ million)	Gainers (thousands)	Floaters on (thousands)
Disability premium	70	245	15
Lone parent premium	55	110	25
Carer premium	0	5	0
Total	125	355	40

1. Estimates are based on the Family Expenditure Surveys of 1991, 1992 and 1993, uprated to 1996/97 prices and benefit levels. Expenditure estimates are rounded to the nearest £5 million, and caseloads to the nearest 5,000.

2. The cost and caseload estimates for the disability premium and the lone parent premium includes some cases who are also in receipt of the Carer Premium.

23 Jul 1996 : Column: 295

Unemployment Credits

Mr. Alan Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the average duration of a claim for (a) unemployment credits where no benefit is in payment and (b) incapacity credits where no benefit is in payment. [39112]

Mr. Heald: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is as follows.

The average duration of claims to unemployment benefit where the claimant was not in receipt of unemployment benefit or income support which were live on 8 February was 460 days (1 year and 3 months) ¹ . Almost all of these claimants will have received national insurance credits.

The average duration of incapacity credits where no incapacity benefits were in payment in 1994-95 was 256 days (8 months) ² . It is not known whether income support was in payment for any of the periods involved.

Sources:
¹ Five per cent. sample of unemployed claimants on 8 February 1996.
¹ One per cent. sample of all claims to sickness benefit made in Great Britain which terminated during 1994-95.

National Insurance

Mr. Alan Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what percentage of average earnings the upper earnings limit for national insurance contributions has represented in each of the years (a) 1989-90, (b) 1990-91, (c) 1992-93, (d) 1993-94, (e) 1994-95, (f) 1995-96 and (g) 1996-97. [39108]

Mr. Heald: The information is in the table.

Year	Average weekly earnings (£)(53)	Weekly upper earnings limit (£)	Upper earnings limit as a percentage of average earnings
1989-90	250	325	130
1990-91	274	350	128
1991-92	296	390	132
1992-93	312	405	130
1993-94	322	420	130
1994-95	332	430	130
1995-96	344	440	125
1996-97	357	455	127

(53) Average weekly earnings for all full-time workers whose pay was not affected by absence during the year. The figure for 1996-97 is an estimate.

23 Jul 1996 : Column: 296

Unemployment

Mr. Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much has been paid out (i) in unemployment benefit and (ii) in other benefits to unemployed people in (a) York and (b) North Yorkshire in each year since 1979-80. [38934]

Mr. Roger Evans: I will write to the hon. Member shortly.

Pensions

Mr. Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many female (a) divorced and (b) widowed pensioners there are in (i) York, (ii) North Yorkshire, (iii) Yorkshire and Humberside and (iv) England; and how many in each area currently receive a full state pension based on their husband's national insurance contributions record. [38935]

Mr. Heald: I will write to the hon. Member shortly.

Incapacity Credits

Mr. Alan Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate of (a) the cost and (b) the numbers gaining if receipt of an incapacity credit where no benefit is in payment were to be included in the qualifying benefits for disability working allowance (i) during the eight weeks prior to claim, (ii) in the six months prior to claim and (iii) in the two years prior to claim. [39111]

Mr. Andrew Mitchell: There are insufficient data on which to base reliable estimates.

Mr. Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 2 July, Official Report, columns 411-12, if he will break down each of the tables by gender and marital status. [39047]

Mr. Heald: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the tables.

23 Jul 1996 : Column: 295

Number of people claiming benefit due to medical incapacity (Sickness Benefit and Incapacity Benefit) and receiving National Insurance credits only no benefit in payment: Great Britain--thousands

	Total claimants	Men	Women	Married women	Other women
1 April 1989(54)	157	70	87	33	54
31 March 1990(54)	205	95	110	40	70
30 March 1991(54)	262	126	137	53	84
4 April 1992(54)	320	160	160	61	100
3 April 1993(54)	387	201	185	75	110
2 April 1994(54)	440	233	207	83	124
12 April 1995(54)	512	277	235	92	143
29 February 1996(55)	580	320	260	n/a	n/a

Source:

1 per cent. sample of all claims to Sickness Benefit in Great Britain.

5 per cent. sample of claims to Incapacity Benefit, excluding a small number of cases not held on teh computer.

Note:

1. For incapacity only point in time information is available, relating to the end of the statistical year in question.

Number of unemployed claimants in receipt of National Insurance credits only: by gender and marital status in Great BritainThousands

		Males			Females
	Total Claimants	Total	Married	Single, divorced or widowed	Total	Married	Single, divorced or widowed
May 1989	274	171	96	75	102	65	37
May 1990	220	141	69	73	78	45	34
May 1991	280	187	96	90	93	52	41
May 1992	313	211	116	96	102	59	43
May 1993	335	229	128	101	106	62	44
May 1994	281	192	120	72	89	52	38
May 1995	231	155	92	63	76	43	33
February 1996(54)	229	155	87	68	74	39	35

Notes

(54) February 1996 is the most recent data available.

(55) The above figures include a small number who will not receive credits, but can't be identified separately.

(56) For Unemployment Benefit, only point in time information is available, relating to the second Thursday of May in each of the years requested. The table below shows the number of unemployed claimants not receiving Unemployment Benefit nor Income Support by gender and marital status. Almost all of these will receive National Insurance (NI) credits.

Source:

5 per cent. sample of unemployed claimants taken on the second Thursday of the months shown.

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23 Jul 1996 : Column: 297

Number of people receiving at least one credit for Invalid Care AllowanceGreat Britain Thousands

Financial year	All	Men	Women
			All	Married	Single	Divorced	Widowed	Unknown
1988-89	116	21	95	77	7	4	6	1
1989-90	129	26	103	83	9	4	5	1
1990-91	143	30	112	91	11	5	5	1
1991-92	174	35	139	110	16	7	6	1
1992-93	210	45	165	130	21	8	6	1

1. The information for men aged between 60 and 64 years is available only for the numbers of people in receipt of at least on NI credit in the financial year shown.

23 Jul 1996 : Column: 297

23 Jul 1996 : Column: 297

Number of men, aged between 60 and 64 receiving at least one AutocreditGreat Britain Thousands

Financial year	Men
1988-89	1,299
1989-90	1,310
1990-91	1,331
1991-92	1,348
1992-93	1,371

Notes:

1. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand.

2. Figures 1992-93 are not complete as some returns may not have been received at the time of the extract.

Source:

1 per cent. sample of National Insurance Recording System (NIRS) taken at February 1994.

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