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Mr. Needham : I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave him on 11 January, Official Report, col 567.

British Coal

Ms. Walley : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will place in the Library a copy of each report by Boyds concerning British Coal.

Mr. Eggar : Boyds has produced two reports concerning British Coal and is currently working on a third.

The 1992 report into productivity improvements and cost reductions at selected collieries has not been placed in the Library. It was commissioned on a confidential basis and contains detailed information which is commercially confidential. However, a copy was provided to the Trade and Industry Select Committee on a confidential basis.

A copy of the report published on 22 January on the viability of the 21 pits proposed for closure by British Coal has been placed in the Library.

Boyds is currently undertaking a review on whether British Coal's criteria for the closure of the 10 pits were met in relation to all or any of them. I have proposed to British Coal and the unions that the report be published and, if it is, it will of course be placed in the Library.

Ms. Walley : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will give (a) the terms of reference and (b) the full cost of each contract entered into by his Department with Boyds in connection with the coal industry, for the last five years.

Mr. Eggar : My Department and the former Department of Energy have engaged the John T. Boyd Company to undertake three studies in connection with the coal industry. The terms of reference of the first study provide for Boyds to give advice on the technical issues which need to be taken into account when considering the future privatisation of the industry. In respect of the other two studies I refer to the reply my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade gave to my hon. Friend


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the Member for Waveney (Mr. Porter) on 20 November 1992, Official Report, column 433 and to my reply to the hon. Member for Clackmannan (Mr. O'Neill) on 22 January 1993, Official Report, column 498. On grounds of commercial confidentiality, the cost of individual contracts is not released.

International Co-operation and Development

Mr. Meacher : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what policy initiatives he is planning to undertake in the next six months to promote international co-operation and development ; what meetings he is planning to attend ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Needham : I and my ministerial colleagues and officials play a full part in all the relevant international bodies such as GATT, OECD and UNCTAD, including in this case participation in the restructuring of the organisation following UNCTAD VIII. We work in these bodies both through the European Community and in our own right. In the coming months my colleagues and I will make a number of overseas visits to strengthen the United Kingdom's trading links.


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General Insurance Intermediaries

Mr. Conway : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the regulation of general insurance intermediaries.

Mr. Heseltine : I have received a copy of the report of the code monitoring committee that, under the chairmanship of Sir Kenneth Clucas, has been monitoring the operation of the Association of British Insurers code of practice for the selling of general insurance. I am grateful to Sir Kenneth and his committee for their work. I shall be discussing the report with the Association of British Insurers.

I am placing a copy of the report in the Library of the House.

Mining Industry

Mr. Peter Bottomley : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will give a list of the mining jobs lost in each constituency and the percentage change in unemployment for each such constituency since June 1987.

Mr. Eggar : The information is given in the following table :


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Constituency                      Registered                  Change        Jobs lost through          

                                  unemployed                                colliery closures          

                                                              since June 1987                          

                                 |June 1987    |December 1992|Per cent.                                

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dover                            |3,868        |4,827        |24.8         |794                        

Mid Staffordshire                |3,673        |3,791        |3.2          |832                        

Newcastle-under-Lyme             |3,682        |3,706        |0.7          |557                        

North Warwickshire               |4,740        |4,849        |2.3)         |1,984                      

Coventry North West              |4,510        |4,475        |-0.8)                                    

Bolsover                         |5,251        |4,436        |-15.5        |861                        

North East Derbyshire            |4,982        |4,624        |-7.2         |129                        

South Derbyshire                 |3,907        |3,811        |-2.5         |529                        

Bosworth                         |2,998        |3,471        |15.8)        |918                        

North West Leicestershire        |3,902        |3,520        |-9.8)                                    

Ashfield                         |4,900        |4,863        |-0.8         |457                        

Bassetlaw                        |5,359        |4,509        |-16.0        |927                        

Gedling                          |3,544        |3,943        |11.3         |591                        

Mansfield                        |5,200        |4,681        |-10.0        |1,686                      

Sherwood                         |4,946        |4,475        |-9.5         |1,514                      

Barnsley Central                 |5,658        |4,295        |-24.1        |215                        

Barnsley East                    |5,353        |3,824        |-28.6        |926                        

Barnsley West and Penistone      |5,479        |3,909        |-28.7        |480                        

Doncaster North                  |7,967        |6,371        |-20.0        |1,087                      

Rother Valley                    |5,698        |4,751        |-16.6        |1,042                      

Wentworth                        |6,130        |4,655        |-24.1        |497                        

Elmet                            |3,150        |3,051        |-3.1)        |309                        

Selby                            |3,195        |3,120        |-2.3)                                    

Hemsworth                        |5,329        |4,102        |-23.0        |1,298                      

Pontefract and Castleford        |5,711        |4,483        |-21.5        |550                        

Wakefield                        |4,835        |4,260        |-11.9        |1,276                      

Eccles                           |5,045        |4,135        |-18.0        |436                        

Leigh                            |5,510        |4,453        |-19.2)       |534                        

Makerfield                       |5,722        |4,158        |-27.3)                                   

St. Helens South                 |7,088        |5,339        |-24.7        |310                        

Easington                        |5,703        |3,761        |-34.1        |1,487                      

Wansbeck                         |5,370        |4,148        |-22.8        |304                        

Llanelli                         |4,146        |3,328        |-19.7        |269                        

Blaenau Gwent                    |4,799        |3,473        |-27.6        |756                        

Islwyn                           |3,597        |2,403        |-33.2        |851                        

Caerphilly                       |4,945        |4,453        |-9.9         |310                        

Cynon Valley                     |3,919        |3,690        |-5.8         |591                        

Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney       |4,598        |4,221        |-8.2         |1,101                      

Gower                            |3,004        |2,573        |-14.3        |595                        

Neath                            |3,649        |2,771        |-24.1        |599                        

Clackmannan                      |4,406        |3,019        |-31.5        |112                        

Kirkcaldy                        |4,781        |3,745        |-21.7        |647                        

Midlothian                       |4,336        |3,414        |-21.3        |596                        

Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley |6,288        |4,583        |-27.1        |403                        

Perth and Kinross                |3,715        |2,791        |-24.9        |422                        

Sources: Employment data-Department of Employment NOMIS database.                                      

Job losses due to colliery closures-British Coal.                                                      

Notes:                                                                                                 

1. The constituencies listed are those where closures of coal mines have been identified. Colliery     

employees would not necessarily have resided in the same constituency.                                 

2. The number of jobs lost through colliery closures may not reflect jobs lost in the run-down prior   

to closure.                                                                                            

3. The figures do not include reductions in employment at coal mines which remain open.                

Manufactured Goods

Mr. Nicholas Winterton : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what information he has concerning the level of manufacturing output as a percentage of gross


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national product in each member country of the European Community in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.

Mr. Needham [holding answer 26 January 1993] : The figures requested are shown in the following table.


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Manufacturing output as a percentage of GNP                                      

               |1981 |1982 |1983 |1984 |1985 |1986 |1987 |1988 |1989 |1990       

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Denmark        |17.0 |17.1 |17.4 |18.0 |17.8 |17.5 |16.9 |16.8 |16.4 | <1>-      

France         |23.1 |22.6 |22.6 |22.0 |22.1 |22.2 |21.5 |21.4 |21.3 |21.1       

Germany        |31.8 |31.6 |31.3 |31.0 |31.8 |32.1 |31.3 |31.1 |31.0 | <1>-      

Greece         |17.1 |16.1 |16.2 |16.1 |16.4 |16.7 |15.7 |15.4 |15.5 | <1>-      

Italy          |26.8 |26.0 |24.8 |24.5 |24.3 |23.6 |23.1 |23.4 | <1>-| <1>-      

Netherlands    |17.0 |17.6 |17.7 |18.2 |18.0 |19.5 |19.0 |20.0 | <1>-| <1>-      

Portugal       |32.7 |31.3 |31.0 |32.7 |32.2 |30.3 | <1>-| <1>-| <1>-| <1>-      

Spain          | <1>-| <1>-| <1>-| <1>-|28.0 |26.8 |25.8 |28.3 | <1>-| <1>-      

United Kingdom |21.4 |21.1 |20.3 |20.4 |20.6 |20.7 |19.8 | <1>-| <1>-| <1>-      

Belgium        |22.8 |23.8 |23.8 |23.5 |23.9 |23.5 |23.1 |23.4 |23.5 | <1>-      

<1> Data not available.                                                          

Notes:                                                                           

Figures for Luxembourg and Ireland are not available.                            

Figures calculated on a market prices basis.                                     

Manufacturing industry is defined as division 3 of the International Standard    

Industrial Classifications.                                                      

Source: OECD International Structure Statistics, International Accounts.         

Mr. Nicholas Winterton : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what information he has concerning the


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value of exports of manufactured goods from each member country of the European Community in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.

Mr. Needham [holding answer 26 January 1993] : The figures requested are shown in the following table.


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Exports of manufactures (US$ billion) at current prices                          

               |1982 |1983 |1984 |1985 |1986 |1987 |1988 |1989 |1990 |1991       

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Denmark        |8.7  |9.2  |9.3  |10.0 |12.9 |15.7 |16.8 |17.6 |22.4 |22.8       

Greece         |2.2  |2.3  |2.5  |2.4  |3.2  |3.8  |3.3  |4.1  |4.4  |4.6        

Ireland        |4.9  |5.3  |6.0  |6.6  |8.1  |10.2 |12.2 |13.9 |16.4 |16.9       

Portugal       |3.0  |3.3  |3.8  |4.2  |5.6  |7.2  |8.2  |9.7  |13.0 |13.2       

Spain          |14.9 |14.2 |16.7 |17.5 |20.1 |24.6 |29.7 |33.2 |42.6 |46.2       

United Kingdom |65.2 |60.7 |62.1 |68.0 |80.0 |100.3|117.9|124.9|150.3|152.0      

France         |70.0 |68.7 |70.5 |73.7 |92.2 |111.7|126.1|134.6|169.6|172.5      

Germany        |152.6|146.5|148.6|161.6|217.3|264.5|293.2|309.6|360.8|352.7      

Italy          |61.5 |62.3 |63.1 |67.8 |86.1 |104.0|115.8|127.2|151.7|150.4      

Netherlands    |32.9 |33.2 |33.8 |35.5 |46.8 |56.9 |63.6 |65.5 |84.0 |84.5       

Belgium/                                                                         

  Luxembourg   |37.4 |37.6 |37.2 |39.8 |52.0 |64.1 |73.8 |80.4 |94.5 |93.1       

Note: Manufactures are defined in terms of sections 5 to 8 of the Standard       

International Trade Classification.                                              

Source: OECD series A and C, national sources converted into United States       

dollars using annual average exchange rates.                                     

Mr. Nicholas Winterton : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what information he has concerning the current level of per capita productivity in the manufacturing industry in each member country of the European Community.


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Mr. Needham [holding answer 26 January 1993] : The figures requested are shown in the table.


Per capita productivity in the   

manufacturing industry (US       

dollars)                         

               |1989             

---------------------------------

Denmark        |4,343            

France         |4,267            

Germany        |6,945            

Greece         |<3>778           

Italy          |2,191            

Netherlands    |2,783            

Portugal       |<2>742           

Spain          |1,698            

United Kingdom |<1>3,929         

Belgium        |3,473            

<1> Latest year 1987.            

<2> Latest year 1986.            

<3> Latest year 1988.            

Notes:                           

Manufacturing is defined in      

terms of division 3 of the       

International                    

Standard Industrial              

Classification.                  

Figures for Luxembourg and       

Ireland are not available.       

Total resident population used   

as denominator.                  

Mr. Nicholas Winterton : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what information he has concerning the level of imports of manufactured goods in terms of percentage of total domestic expenditure in each member country of the European Community in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.

Mr. Needham [holding answer 26 January 1993] : The figures requested are shown in the table.


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Imports of manufactures as a percentage of total domestic expenditure      

               |1980|1981|1982|1983|1984|1985|1986|1987|1988|1989|1990     

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Belgium/                                                                   

  Luxembourg   |35.0|35.3|37.6|39.8|41.8|42.8|42.5|42.2|42.2|45.3|43.6     

Denmark        |17.1|17.6|18.1|18.3|20.3|20.9|20.4|18.6|18.2|18.9|19.2     

France         |11.4|11.3|11.9|11.8|12.4|12.8|12.5|13.1|14.1|15.1|15.0     

Germany        |12.8|13.2|13.3|13.7|14.9|15.7|15.2|15.2|16.0|17.6|18.1     

Greece         |14.7|13.0|12.8|13.5|14.9|14.8|16.2|16.2|15.1|19.4|19.1     

Italy          |10.3|9.5 |9.2 |8.5 |9.4 |10.1|9.7 |10.1|10.7|11.3|10.7     

Ireland        |34.4|33.9|32.1|33.2|37.9|37.9|33.9|35.9|39.4|43.6|41.2     

Netherlands    |24.8|25.3|24.9|26.0|29.0|31.5|30.9|30.6|32.2|34.7|34.5     

Portugal       |17.4|17.7|18.2|18.3|17.7|17.6|19.8|24.6|28.6|28.0|28.6     

Spain          |6.0 |6.3 |6.8 |7.1 |7.5 |8.0 |9.4 |10.9|12.1|12.8|12.3     

United Kingdom |13.8|13.0|13.6|14.9|16.4|16.8|16.4|16.8|17.3|18.0|17.6     

Notes:                                                                     

Manufactured goods are defined in terms of divisions 5 to 8 of the         

Standard International Trade Classifications.                              

Imports converted from United States dollars to local currency using       

annual average exchange rates.                                             

Source: OECD series C and Annual National Accounts Vol. I.                 

SOCIAL SECURITY

Disability Allowances

Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what are the national average clearance times for (a) new claims, (b) top- up claims and (c) requests for review of disability living allowance for each month since September 1992 ; and if he will break down the figures by disability benefit centre ;

(2) if he will list the number of appeals against a disability living allowance and attendance allowance decision broken down by outcome of appeal heard by the new disability appeal tribunals, and the number and percentage of appeals waiting to be heard ; (3) in how many cases a person has lost either a care or mobility component of the disability living allowance following a review of the other component ;

(4) if he will provide details of in which parts of the Benefits Agency the 800 additional staff taken on to help clear the backlog of disability living allowance and attendance allowance cases were previously employed ; what training on disability living allowance and attendance allowance they received, and the number and percentage that had to be relocated ; and if he will make a statement on the Benefits Agency's future plans with regard to the employment of these additional staff to work on disability living allowance and attendance allowance ;

(5) what number and percentage of (a) new claims and (b) top-up claims for disability living allowance claims to date have (i) resulted in an award, (ii) been rejected, broken down by whether (1) further evidence was requested or (2) the claim was decided solely on the statement of disability evidence provided by the claimant ;


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(6) how many staff, divided into full and part-time and permanent and temporary, have been employed by his Department at each disability benefit centre in each month since the beginning of February 1992 ;

(7) for what number and percentage of claims for disability living allowance and attendance allowance the adjudicating officer required further evidence ; and if he will list the number and percentage requiring (a) an examining medical practitioner report, (b) evidence other than an examining medical practitioner report and (c) both ;

(8) how many requests for reviews of disability living allowance and attendance allowance have been received by his Department since the introduction of self-assessment ; and what number and percentage of these (a) resulted in an increase in the amount of benefit payable, (b) resulted in an orginal award being maintained, (c) resulted in a reduction in benefit and (d) remain outstanding ; (9) how many claims for the disability living allowance and attendance allowance have been received by the Department to date in total and in each month since the beginning of February 1992 ; and if he will provide a breakdown by (a) the number and percentage of these that resulted in an award, (b) the number and percentage of these that were refused broken down by grounds for refusal (c) the number and percentage of these that required further evidence broken down by type of evidence and (d) the number and percentage of these that are awaiting a decision ; and if these can be broken down by the totals for the country as a whole and by each of the regions covered by the 10 disability benefit centres.

Mr. Scott : The administration of disability benefits is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member and a copy will be placed in the Library.


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Letter from M. Bichard to Mr. Paul Flynn, dated 28January 1993 : 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 Questions to the Secretary of State for Social Security about Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Attendance Allowance (AA). I will deal with each of your points in turn.

Number of claims made and decided

You asked for the number of new claims and "top-up" claims for DLA together with the number and percentage of awards and refusals, including reasons for refusal. Annex 1 shows a breakdown of this information together with details of decisions based upon information provided on the claim form, medical examinations and other forms of evidence.

A further breakdown showing the complete picture of the outcome of claims within each of the DBC's from May 1992 to date for AA claims is shown at Annex 2 and Annex 3 for DLA claims from February 1992 to date. The first half of each Annex shows the actual numbers and the remainder reflects the percentages.

National average clearance times

Since the launch of DLA in February 1992 the performance to date has shown a 37 per cent. clearance rate against the primary target of 30 days. Performance has been improving steadily over recent months and the latest performance for the month of December shows 55 per cent of claims cleared within 30 days. The table at Annex 4 shows the clearance times for each Disability Benefit Centre (DBC) between February and December inclusive for new claims and those made under the special rules, for both the primary target (60 per cent. in 30 days for normal ; 80 per cent. for special rules) and the secondary target (95 per cent. in 55 days for normal ; 90 per cent. in 15 for special). The clearance of top-up claims is shown at Annex 5. Reviews of decisions on DLA

You have asked how many requests for review of DLA and AA claims have been received. To date just under 56,000 requests for DLA reviews have been received whilst in the case of AA around 92,000 have been received. At the end of December 47,000 DLA reviews were outstanding and 30,000 AA reviews.

I should explain that figures are not routinely gathered to show instances whereby a claimant loses either a care or mobility element following a review of the other component. However, these occurrences are not thought to be significant, as protection exists within the Regulations so that the Adjudication Officer need not consider the other component to that which he is reviewing. Annex 6 shows details of the number and percentage of reviews that have resulted in (a) an increase, (b) an award maintained and (c) reduction in benefit.

Number of appeals against a DLA and AA decision

The number of appeals received by the AA Unit between 6 April 1992 and 31 December 1992 is 782. This figure includes both Disability Appeal Tribunal cases as well as Social Security Appeal Tribunal cases. Of these, 372 are still awaiting submission to the Independent Tribunal Service. For DLA the number of appeals registered by the end of December 1992 was 2,375. 246 have so far been cleared and 2,129 remain outstanding.

Staffing

You asked how many staff, divided into full-time, part-time, permanent and temporary have been employed at each of the DBC's since the beginning of February 1992. I presume you are referring to those staff employed on DLA and AA65 operations within the Centres. This information is shown in Annex 7 attached.

The figures show a steady increase in the manpower deployed on the new benefits. Across the DBCs and Fylde Units, this increase amounts to around 800 additional staff. Approximately half of this total were redeployed from within the Agency, with just over 300 from the District Office network around the country and almost 100 from other operations within the Fylde Directorate. The remaining 400 are temporary staff recruited to assist in the clearance of the backlogs of cases which existed in the months surrounding the benefits' launch.


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I am of course conscious of the need to ensure that the valuable support these additional resources have provided is not removed too early. We are constantly monitoring this situation and reviewing staff needs therefore on an ongoing basis.

You also asked about the training which these staff received. In most areas extra staff were taken on to deal with specific areas of work. In the main, training was therefore specifically designed to meet the needs of the individual circumstances which prevailed, often covering specific tasks. Formal computer system and adjudication training courses were arranged as appropriate.

I hope you find this reply helpful. A copy will appear in the Official Report. A copy will also be placed in the Library. The information has been placed in the Library.

Samuel Skinnard

Mr. Steen : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when Mrs. J. Skinnard of 29 Bowers Park drive, Woolwell, Plymouth PL6 7SH, will know the outcome of her appeal against the decision to refuse disability living allowance for her son, Samuel Skinnard.

Mr. Scott : The administration of disability living allowance is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to my hon. Friend and a copy will be placed in the Library.

Letter from M. Bichard to Mr. Anthony Steen, dated 28 January 1993 :

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 asking when Mrs. J. Skinnard will know the outcome of her appeal against the decision to refuse Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for her son, Samuel.

As Mrs. Skinnard's letter of appeal was received within three months of the original decision, the claim fell to be reviewed under the new DLA adjudication procedures.

I can confirm that a review decision was given on 5 January 1993 and Mrs. Skinnard has now been notified of the outcome. I have replied to you separately in greater detail about the case. I hope you find this reply helpful. A copy will appear in the Official Report. A copy will also be placed in the Library.

Rosaleen Foster

Mrs. Angela Knight : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the consequences for his Department of the recent House of Lords judgment in the case of Rosaleen Foster ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Lilley : The judgment given in the House of Lords on 28 January in this case confirmed that the regulations under which the severe disability premium had been awarded in income support housing benefit and community charge benefit were validly made.

The Government have always intended that the severe disability premium should provide extra help to those particularly vulnerable severely disabled people who live independently of their families, and do not have anyone caring for them who receives invalid care allowance. The decision has put beyond doubt that the law enables Secretary of State to make such conditions. I am pleased that this matter has now been finally resolved, and I continue to believe that the SDP is an effective way of helping those severely disabled people who live independently and who are, therefore, most likely to have to rely on bought-in care.


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Departmental Accounts

Mr. Geoffrey Robinson : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what measures he is taking to produce the accounts of his Department in a form which is acceptable to the Comptroller and Auditor General ; on how many occasions the accounts of his Department have been subject to a qualified audit report ; and if he will make a statement.

Miss Widdecombe : The appropriation account recording expenditure of income support, family benefits and pension and disability benefits has been qualified on each occasion by the Comptroller and Auditor General for the years 1981-82 to 1991-92. There were a number of factors which caused the account to be qualified over the period. The main one, relating to the use of issues and encashment data, has not been a factor since 1989-90

The 1991-92 account was subject to a qualified audit report due to errors in the assessment and recording of payments of income support and inaccuracies in the awards of family credit. Action is in hand seeking to improve performance in these areas.

The reformed housing benefit scheme came into effect in 1982 and since that time the housing benefit appropriation account has been qualified by the Comptroller and Auditor General on three occasions ; 1983-84, 1984-85 and 1991-92. To improve the Department's performance tighter subsidy arrangements have been introduced.

Since 1981-82 the administration and miscellaneous services account has been qualified on four occasions ; 1981-82, 1983-84, 1984-85 and 1986-87 ; the last occasion on which the account was subject to a qualified audit report from the Comptroller and Auditor General.

Claimants' Files, Liverpool

Mrs. Jane Kennedy : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many files relating to claims for social security benefits have been destroyed in each year since 1985 at the (a) Huyton, (b) Edge Hill, (c) Breckfield and (d) Childwell Valley social security offices in Liverpool.


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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 M. Bichard to Ms. Jane Kennedy, dated 28 January 1993 :

As Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency it is my responsibility to answer questions about relevant operational matters. I am therefore replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security asking how many files relating to claims for social security benefits have been destroyed in each year since 1985 at the (a) Huyton, (b) Edge Hill, (c) Breckfield and (d) Childwall Valley social security offices in Liverpool.

The information you requested is not available as offices do not record either the details of the numbers of records destroyed over any particular period or the names of the customers concerned. I have outlined below the normal practice for destruction of documents in Income Support and Contributory Benefit records.

The records of customers in receipt of Income Support are kept intact as long as they receive benefit. Only when a customer's benefit ceases and all outstanding action has been completed will clerical records be transferred to the dormant file. If the records are dormant for 18 months, they are destroyed but only if there is no ongoing activity such as an outstanding appeal or overpayment. Contributory Benefit files are normally destroyed 18 months after death or 18 months after the final payment of benefit. However, from 1987 there has been an embargo on the destruction of any files relating to claims for Contributory Benefits. Such records are called General Benefit Units (GBUs).

In 1986 a national "one off" exercise allowed the destruction of all GBUs which had been inactive, (i.e. not the subject of claims or change of circumstances) for 5 years or more with certain exceptions.

If there is a particular case that is causing you concern please let me know the details and I will be happy to look into it for you. A copy will appear in the Official Report. A copy will also be placed in the Library.


 

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