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46. Mr. Yeo : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what he is doing to help poorer pensioners.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : It is proposed that income support and housing benefit paid to pensioners will be restructured from October 1989. There will be new premiums for pensioners aged 75 and over, 80 and over and disabled pensioners. These new premiums will give single pensioners currently on income support an extra £2.50 a week, and couples an extra £3.50 a week over and above the increases announced for the April uprating.
Those pensioners with incomes above income support levels but receiving housing benefit will also benefit.
60. Mr. Amos : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the number of people whose income places them above the qualifying level for income support, who will benefit from the recent pensions announcement targeting extra help on poorer pensioners.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : We estimate that around 1 million people whose incomes will be above income support levels before the changes will benefit from them. This figure reflects the estimated impact on the community charge benefit system. The numbers benefiting from the changes in October 1989 will be slightly lower than this final figure, reflecting the fact that the community charge will be only partially introduced and that projections for rate rebate caseload are lower than that for community charge benefit.
25. Mr. Janman : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how pensioners' living standards have changed since the 1970s.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Pensioners' total average net incomes increased in real terms by 23 per cent. during our first seven years in office. Under Labour (1974-79) they increased by just 3 per cent.
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27. Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people under the age of 18 years have been granted hardship payments since September.
29. Mr. Couchman : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is being done to speed up the service to social security claimants.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I am pleased to say that the social security reforms, introduced in April, have produced a benefits system which is easier for claimants to understand and for staff to administer. As a result income support claims are, on average, being processed in five days as compared with six last year and national error rates have fallen from 11.5 per cent. to 9.7 per cent. We expect to be able to improve further in these areas.
In addition some claims processing work is to be relocated away from some London offices where staff recruitment and turnover seriously affect performance standards. These measures plus proposals for a new staff complementing system which directly relates staffing needs to required levels of performance will make a significant impact on standards in local offices with particular problems. In the longer term the computerisation of social security operations which begins in 1989 will make a major contribution to permanent improvements in the speed and accuracy of benefit payments.
33. Mr. Atkinson : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he has any plans to increase the Christmas bonus to pensioners.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : We have no plans to do so.
55. Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what would be the present value of the pensioners' Christmas bonus if it had been uprated annually, in line with the retail price index, since 1979.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The December 1987 value of the Christmas bonus would have been £17.03 if it had been uprated annually since 1979 in line with the movement in the retail prices index.
64. Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the value of the pensioners' Christmas bonus.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : We believe that the £10 cash bonus remains a genuine help to pensioners at an expensive time of year.
14. Mr. Sumberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people have received the Christmas bonus in the current month.
Mr. Scott : The Christmas bonus exercise has now been completed and over 12 million people--pensioners, widows and the disabled--have received their bonus.
35. Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the position
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of EEC nationals who claim income support (a) during the first six months of their stay in the United Kingdom and (b) during any subsequent period if they have not applied for a resident's permit.Mr. Peter Lloyd : EC nationals are entitled to income support during the first six months of their stay, provided that they meet the normal conditions of the benefit such as availability for work. After six months, continued entitlement depends on whether they are exercising rights of residence under EC law ; for example, those classed as "workers" would continue to be entitled to benefit, and those no longer exercising EC treaty rights would not be so entitled.
36. Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what changes in the guidelines for the disbursement of the social fund have been issued to his Department's offices since April.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : There have been seven amendments issued since April to the social fund manual. The amendments have covered general changes to the guidance and procedures, changes to the directions and new instructions on cold weather payments.
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what steps he is taking to improve the take-up of community care grants from the social fund.
Mr. Scott : I refer the right hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Nottingham, North (Mr. Allen) on 14 December at columns 591-92.
37. Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on retirement pensioners' eligibility for the mobility allowance.
Mr. Scott : To qualify for mobility allowance, a person must fulfil the qualifying condition of being unable or virtually unable to walk before his or her 65th birthday. A claim is valid if it is received before the person's 66th birthday, but it can succeed only by showing that the medical conditions were fulfilled by the earlier age. Once an allowance has been awarded it can, if the conditions continue to be fulfilled, remain in payment until the recipient reaches age 75, but my right hon. Friend announced on 27 October that legislation is to be brought forward to extend this upper age limit to 80.
38. Mr. Robert G. Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is being done to help families on low incomes.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : We are making extra resources of £70 million available from next April for families receiving income-related benefits. This is in addition to the £135 million needed to uprate income- related benefit child allowances. These extra resources will benefit up to 3 million children.
39. Ms. Abbott : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will clarify his Department's press release of
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19 October about benefits for homeless people on guidance which could draw attention to the power to pay some benefit in the first week of a claim, including a full week's board and lodging payment if this falls due during the period covered ; and if he will make a statement.Mr. Peter Lloyd : Full instructions were issued to local offices in a circular relating to the income support manual. I have today placed a copy of this circular (IS 14/88) in the Library.
43. Mr. Frank Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement about the transitional arrangements for claimants on income support.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Income support transitional protection is provided under the Income Support (Transitional) Regulations 1987. It is estimated that some 1.4 million former supplementary benefit recipients got this protection when income support was introduced in April 1988. It is further estimated that some 500,000 income support recipients will have transitional additions after the uprating of this benefit in April 1989.
45. Mr. Hind : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many representations he has received concerning benefits for widows since the implementation of the Social Security Act 1986 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Since April 1988 we have received 645 such representations.
47. Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he has any plans to suspend the six months qualifying date for disability premium in cases such as AIDS or cancer.
Mr. Scott : We have no plans to do so at the present time. The income support scheme is being monitored, and the premium structure will be reviewed in the light of the results of that exercise and of the OPCS surveys of disability in Great Britain.
53. Mr. Knapman : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is being done to improve levels of consistency and accuracy in the payment of benefits.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Improvements in the benefit service are being sought and achieved in a number of ways. Standards of promptness and accuracy are defined nationally and turned into performance targets for each management unit, with a view to more consistent and higher standards of service. It is clear that since the benefit reforms earlier this year, claims are now being processed more quickly and accurately. The Department expects to secure further improvements through its planned programme of computerisation over the next few years.
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many young persons in each local district have lost entitlement to any benefit after the end of the eight weeks' bridging allowance.
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Mr. Peter Lloyd : I regret that the information is not available.
54. Mr. Devlin : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how he is helping pensioners to keep warm this winter.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I refer my hon. Friend to my reply to the hon. Member for Walsall, North (Mr. Winnick) on 8 December 1988.
57. Mr. Livingstone : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the total numbers claiming income support in the London borough of Brent.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The London borough of Brent is served by the Cricklewood, Neasden, Harlesden, Hendon, Harrow, Edgware, Notting Hill and Ealing local offices of the Department although their boundaries are not conterminous. The total number of persons claiming income support in these offices as at 31 August 1988, the latest information available, is 79,566.
(Source : 100 per cent. count of cases in action, which may include a small number of cases not actually in receipt of income support. This figure is provisional and subject to amendment.)
58. Mr. Squire : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will indicate when the operational strategy will be up and running.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : We have recently brought forward our plans to implement the operational strategy, our huge computerisation programme for social security. We will now complete the computerisation of the main social security benefits handled by local offices by the middle of 1991, nine months earlier than previously planned. The operational strategy will transform the administration of social security, bringing major improvements in service and efficiency, and in job satisfaction for our staff.
59. Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his Department's policy regarding the direct payment of rates to a rating authority from the benefit of income support claimants who have a severe mental disturbance.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The direct payment arrangements do not extend to the minimum contribution to domestic rates which claimants are expected to meet from their benefits. Where someone is unable to manage their own affairs another person can be appointed to act on their behalf.
65. Mr. Butler : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether he has any plans to improve the level of provision of voluntary care for the disabled within the community ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Scott : Disabled people living in the community and their informal carers are best placed to decide on the most
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appropriate form of voluntary care arrangements. Such arrangements can be backed up by the local authorities who are required to assess an individual disabled person for a range of services under section 2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 when requested to do so.67. Mr. McCrindle : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he has any plans to review the assistance given to elderly people in private residential accommodation.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : We are looking at assistance for elderly people in residential care as part of the Government's consideration of Sir Roy Griffiths' report on community care.
68. Mr. Hardy : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what proportion of claimants is currently in receipt of transitional payments.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : It is estimated that slightly more than 20 per cent. of all income support recipients are in receipt of transitional protection.
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement about the changes in widows' benefits and allowances.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The widows' benefit changes, which came into effect in April 1988, are designed to target help more effectively on older widows and those with dependent children. Transitional arrangements enabled those women widowed before April to retain the category of widow's benefit that they were receiving at the time of the changes. The first statistical information in respect of the new scheme will be available in July 1989.
Mr. Heddle : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will investigate the reasons why the invalid care allowance unit, Palatine house, Lancaster road,
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Preston, has not replied to letters sent by Mrs. R. A. Mottishead of 28 Austin close, Walton Stone, Staffordshire, in respect of her application for an invalid care allowance, reference No. 071553,Mr. Scott : The invalid care allowance unit does not hold any unanswered letters from Mrs. Mottishead. I regret that processing of her claim has taken longer than is usual and I am writing to my hon. Friend.
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what informal liaison arrangements there are between fraud investigators in his Department and the police ; and how often during the last 12 months these arrangements have been used in the Doncaster area.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The need for liaison between the Department's fraud investigators and the police is determined by the nature of the investigation and will vary accordingly. No records are kept in respect of the number of occasions on which contact with the police has been necessary.
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what are the (a) original cost estimates and (b) current estimates of his Department's operational strategy computerisation programme ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Members for Roxburgh and Berwickshire (Mr. Kirkwood) and for Livingston (Mr. Cook) on 5 December at column 61 .
Ms. Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give staffing allocations for 1988-89 for each of his Department's offices in Bristol, and the comparable staffing levels for 1987-88, broken down by section ; with percentage change figures for overall numbers of staff involved in fraud investigation work.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The information requested is shown in the tables.
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Table 2 Staff involved in fraud investigation work Office |1987-88 |1988-89 |Percentage change ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bristol Central |6.80 |6.35 |-6.62 Bristol East |4.39 |5.59 |27.33 Bristol Horfield |4.00 |3.68 |-8.00 Bristol South |7.46 |5.99 |-19.71 Bristol West |3.32 |2.26 |-31.93
Table 2 Staff involved in fraud investigation work Office |1987-88 |1988-89 |Percentage change ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bristol Central |6.80 |6.35 |-6.62 Bristol East |4.39 |5.59 |27.33 Bristol Horfield |4.00 |3.68 |-8.00 Bristol South |7.46 |5.99 |-19.71 Bristol West |3.32 |2.26 |-31.93
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Mr. Robert Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many claims for hardship allowance have been made, over (a) the last three months and (b) the last six months, by those disqualified from benefit as a result of having been unable to find or take up a YTS place ; and how many have been granted ; (2) how many claims for hardship allowance have been received in the Grampian region over the last three months from those disqualified from benefit as a result of not having been able to find or take up a YTS place ; and how many have been granted.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Loss of benefit results, not from a failure to find or take up a YTS place, but from the provision in the Social Security Act 1988 withdrawing general entitlement to income support from 16 and 17- year-olds. There are circumstances in which benefit can, nevertheless, be paid. These include the situation where the young person would otherwise unavoidably suffer severe hardship. In the 13 weeks following the withdrawal of general entitlement to income support on 12 September, 1,889 applications for a direction by the Secretary of State under the "severe hardship" provision were received. In 1,269 cases a direction was given to enable payment to be made.
While applications from the Grampian region as a whole are not easily identifiable, a total of 66 applications have been received up to now from the Department's offices in Aberdeen ; in 42 instances a direction has been given.
Mr. Robert Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what has been the cost over (a) the last three months and (b) the last six months, of telephone calls from and to local officers of Department of Social Security as a result of having to refer centrally all hardship claims from those disqualified from benefit as a result of having been unable to find or take a YTS place.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The information requested is not available. Telephone calls made from local offices to DSS headquarters in relation to young people's claims for income support on grounds of hardship are not differentiated in accounts from other business calls. Equally, no separate record is kept of the cost of telephone calls from headquarters to local offices on the same matter.
Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security where income support is provided to persons under the age of 18 years, whether inquiries are made to establish whether such persons are missing or wanted.
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many vaccine damage payments have been made since 1980 which arose from damage caused by (a) polio vaccination and (b) whooping cough vaccination ; and what were the ages of the children at the time the vaccination took place.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I regret that the requested information is not available. The information which is available is set out in the table.
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Vaccine Damage Payments Scheme Number of awards made in the United Kingdom 1979-88 where (a) polio vaccine or a vaccine containing a polio element or (b) pertussis vaccine or a vaccine containing a pertussis element was the claimed cause of severe physical or mental disablement Year in which award made Number of awards in which claimant stated that vaccine was: |Polio or included polio|Pertussis or included |element |pertussis element ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1979-80<1> |162 |460 1981 |29 |62 1982 |18 |31 1983 |19 |31 1984 |8 |24 1985 |7 |25 1986 |6 |14 1987 |6 |8 1988<2> |1 |3 <1> These figures cannot be apportioned between 1979 and 1980 calendar years. <2> Up to 30 November 1988.
Information to analyse awards by age at the time of vaccination is not readily available and could be extracted only at disproportionate expense.
Mr. Beith : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether he has any plans to require or encourage recipients of benefits to have their benefits paid into a bank account.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire (Mr. Kirkwood) on 5 December at column 63.
83. Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people, whose circumstances and income entitlements have not changed, lost their right to free prescriptions when the new social security regulations came into force in April ; and in how many cases the loss was due to a surplus of income over requirements which was under £1.
Mr. Mellor : We do not hold this information.
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many National Health Service patients have been sent to private or Army hospitals in an effort to reduce surgery waiting lists.
Mr. Mellor : Over the past five years, service hospitals have treated each year on average 46,000 NHS in-patients and day cases and provided for 237,000 NHS out-patient attendances. In 1986 (latest available figures) some 8,800 NHS surgical patients were treated under contractual arrangements with the independent sector. In 1987-88, the waiting list fund enabled an additional 4,500 NHS in-patients and day cases from the waiting list and 680 extra NHS out-patients to be treated in service hospitals or the independent sector. In the current year, 6,500 additional in-patients and day cases and 400 extra out-patients are planned to be treated in this way.
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Mr. Cummings : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will give the costs so far in redundancy and early retirement payments resulting from the privatisation of National Health Service ancillary services in the northern region.
Mr. Mellor : We do not hold centrally records of National Health Service staff redundancies. The figures give the superannuation costs in each year since 1985/86--the first for which figures are available--of premature retirements of ancillary staff within the Northern regional health authority as a result of competitive tendering.
|£ --------------------------------- 1985-86 |100,874.41 1986-87 |296,989.20 1987-88 |358,729.94 <1>1988-89 |206,310.76 <1> (April-November 1988).
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department gives to health authority members asked to consider the grading of a ward sister who meets seven out of 11 criteria laid down to meet consideration for an I' grading but who only manages one ward ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Kenneth Clarke : Posts should not be graded at a particular level unless they meet the grading definitions, which have been agreed between management and the trade unions, in full.
Mr. Frank Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will list the costs of each place for state-enrolled nurses taking the state-registered nurse qualification ;
(2) if he will list in the Official Report each school of nursing offering courses for state-enrolled nurses wishing to acquire the state-registered nurse qualification ; and if he will denote the region in which the school of nursing is located ;
(3) if he has been informed of any district health authorities who are now ceasing to lay on courses for state-enrolled nurses wishing to become state -registered nurses ; and if he will make a statement ;
(4) what steps he has taken to ensure that each regional and district health authority has adequate funds to finance training courses for state- enrolled nurses wishing to acquire the state-registered nurse qualification ;
(5) how many state-enrolled nurses have expressed a wish to be retrained to become state-registered nurses.
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