House of Commons Hansard Debates for 7 Feb 1991

Local Offices, Doncaster

Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many items of post are outstanding presently at each of his Department's offices in the Doncaster area.

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Miss Widdecombe : At Doncaster (East) office, there are 84 items of post outstanding. At Doncster (West) office, there are 4,742 items of post outstanding. Doncaster (West) is currently affected by an industrial dispute, all outstanding post is regularly examined and priority items extracted and actioned.

Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what change there has been in the numbers and time involved in waiting for a claim to be dealt with at his Department's offices in the Doncaster area, following the introduction of a computer system.

Miss Widdecombe : At Doncaster (East) office, retirement pension work was computerised in September 1989 and income support work in January 1990. In August 1989 there were 79 retirement pension claims outstanding, taking 14 days on average to clear. The comparative figures for December 1990 were 43 claims and nine days. In December 1989, there were 66 income support claims outstanding, taking two days on average to clear. The comparative figures for December 1990 were 76 claims and two days.

At Doncaster (West), retirement pension work was computerised in October 1989 and income support work in February 1990. In September 1989, there were 135 retirement pension claims outstanding, taking 28 days on average to clear. The comparative figures for December 1990 were 224 claims and 44 days. In December 1989 there were 261 income support claims outstanding taking six days on average to clear. The comparative figures for December 1990 were 450 claims and nine days. The work of Doncaster (West) office is currently affected by industrial action.

Community Care Loans

Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what representations he has received about the level of funding of community care loans and grants at his Department's offices in the Doncaster area ; what has been his response ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Scott : No such representations have been received.

Disability Working Allowance

Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what will be the cost of applying a test to prove disadvantage in getting a job for claimants of the disability working allowance ; and what proportion of this cost will be attributable to adjudication costs.

Mr. Scott : The way in which the disability test for disability working allowance--DWA--will operate is set out in my letter of 4 February 1991 to the hon. Member for Caernarfon (Mr. Wigley), a copy of which is in the Library. It is not possible to isolate the costs of individual elements of the adjudication process for DWA.

Poverty Trap

Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the steps taken by his Department since 1979 to eliminate the poverty trap as defined in paragraph 44 of Cm 1514.

Mr. Jack : The Department has introduced a number of

changes--including the assessment of income-related

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benefits using net, rather than gross earnings and a major restructuring of national insurance in 1989. These measures, together with the reduction since 1979 in the basic rate of income tax from 33 to 25 per cent. and the increase in income tax personal allowances of 25 per cent. in real terms, have virtually eliminated the worst effects of the poverty trap and significantly reduced the numbers facing very high combined marginal deduction rates.

Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what further proposals he has to eliminate the poverty trap as defined in paragraph 44 of Cm. 1514 ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Jack : As indicated in paragraph 7 of the DSS departmental report--Cm. 1514, February 1991--potential changes in benefits are assessed according to a range of criteria including the effects on work incentives. The effect on marginal deduction rates is, and will continue to be, one of the many factors taken into consideration when formulating policies.

National Insurance

Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what consideration his Department has given to the possibility of abolishing national insurance contributions and meeting the costs of contributory benefits from taxation ; and if he will make a statement.

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Mr. Jack : The integration of national insurance contributions and income tax would weaken the contributory principle, which has formed the basis of the national insurance scheme since 1948 and holds that an individual should establish entitlement to contributory social security benefits through the payment of national insurance contributions. The subject was discussed in the 1986 Green Paper "The Reform of Personal Taxation", to which the Department contributed. The conclusion reached was that the disadvantages of such a move would outweigh the benefits.

Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list in table form the percentage of spending on social security benefits covered by (a) national insurance contributions by employees, (b) national insurance contributions by employers, (c) (a) and (b) together and (d) other Exchequer revenues for the years 1989, 1980, 1970 and 1961.

Mr. Jack : Information is not available in precisely the form requested. Information that is available is in the table.

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1989       |46,128,234|25.08     |31.99     |57.08     |3.58                 

1980       |18,043,168|<1>       |<1>       |55.65     |12.99                

1970       |3,284,248 |<1>       |<1>       |59.60     |10.78                

1961       |1,343,663 |<1>       |<1>       |53.06     |12.65                

<1> Figures no longer available for these years.

Income Support

Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what percentage of pensioners receive income support.

Miss Widdecombe : In May 1989, the latest date for which figures are available, 15 per cent. of pensioners received income support. In the 10 years from 1979 to 1989 the proportion of people receiving retirement pension who need to claim income support has fallen from nearly one in five to less than one in seven.

Sources : Annual Statistical Enquiry May 1989 for Income Support recipients. Office of Population Censuses and Surveys for population figures.

Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when he expects to publish plans to amend the income support regulations regarding the award of the severe disability premium to persons in receipt of attendance allowance ; and whether they will be retrospective.

Miss Widdecombe : The regulations concerned are the subject of an appeal to the Court of Appeal. When judgment is received we will consider what action, if any, to take.

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Benefit Tapers

Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the tapers which apply to each of the benefits with tapers administered by his Department.

Mr. Jack : Family credit has a taper of 70 per cent. on income above the applicable amount. Housing benefit and community charge benefit, which are administered by local authorities, have income tapers of 65 and 15 per cent. respectively.

Disability Living Allowance

Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much it would cost to extend entitlement to the mobility component of the disability living allowance to those aged over 65 years.

Mr. Scott : I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Caernarfon (Mr. Wigley) on 17 December at columns 86-87.

Cold Weather Payments

Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what percentage of people of pensionable age qualify for cold weather payments.

Mr. Newton : By today, the severe weather payments scheme had already come into operation in nearly half the

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areas defined for this purpose, and all the indications were that this number would rapidly be extended. In these circumstances, and in order to help ensure that vulnerable groups take appropriate steps to keep warm, DSS offices are being instructed to waive the seven-day qualifying period and to bring the scheme into operation in every area. We are also increasing the payment from £5 to £6 for any qualifying week. There are over 1.5 million pensioner households on income support, of whom we would expect a substantial proportion to qualify.

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Benefits (Take-up)

Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list, for each benefit administered by his Department, the legally enforceable obligations on his Department to encourage the take-up of each benefit.

Miss Widdecombe : The Department is not obliged by law or statute to encourage take-up of benefits. However, it is our policy to disseminate as widely as possible all necessary information about available benefits to enable potential claimants to be aware of opportunities.

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