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Mr. Sackville : The annual budgets for individual regional and district health authorities and those for the cash-limited elements of the expenditure incurred by family health services authorities are matters for regional health authorities and detailed information is not collected centrally. However, the department does monitor cash spending by each region in total and for 1991-92 regional health authorities maintained their spending within the sum allocated by the Department.
NHS trusts are not given set budgets and are allowed some flexibility in managing their finances but they are nevertheless expected to meet financial performance targets.
Income and expenditure-based information derivable from the 1991-92 audited accounts of health authorities and NHS trusts will be available later in the year.
Blood Products
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what was the cost of purchase to the hospital service of the NHS of (a) plasma and (b) factor 8 in each year since 1985 ; and how the cost of the purchaser was shared between (i) NHS-derived material, (ii) non-NHS British material and (iii) imported material ;
(2) how much (a) plasma and (b) factor 8 was used in the NHS in each year since 1985 ; and what was the country of origin of imported plasma or factor 8, used in each of those years ;
(3) what is the item cost of (a) blood plasma and (b) factor 8 from (i) NHS, (ii) non-HNS British and (iii) imported sources.
Mr. Sackville : Many of these details are not held centrally. Such information as is available is given in the table. The national health service does not import plasma and uses only plasma derived from voluntary unpaid donors in this country.
|c|United Kingdom usage of factor 8 concentrate ( millions of|c| |c|international units)|c| Year |Number --------------------- 1985 |74.0 1986 |85.3 1987 |85.2 1988 |98.4 1989 |102.5 1990 |104.3 1991 |127.0
|c|Plasma fractionated by the BIO Products laboratory ( tonnes)|c| Year |Number ---------------------- 1985-86 |192 1986-87 |197 1987-88 |294 1988-89 |493 1989-90 |501 1990-91 |451 1991-92 |528 A small amount of plasma is not fractionated but is used for therapeutic purposes in hospitals.
NHS Drugs
Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the members of the advisory committee on NHS drugs.
Dr. Mawhinney : The advisory committee members are :
|Title
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chairman
Dr. J. S. Metters |Deputy Chief Medical Officer,
| Department of Health
Members
Professor A. M. Breckenridge |Professor of Clinical Pharmacology,
| University of Liverpool
Professor C. M. Castleden |Professor of Medicine for the
| Elderly, University of Leicester
Mr. D. L. Coleman |Community Pharmacist, Norfolk
Professor H. D. Edmondson |Professor of Oral Surgery and Oral
| Medicine, Dental School, University of Birmingham
Professor D. Ganderton |Visiting Professor in Pharmacy,
| King's College, London,
| Chairman of the British
| Pharmacopoeia Commission
Dr. I. C. Heath |General Practitioner, London
Dr. D. F. Jones |General Practitioner, South Wales
Professor R. M. Jones |Professor of Anaesthetists, St.
| Mary's Hospital Medical
| School, London
Mr. A. G. Kerr |Consultant ENT Surgeon, Royal
| Victoria Hospital, Belfast
Dr. E. M. E. Poskitt |Senior Lecturer in Child Health,
| Royal Liverpool Children's
| Hospital
Dr. S. J. Richards |General Practitioner, Exeter
Dr. C. H. J. Swan |Consultant Physician (Gastro-
| enterology), City General
| Hospital, Stoke-on-Trent
Professor P. J. Tyrer |Professor of Community Psy-
| chiatry, St. Mary's Hospital
| Medical School, London
Dr. D. M. B. Ward |General Practitioner, Glasgow
We are consulting professional organisations about appointing new members to the committee to advise on the categories of drug to which the selected list arrangements have recently been extended.
Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will give the terms of reference of the advisory committee on NHS drugs.
Dr. Mawhinney : The current terms of reference are :
"To advise the UK Health Ministers about the composition of schedules 10 and 11 to the NHS (General Medical Services) Regulations 1992, and the corresponding schedules in the Regulations in Scotland and Northern Ireland (except those items which are in Schedule 10 because the Advisory Committee on Borderline Substances has advised that they are not considered drugs in the circumstances of general practice) in order that drugs to meet all real clinical needs at the lowest possible cost to the NHS are available in the following categories : mild to moderate pain-killers, indigestion remedies, laxatives, cough and cold remedies, vitamins, tonics and benzodiazepine sedatives and tranquillisers."
These are currently being reviewed in the light of the changes announced on 12 November and the revised terms of reference will be announced as soon as possible.
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Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she expects to receive the first recommendations of the advisory committee on NHS drugs on the 10 additional therapeutic categories announced on 12 November.
Dr. Mawhinney : The advisory committee will be considering drugs within the new categories as soon as practicable. As now, in examining particular drugs they will consult fully with the manufacturers. Changes to the list of non-prescribable drugs will be made progressively over the next year.
London Health Services
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations she has received following the publication of the Tomlinson report ; and how many organisations have been sent a copy of the document for comment.
Dr. Mawhinney : I am undertaking a series of meetings with many of the organisations concerned to listen to their views. In addition, we have received a number of written submissions and letters from interested organisations and individuals.
The report has been sent to all health authorities as well as a wide range of medical education, research and other relevant bodies, with an invitation to comment.
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she will announce the membership and remit of the London implementation group ; and whether the membership of this group will include representatives of the professions and staff organisations working in the NHS in London.
Dr. Mawhinney : We shall confirm the remit of the London implementation group, and its membership, when we announce our full response to the Tomlinson report early in the new year.
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will prevent any more beds being closed in London before she announces the Government's response to the recommendations for change outlined in the Tomlinson report.
Dr. Mawhinney : We expect to announce our response to the Tomlinson report early in the new year. Bed numbers in individual hospitals are a matter for determination by local management.
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of whether the problems identified by Sir Bernard Tomlinson in his report on London's health services are unique to the capital.
Dr. Mawhinney : The report Sir Bernard Tomlinson has produced is a strategic view of the particular needs of London's health services. Clearly there are likely to be some parallels concerning primary care services and the disposition of hospitals in other cities. We shall need in the future to consider what recommendations of the Tomlinson report, if any, are applicable elsewhere.
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how she intends to ensure that full account is taken of the implications for staff of proposals to change the pattern of London's health services.
Column 595
Dr. Mawhinney : Ministers are holding a series of meetings with medical, nursing and other national health service staff organisations to discuss the Tomlinson report including its potential impact on staff. There will also be consultation locally on any closures or substantial changes in services arising from the report.
Myopia
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to make the treatment of myopia with laser technology available in the NHS.
Dr. Mawhinney : There are no plans at present to extend the use of lasers to treat national health service patients with myopia.
Appointments (Women)
Ms. Mowlam : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will present, as numbers rather than percentages, the number of women who will be members of health authorities and national health service trust boards by 1996.
Dr. Mawhinney : It is not possible to predict the actual number of women who will be appointed to these boards by 1996.
Ms. Mowlam : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many of the appointees to the boards of third wave national health service trusts will be women ; and how many appointees to each authority by 1996 will be women.
Dr. Mawhinney : Of the 512 third wave appointments made so far-- chairmen and non-executive directors--203 are women. We are currently set to reach 40 per cent. set for this wave of appointments.
It is not possible to predict the actual number of women who will be appointed to third wave trust boards by 1996.
Magnetic Resonance Scanners
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many magnetic resonance scanners are available within the NHS ; if she will list their locations ; and what plans she has to increase the number.
Mr. Sackville : The available information held centrally shows that there are 56 systems available, or on order, for the national health service in England, plus access to one mobile unit. We have provided additional funds this year towards the purchase of new systems. The location of MR scanners available to the NHS by region is as follows :
Region |Number
-----------------------------------------
East Anglia |2
North East Thames |2
North West Thames |6
South East Thames |2
South West Thames |5
Special Health Authority |6
Mersey |3
North Western |5
Northern |1
Oxford |4
South Western |6
Trent |6
West Midlands |3
Wessex |2
Yorkshire |3
|-------
Total |56
Epilepsy
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many surgical operations to treat epilepsy took place within the NHS in the latest year for which figures are available ; and what guidance she has given to purchasing authorities to increase this figure.
Mr. Sackville : This information is not held centrally. It is for health authorities, within available resources, to purchase services to meet the needs of their residents including the need for epilepsy surgery.
Nurses, East Cumbria
Mr. Martlew : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many registered general nurses have recently passed the examination in East Cumbria health district ; and how many have been offered employment in that district.
Dr. Mawhinney : This information is not available centrally.
GP Fund Holders
Ms. Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will provide the underspend and overspend of each first wave general practitioner fund-holding practice in 1991-92.
Dr. Mawhinney : This information will not be available until regional health authorities have received final audit reports for all fund- holding practices. Early information is that, overall, fund-holding practices made efficiency savings of about 4 per cent. in 1991-92.
Ms. Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will provide the percentage of the hospital budget of each first wave general practitioner fund-holding practice spent outside the NHS in 1991-92.
Dr. Mawhinney : This information is not available centrally.
Qa Business Services
Mr. Burden : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what are the terms of reference of the Audit Commission report commissioned by West Midlands regional health authority into Qa Business Services.
Dr. Mawhinney : The decision to audit the management buy-out of the management information services division of West Midlands regional health authority by Qa Business Services Ltd. was made by the statutory auditor. The terms of reference for this report are a matter for the Audit Commission.
Opportunity 2000
Mr. Marlow : To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether she regards her commitment under Opportunity 2000 to increase the number of women members of health
Column 597
authorities and trusts to 35 per cent. by 1994 as a quota or as a target ; and if she will make it her policy to ensure that men are not disadvantaged by her Opportunity 2000 commitment.Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Our commitment is to selection on merits. We do not believe in positive discrimination or in continuing direct or indirect discrimination.
Patients
Ms. Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will provide the number of patients per whole-time equivalent general practitioner in each year since 1989.
Dr. Mawhinney : Figures for the number of patients per whole-time equivalent general practioner were not collected prior to 1990. The table gives the information for England as at 1 October in 1990 and 1991 :
Year |Average number of
|patients per whole
|time equivalent GP
---------------------------------------------------------
1990 |1979
1991 |1996
SOCIAL SECURITY
Mortgages
Mr. Dewar : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many of those people whose mortgages are being paid by his Department have endowment mortgages and how many have repayment mortgages.
Mr. Burt : The information is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Dewar : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people currently have their mortgages paid by his Department ; what is the average monthly payment in such cases ; what will be total cost to his Department in mortgage payments this year ; and what are the equivalent figures for each year since 1985.
Mr. Burt : The latest available figures are given in the table :
Column 597
|c|Help with mortgage interest in supplementary benefit/income support 1986-1991|c|
|1986 |1987 |1988 |1989 |1990 |1991
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Number of owner occupiers receiving help (000)s |356 |334 |330 |281 |310 |411
2. Totals included in benefit (£ million) |351 |335 |286 |353 |554 |949
3. Weekly average (£) |18.96|19.31|18.56|24.46|34.42|46.34
4. Weekly average (£) for half interest |- |- |16.71|21.86|33.69|35.61
Notes:From January 1987, claimants aged under 60 receive half mortgage interest for the
first 16 weeks of their claim.
No figures are available for 1985.
Source: Supplementary Benefit and Income Support Annual Statistical Enquiries. (Copies are
held in the Library.)
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what proposals he has to provide help to beneficiaries to keep up insurance payments on endowment mortgages when unemployed.
Mr. Burt : We have no such proposals. The Council of Mortgage Lenders has assured us that people whose full mortgage interest payments are covered by income support will not face repossession. It is not the purpose of income support to help with the acquisition of a capital asset.
Benefits Agency, Yorkshire
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what proportion of community care grant applications received in (a) the York Benefits Agency office, (b) the North Yorkshire Benefits Agency area and (c) the United Kingdom are being refused currently and were being refused one, two, three and four years ago.
Mr. Scott : National statistics for the last four years are published in the Secretary of State's annual report on the social fund. Details of community care grant applications and refusals by each Benefits Agency district from April 1990 to September 1992 are in the Library. Earlier information relating to York office is in the table.
Column 598
|per cent.
------------------------------
1988-89 |45.18
1989-90 |54.22
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what proportion of the annual social fund budgeting loan budget for (a) the York Benefits Agency office, (b) the North Yorkshire Benefits Agency area and (c) the United Kingdom had been allocated in the first six months of the year in each year since 1988-89.
Mr. Scott : Social fund budgets are allocated on an annual basis. Information concerning discretionary social fund budget allocations and expenditure is in the Library.
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many (a) single claimants, (b) couples, (c) single parents, (d) couples with dependent children, (e) pensioners and (f) claimants in total in the North Yorkshire Benefits Agency area are currently having one, two, three, four and five or more deductions made from their benefit ; what is the value of the largest and the smallest weekly deduction being made from any claimant in the area ; and what is the average amount of all weekly deductions being made in the area.
Column 599
Mr. Burt : I understand from Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency, that the information is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Column 600
Invalidity Benefit
Mr. Hendry : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the number of recipients of invalidity benefit per thousand of population in each region.
Mr. Scott : The information is in the table.
Column 599
Standard statistical |Invalidity benefit |Estimated population|Invalidity benefit
region |recipients<1> |mid 1991<2> |recipients per
|(thousands) |thousand of the
|population
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scotland |181,400 |5,100 |36
Wales |146,600 |2,886 |51
England
Northern |126,300 |3,084 |41
Yorkshire and Humberside |124,500 |4,954 |25
East Midlands |74,200 |4,026 |18
East Anglia |28,800 |2,091 |14
South East |219,200 |17,558 |12
South Western |71,900 |4,723 |15
West Midlands |105,900 |5,255 |20
North Western |219,800 |6,377 |34
<1> Information from a one per cent. sample of claimants as at 30 March 1991.
<2> Information from the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys-1991 Census. The Scottish figures
supplied by the General Registrars Office for Scotland.
Income Support
Mr. Knox : To ask the Secretary of State Social Security what is his estimate of the numbers of (a) women, (b) men and (c) children dependent on income support, distinguishing between claimants above and below state pension age, and showing separately the number of women on whose behalf income support is being claimed by their husbands or partners.
Mr. Burt : The latest available information is in the table.
|Number
--------------------------------------------
Total number of claimants |4,487
of which: male claimants |1,965
female claimants |2,522
Total number of children |2,368
Male claimants aged over 65 |269
Female claimants aged over 60 |1,136
Total number of couple cases |763
where claimant: Male |726
Female |37
Notes:
1. All figures are thousands, rounded to
the nearest thousand.
2. Couple and pensioner cases are included
in the total number of claimants.
3. Source: Income Support Statistics Annual
Enquiry May 1991.
Mr. Dewar : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security at what rate benefit will be deducted under the Child Support Act 1991 for mothers aged (a) 25 years or over, (b) 18 to 24 years and (c) 16 to 18 years who refuse to name the father of their children.
Mr. Burt : The rate of benefit reduction will be an amount equivalent to 20 per cent. of the income support adult aged over 25 personal allowance for the first six months and for the next 12 months an amount equivalent to 10 per cent. of the income support adult aged over 25
Column 600
personal allowance. These rates will apply to all parents who decide, without good cause, not to co-operate in the pursuit of maintenance.Pensioners' Price Index
Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what use is made of the pensioners' price index in calculating the annual old age pension increase.
Miss Widdecombe : Retirement pension is uprated annually in line with the retail prices index (RPI) which is widely accepted as the best indicator of changes in the general price level. Had the single person household pensioners' price index been used to uprate the retirement pension since 1979 instead of the RPI, it would now be worth £6.65 per week less than its current rate.
Christmas Bonus
Mr. McMaster : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish the level of Christmas bonus payable to senior citizens in (a) each of the past 15 years and (b) the current financial year ; what its level would have been in each of those years had it been linked to inflation or prices, whichever was the higher in each relevant year ; and if he will make a statement on the bonus in 1992.
Miss Widdecombe : The Christmas bonus has remained at £10 since its introduction in 1972. No Government have increased its value since then. Because the bonus is paid to all regardless of income, any increase in the amount would be a poorly targeted use of resources. We have, therefore, no plans to increase the amount of the bonus. The £10 bonus will however be paid in 1992 as provided in statute. The table shows the level of the bonus in each of the past 15 years and the current financial year had it been increased annually in line with prices.
Date of Uprating |Amount-£s --------------------------------------------------- November 1977 |11.30 November 1978 |12.20 November 1979 |14.30 November 1980 |16.50 November 1981 |18.50 November 1982 |19.65 November 1983 |20.40 November 1984 |21.45 November 1985 |22.95 July 1986 |23.20 April 1987 |23.70 April 1988 |24.70 April 1989 |26.15 April 1990 |28.15 April 1991 |31.20 April 1992 |32.50
Mr. Martlew : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the level of Christmas bonus for pensioners which would be required to match the equivalent purchasing power of the £10 bonus paid in 1974.
Miss Widdecombe : I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr. Wallace) on Thursday 19 November, at columns 367-68.
Disabled People
Mr. McMaster : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on what new rights the citizens charter will give to disabled people.
Mr. Scott : The citizens charter calls on public sector organisations to take account of the needs of all their customers-- including, where appropriate, those with disabilities--when they are setting service standards.
Mr. Brazier : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on future arrangements for independent living for the most severely disabled people.
Mr. Scott : We have decided to legislate in the current financial year to establish a new fund from 1 April 1993, to help people of working age with the most severe disabilities to live independently in the community. The legislation will also provide for a successor fund for existing cases to meet the commitment I made in May 1991 to continue cash payments to people getting help from the independent living fund--ILF--when it ceases to operate at the end of March 1993. The ILF has proved very successful in helping severely disabled people to live independently in the community. With the introduction of the new community care
Column 602
arrangements from April, responsibility for arranging care for disabled peole will rest with local authorities. However, the Government recognise that there will be a small group of the most severely disabled people for whom the costs of care in their own home will exceed the cost of a place in residential care or a nursing home.The new fund for this group will work in partnership with local authorities, reflecting their primary role following the April 1993 community care changes. The local authority will be expected to make a contribution by way of services equivalent to what it would have spent on residential or nursing care and the fund will be able to provide a cash payment in addition. Additional resources will be made available to local authorities in respect of these changes and there will be a further announcement about resources shortly.
The trustees of the ILF have today announced that they intend to close to new applications from midnight on 25 November, in order to ensure an orderly transfer of cases to the successor body. I understand that all applications received before midnight on 25 November will be dealt with in the usual way. Disabled people who meet the new criteria and who would have looked to the fund for help over the next few months will be able to apply to the new body from next April. The vast majority of potential ILF beneficiaries are already receiving help from their local authority.
Over the four years of its existence, the ILF has done a splendid job and I pay the warmest possible tribute to the trustees, the director and the staff who are involved with it.
Pensioners (Income)
Mr. Frank Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list for the years 1962 to 1979 and from 1979 to the latest available date the real net increase in pensioner income ; and if he will divide this data according to the proportion of the increase resulting from changes in (a) national insurance state earnings-related pension entitlement and (b) occupational pensions.
Miss Widdecombe : The tables show increases in pensioners' income from 1970 to 1988 and the proportion of those increases resulting from changes in occupational pensions. The earliest data available for pensioner income analysis using the current methodology commences in 1970. Comparable data for earlier years could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. It is also not possible to identify SERPS from existing family expenditure survey data, and the occupational pension income is available on a gross rather than net basis.
Column 601
|c|Table 1: The increase in the average income of pensioner units 1970-88|c|
(i) 1970-79 (1988 prices)
Gross income Occupational Net income
pension income
Average amount Real increase sinceAverage amount Real increase Average amount Real increase since
1970 since 1970: 1970
|Amount |As a percentage of
|increase in gross
|income
Year |£ per week |£ per week |£ per week |£ per week |Per cent. |£ per week |£ per week
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1970 |76.20 |0.00 |12.00 |0.00 |0 |67.50 |0.00
1971 |70.40 |-5.80 |9.60 |-2.40 |41 |63.90 |-3.60
1972 |76.80 |0.60 |11.70 |-0.30 |-57 |69.60 |2.10
1973 |79.90 |3.70 |12.90 |0.90 |25 |72.90 |5.40
1974 |85.10 |9.00 |12.40 |0.40 |4 |77.40 |9.90
1975 |85.50 |9.30 |11.80 |-0.20 |-2 |77.00 |9.50
1976 |84.90 |8.70 |12.30 |0.30 |3 |76.70 |9.20
1977 |83.80 |7.60 |12.00 |0.00 |0 |75.90 |8.40
1978 |89.10 |12.90 |14.10 |2.10 |16 |81.10 |13.60
1979 |86.80 |10.70 |13.90 |1.90 |18 |79.70 |12.20
Column 603
|c|Table 1: The increase in the average income of pensioner units 1970-88|c|
(ii) 1979-88 (1988 prices)
Gross income Occupational Net income
pension income
Real increase
since 1979:
Year |Average amount (£ |Real increase since|Average amount (£ |Amount (£ per week)|as a percentage of |Average amount (£ |Real increase since
|per week) |1979 (£ per week) |per week) |increase in gross |per week) |1979 (£ per week)
|income (per cent.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1979 |86.80 |0.00 |13.90 |0.00 |0 |79.70 |0.00
1980 |87.50 |0.70 |13.80 |-0.10 |-12 |81.30 |1.60
1981 |92.90 |6.00 |15.10 |1.20 |20 |85.20 |5.60
1982 |91.50 |4.70 |15.50 |1.50 |33 |84.50 |4.80
1983 |102.50 |15.60 |19.00 |5.00 |32 |93.30 |13.70
1984 |100.40 |13.50 |18.20 |4.30 |32 |92.30 |12.60
1985 |102.90 |16.10 |21.00 |7.10 |44 |93.80 |14.20
1986 |107.80 |21.00 |21.70 |7.80 |37 |98.00 |18.30
1987 |116.70 |29.80 |24.40 |10.50 |35 |104.80 |25.10
1988 |118.10 |31.20 |27.70 |13.80 |44 |106.30 |26.70
Notes to the tables:
1. Estimates are based upon data from the 1970-1988 Family Expenditure Surveys.
2. Components may not sum to totals owing to rounding.
3. Estimates relate to pensioner units, defined as single people over state pension age and couples in which the husband is over state pension age.
4. Real increases in occupational pension income are presented as a percentage of real increases in gross income rather than net income as requested. This is because estimates of
pension amounts are available only on a gross basis.
5. Negative signs in column 6 of each table represent changes in occupational pension amounts that are opposite in direction to those in gross income.
Care Homes
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what information he has available regarding the number of claimants who are currently receiving income support (a) towards the cost of residence in a care or nursing home within the Wakefield metropolitan district and (b) from benefit offices within the Wakefield metropolitan district towards the cost of residence in a care or nursing home outside that district.
Mr. Burt : The administration of income support is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member with such information as is available and a copy will be placed in the Library.
Letter from Michael Bichard to Mr. David Hinchliffe, dated 23 November 1992 :
As Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency it is my responsibility to answer questions about relevant operational matters. I am therefore replying to the points raised in your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the number of claimants currently receiving Income Support (a) towards the cost of residence in a care or nursing home within the Wakefield Metropolitan District and (b) from Benefits Agency offices within the Wakefield Metropolitan District towards the cost of residence in a care or nursing home outside that district.
The complete range of information you requested is not available except at disproportionate cost. This is because the
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