A new chief executive of the Benefits Agency, and a new chairperson of the Social Security Advisory Committee, have been appointed. In its response to the Social Security Committee's recent report on social security expenditure, the government revealed that by 1992/3, 30 per cent of individuals were living in households receiving at least one means-tested benefit. In November 1994, there were 5.7 million income support claimants, with just under 1 million partners and 3.2 million other dependants; almost 1.7 million claimants had one or more deductions from their weekly income support (25:1/97, 1.7; 24:3/95, 1.3). In May 1994, more than 3 million people had been claiming income support for more than two years (24:2/94, 1.1). An Institute of Economic Affairs (EEA) report claimed that recent governments' tax and benefit policies have played a central role in increasing welfare dependency.
Legislative Scrutiny, Co-Ordination and the Social Security Advisory Committee: From System Coherence to Scottish Devolution
