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Touche RossPatterns of Business Study
Touche Ross
Adminstrative Resource Management System (Phase 2)
Widowed Mother's Allowance
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many women who receive widowed mother's allowance also receive income support.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : The latest available figures show that at May 1988 some 6,000 women getting widowed mother's
allowance--approximately 8 per cent of the total--were in receipt of income support.
Source : annual statistical inquiry, May 1988
Local Offices (Visits)
Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many visits were made by his Department's local office staff to (a) retirement pensioners, (b) families, (c) young people and (d) single people in (1) Leeds, West, (2) West Yorkshire and (3) England in each year from 1979 to 1990.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : Information about visits is not held in the form required. The table records total numbers of benefit visits made since 1985 by (1) Leeds West local offices, (2) West Yorkshire local offices, and (3) local offices in England and Wales.
Year ending |Leeds West |West |England and March |local office|Yorkshire |Wales ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1985 |6,464 |104,564 |2,535,148 1986 |5,171 |91,326 |1,988,934 1987 |2,141 |54,775 |1,351,712 1988 |1,655 |41,576 |1,058,051 1989 |1,616 |34,676 |870,642 1990 |1,774 |33,493 |911,046
Income Support
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many claimants in Scotland have had deductions made from their income support for payment of the poll tax each month since it was introduced ; how many have had deductions in each case of 5 per cent. of their personal allowance as (a) single persons and (b) married couples ; and how many in each case had deductions of their income support for other reasons as well.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : The most recent count of income support cases in Scotland with a community charge deduction, completed in May 1990, identified a total of 2,434 with deductions in place. The further information requested is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Carr : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the income support live load cases for his Department's offices covering Sefton, Knowsley and St. Helens, for the years 1979 and 1990.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : Information from 1979 is unavailable. The information for May 1990 is as follows :
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Area |Number of
|Income
|Support
|claimants<1>
---------------------------------------
Sefton |30,214
Knowsley |30,484
St. Helens |16,005
<1>100 per cent. count of cases in
action which include a number where
payment has ceased but other action is
continuing. Data are provisional and
subject to amendment.
Disability Allowance
Mr. Hannam : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if he will give his estimate of the number of people with mental illness who will benefit from the new lower mobility component of the proposed disability allowance ;
(2) if he will give estimates of the number of people with severe mental handicap, with moderate mental handicap and with mild mental handicap who will benefit from the new lower mobility component of the disability allowance ; and what are the criteria used to define these groups.
Mr. Scott : I refer my hon. Friend to my reply to the hon. Member for Caernarfon (Mr. Wigley) on 9 February at column 800.
Mr. Hannam : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give the basis of his estimate of 150,000 disabled people being entitled to the new lower level of the mobility component of the proposed disability allowance.
Mr. Scott : The estimate which has to be regarded as tentative was derived by examining data from the OPCS surveys of disability to identify the number of people in the relevant age group whose responses to the survey questions indicated they were not independently mobile and did not otherwise fulfil the current criteria for mobility allowance.
Income-related Benefits
Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what plans he has to increase the £3,000 disregard on capital in assessing entitlements to income-related benefits ;
(2) what plans he has to revise regulations relating to assumed tariff income from capital ;
(3) what plans he has to increase from £250 the amount of capital assumed to yield an income of £1 per week in calculating entitlement to income-related benefits.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : We have no plans for changing capital rules beyond those announced by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his Budget statement, but, of course, all such issues are considered periodically.
Minister for the Disabled
Mr. Batiste : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he is considering any change in the title of the Minister for the Disabled ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Scott : I am pleased to announce that with effect from today, my departmental title will be "Minister for Social Security and Disabled People".
I have become increasingly aware of the concerns expressed both by people with disabilities and the
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organisations which represent them about the use of the term "the disabled". I believe that the new ministerial title will be more appropriate.Fraud
Mr. Ward : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when he expects to publish the results of the efficiency scrutiny of social security fraud ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Newton : I have today placed a copy of the report in the Library.
My right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Employment and I have carefully considered the recommendations contained in the report. On the major organisational issue raised by the report we have considered that it would not be right to establish a unified fraud investigation agency separate from the normal benefit administration of either Department. In our view action on fraud must be seen as an integral part of each Department's overall responsibilities to ensure that benefits go to those properly entitled to them. All benefits staff need to be alert to the risk of fraud and those investigating it need to understand the detail of benefits and be able to work in close co-operation with staff delivering them.
Instead, we propose to adopt the alternative approach recommended by the report, reorganising fraud resources within DSS into sector teams and reaching a liaison agreement between the two Departments to strengthen co- operation between them in preventing and detecting fraud.
A number of the report's other recommendations will also be implemented, with particular emphasis on those which seek to increase efficiency and effectiveness and to improve the monitoring of performance. Officials of the two Departments will prepare a joint action plan with a view to having the new organisational arrangements in place by the end of the year.
Industrial Deafness
Mr. John Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many civil servants within his Department deal with industrial deafness cases ; and if this number is expected to increase in expectation of individuals who are now eligible for benefits after the abolition of the five-year rule governing claims for industrial deafness benefit.
Mr. Scott : It is not possible to identify the number of staff currently engaged on industrial deafness cases as this type of work is dealt with alongside wider disablement benefits work. In the light of the additional claims and applications for review received so far following the Court of Appeal decision on the five-year rule for occupational deafness, we consider that these can be accommodated within existing local office resources.
Mr. John Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many individuals who have been rejected for claims as a result of the five-year rule governing claims for industrial deafness benefit have now been notified of the recent change as a result of the ruling by the Law Lords in October 1989.
Mr. John Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many individuals who suffer from
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industrial deafness have reapplied for benefits now that the five-year restriction has been removed ; and if he will make a statement ;(2) how many people who were previously denied benefits under the former five-year rule governing claims for industrial deafness benefit have reapplied since the ruling of the Law Lords in October 1989 on good cause grounds.
Mr. Scott : This information is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. John Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security why his Department has excluded the glass industry from its list of recommended industries for claims for industrial deafness.
Mr. Scott : The list of prescribed occupations for industrial deafness is based on recommendations by the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council. The council has made no specific recommendations concerning the glass industry.
Local Offices
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many offices providing public access for the purpose of claiming benefit, including unemployment benefit, were in operation in Great Britain on 1 April.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : The total number of offices giving public access for the purpose of claiming benefits in operation on 1 April was 1,825. These figures can be broken down as follows.
|Number
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Integrated Social Security Local Offices |432
National Insurance Offices (Contributory Benefits only) |22
Area Offices (Income Support and Social Fund only) |19
District Offices |1
Branch Offices |4
Full-time Caller Offices |67
Part-time Caller Offices |176
Unemployment Benefit Offices |764
Unemployment Benefit Offices (sharing premises with
Job Centres) |209
Employment Service integrated offices (combining
Unemployment Benefit Offices and Job Centres) |131
|--
Total |1,825
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many integrated local offices were in operation on 1 April this year.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : On 1 April there were 432 integrated local offices in operation.
Benefits
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 11 June, Official Report, columns 52-53 relating to social security benefits, if he will specify the further information that is required by his Department in order to enable it to provide an answer to the question.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : Entitlement to income-related benefits can be established only once certain, quite precise, personal details are known.
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Even if the value of benefit in respect of housing costs were excluded, information would still be required to enable an assessment to be made of what additional requirements each beneficiary may have received under the supplementary benefit scheme, for example, the exact ages of claimant, partner and children, their state of health and whether this meant they had to follow any special diet, needed extra baths or wore out their clothing unusually quickly, what laundry facilities were available and the size and condition of the accommodation. This list is by no means exhaustive but serves to illustrate the complexities of the old scheme and the intrusive questioning necessary to determine entitlement.Further information would also be required to determine whether each individual satisfied the conditions for the receipt of other social security benefits such as attendance allowance, mobility allowance, retirement pension, and unemployment benefit and, if so, at what level.
Debt Recovery
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer on 11 June, Official Report, column 53, what action has resulted from the efficiency scrutiny on the recovery of money owed to the Department ; and whether he will place a copy of the scrutiny report in the Library.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : Following completion of the scrutiny, officials have been preparing a draft action plan for consideration. When final decisions have been taken we shall announce them and also decide what supporting material should be published.
Resettlement Units
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his best estimate of the value of the existing resettlement units.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : There are 22 resettlement units throughout Great Britain. Two of the units are leasehold and one is owned by a health authority. From 1 April 1990 all the properties, except the one owned by the health authority became part of the Department of Social Security departmental estate under the aegis of the Resettlement Agency which has directed responsibility.
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Valuation of 12 units has been undertaken by the PSA. The value of those units at 1988 prices was just under £9 million.Benefit Entitlement
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will set out the basis of calculation under the income support and housing benefit regulations which produced the result that the claimant who was the subject of commissioner's decision CIS/236/1989 was £2.49 per week worse off as a result of the £2.82 increase in her pension in April 1989 ; in how many cases similar losses have occurred ; and whether he will amend the regulations to restore the total benefit entitlement in such cases retrospectively.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard [holding answer 18 June 1990] : Prior to the uprating in April 1989, the claimant concerned was in receipt of retirement pension in excess of the appropriate income support level. But income support was payable in the form of a transitional addition of £1.49, to protect the value of the claimant's total benefit income at April 1988 on the introduction of income support. This addition entitled the claimant to maximum housing benefit that is rent and rates rebates of 100 per cent. and 80 per cent. respectively. After meeting the net liability for housing costs of £0.70 a week, the claimant's disposable income was £48.23 for each week in which rent was due.
The increase in retirement pension of £2.82 a week in April 1989 more than overtook the need for the transitional addition of £1.49. The claimant was no longer entitled to income support, the transitional addition, or maximum housing benefit. As income was in excess of the appropriate level, the rent and rates rebates were reduced by 65p and 15p respectively for every pound above the level. After meeting liability for housing costs of £4.62 a week, the claimant's disposable income was £45.64 for each week in which rent was due.
It is estimated that some 30,000 people on income support receiving a transitional addition lost entitlement to maximum housing benefit in a similar way in April 1989. But an estimated 95 per cent. of all those floated off maximum housing benefit at the uprating--some 550, 000--gained or were no worse off. The transitional additions were intended as a temporary cushion in April 1988. We have no plans to reinstate them in this situation.
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