| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Mental Illness
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimates he has made of days lost at work because of mental ill health in each of the last five years. [6108]
Mr. Heald: Information is not available in the format requested.
| Period | Number of days |
|---|---|
| 3 April 1989 to 31 March 1990(19) | 79,670,000 |
| 2 April 1990 to 30 March 1991(19) | 91,479,000 |
| 1 April 1991 to 4 April 1992(19) | 105,849,000 |
| 6 April 1992 to 3 April 1993(20) | 159,994,000 |
| 5 April 1993 to 2 April 1994(20) | 172,251,000 |
Notes:
(19) Sickness Benefit and Invalidity Benefit claims only.
(20) Sickness Benefit, Invalidity Benefit and Severe Disablement
Allowance claims. 1. Based on a 1 per cent. sample of claimants within Great Britain, rounded to the nearest thousand.
14 Dec 1995 : Column: 794
Incapacity Benefit
Mr. Rowlands: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many claims there have been for the new incapacity benefit within the Merthyr benefit district; and how many of these were claimants with mental health problems; [4102]
(2) how many claims for incapacity benefit have been made since April in the Merthyr benefit area; how many of these have been from (a) men and (b) women; and how many have been successful. [4100]
Mr. Burt: This is a matter for Peter Mathison, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member with such information as is available.
Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Ted Rowlands, dated 13 December 1995:
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions about how many claims there have been for the new Incapacity Benefit within the Merthyr benefit district; how many of these were claimants with mental health problems; how many of the new claims have been from (a) men and (b) women; and how many have been successful.
Mr. Hinchliffe:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the average waiting period between an application for a war pension appeal and an appeal hearing. [5005]
Mr. Heald:
This is a matter for Mr. John Sheppard, the acting chief executive of the War Pensions Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from John Sheppard to Mr. David Hinchliffe, dated 13 December 1995:
14 Dec 1995 : Column: 795
14 Dec 1995 : Column: 796
Mr. Heald:
These are matters for Mr. John Sheppard, the acting chief executive of the War Pensions Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from John Sheppard to Mr. Jim Cousins, dated 13 December 1995:
I am unable to break down these figures to show the years of the original claims because there are no time limits for making entitlement appeals and different time limits depending on the type of assessment appeal. It does not follow, therefore that the appeals received in any period are related to decision made in any specific earlier period. Indeed, some entitlement appeals are made up to 20 or 30 years after the original decision on the claim. I hope you find this information useful.
14 Dec 1995 : Column: 795
14 Dec 1995 : Column: 797
Information is not available in the format requested. Statistics on the number of new claims are collated at District level. There have been 6,230 new claims for Incapacity Benefit, during the period 13 April to 1 December, in the Eastern Valleys District. This District comprises of the Merthyr Tydfil, Aberdare, Bargoed and Caerphilly offices.
Information about how many customers within the Merthyr Tydfil office who have claimed Incapacity Benefit and who are suffering with mental health problems could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Statistics are not kept on the number of men or women who have claimed Incapacity Benefit.
Figures for the number of successful claims to Incapacity Benefit are not available. Statistics are only available for the number of claims disallowed. In the Merthyr Tydfil office, 310 claims to Incapacity Benefit were disallowed during the period 13 April 1995 to 1 December 1995. This figure may include claims made before 13 April 1995.
I hope you find this reply helpful.
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about War Pensions appeals.
There are two different types of War Pension appeal. An entitlement appeal can be made against the decision that there is no entitlement to a War Disablement Pension. An assessment appeal may be made where the pensioner awarded a War Disablement Pension disagrees with the assessment of his disability.
The War Pensions Agency (WPA) is responsible for preparing the appeal papers for the independent Pension Appeal Tribunals (PAT), who come under the jurisdiction of the Lord Chancellor's Department. The PAT consider all War Pension appeals and are responsible for arranging appeal hearings.
Mr. Cousins:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the total number of war pension appeals outstanding; what was the number of such appeals originally in each year of original claim; and how many were outstanding at (a) 31 December 1994 and (b) 31 December 1993. [5489]
Once an appeal has been lodged the WPA looks at all the evidence afresh and is then required to produce a Statement of Case. This is a complex document detailing all the relevant evidence which is sent to the appellant for comment before being submitted to the PAT. The average time taken by WPA to complete this action in 1995/96, is 263 working days for an assessment appeal and 326 days for an entitlement appeal. These average times are longer than would normally be the case and are a reflection of the considerable increase in appeals that occurred in 1994. The WPA has also been phasing in a new computer system and a major restructuring of the organisation this year, but now that these changes are complete, there should be a gradual and sustained improvement in the clearance of appeals.
Once the Statement of Case is with the PAT they make the arrangements for the appeal to be heard. They too have been affected by the increase in appeals over the last couple of years. The average time taken since April for the PAT to schedule a hearing following receipt of the Statement of Case from WPA is 42.35 weeks.
The PAT has also addressed the problem by increasing the number of courts held each day. These have increased from 4-5 at the end of 1994, to 7-8 now, and the intention is to further increase the number to 10 next April. In addition there has been an increase in the number of cases heard each day by each court.
I hope you find my reply helpful.
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the number of outstanding War Pension appeals.
There are two different types of appeal. An entitlement appeal may be lodged where the Agency has been unable to accept that a particular medical condition has been caused by service in the Forces; an assessment appeal can be made where the appellant disagrees with the assessment of disablement arising from an accepted condition.
The table below shows the number of appeals outstanding within the Agency on the dates you refer to.
31 December 1993 31 December 1994 30 November 1995
Entitlement 8,857 7,102 6,085
Assessment 6,949 8,263 6,617
Total 15,806 15,365 12,702
Drownings (Bangor)
Mr. Robert McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is his Department's responsibility for the river flowing from Clandeboye estate into the Kilcooley estate in Bangor where two children drowned on the night of 15 November. [2508]
Mr. Moss: This is a matter for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and I am advised by the chief executive that the section of the watercourse in question forms the boundary between the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and a private housing development. The Housing Executive, as the riparian owner of that part of the stream adjacent to the estate, has joint responsibility for its maintenance to ensure a free flow of water, and carries out maintenance on a monthly basis.
Royal Family (Pictures)
Mr. Robert McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is his policy with respect to the display by civil servants in their offices of pictures of members of the royal family. [3219]
Sir John Wheeler: There are circumstances in which the display of a portrait of Her Majesty the Queen or other members of the royal family is officially approved. The display of any pictures by individual civil servants in their offices is, of course, subject to civil service policy on promoting a good and harmonious working environment for all its employees.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |