Social Policy Digest.

This article focuses on several issues related to social policy in Great Britain. The Cabinet Office published a report on rural life. A report suggests a nationwide focus on young people, not confined to deprived areas. A study showed the north-south divide widening in the 1990s. The government published revised proposals for assisted areas for European Union funding. Most national insurance benefits increased by 1.1 per cent from April, and most means-tested benefits by 1.6 per cent. In November 1999, there were 3.84 million income support claimants (means-tested jobseeker's allowance claimants shown separately), the same as in August. In August 1999, just over 6 million people of working age (17 per cent) claimed a key benefit, nearly a million fewer than in 1996. The Budget included a cut in the basic income tax rate by 1 penny, to 22 pence, significant increases in lower and upper earnings limits for national insurance contributions, and the extension of the 10 pence income tax rate to savings income.