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Small Firms

Mrs. Roche: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what has been the outcome of his Department's review of measures taken to facilitate small firms' access to appropriate areas of Government procurement in the light of best practice. [6656]

Mr. Jonathan Evans: The review is not yet complete. The report is expected by the end of January 1996.

SOCIAL SECURITY

War Pension Awards (Immunisation)

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the total number of war pension awards made as a result of conditions arising out of immunisation since 1990; and, in each case, what was the immunisation procedure concerned. [5477]

Mr. Heald: Records show that, since 1990, in one case a war pension award has been made for a condition related to immunisation. The condition involved a possible general anaphylactic reaction to vaccine, which is not vaccine specific.

Mr. Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what is the average lapse in time between a war pension being (a) applied for and (b) refused and the subsequent appeal being dealt with by a tribunal; [5079]

(2) what proportion of war pension applications which have been refused are (a) the subject of appeals to tribunals and (b) are subsequently granted following appeals to tribunals. [5080]

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 Mr. John Sheppard to Mr. Brian Wilson, dated 18 December 1995:

The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions about War Pension appeals.
I should first explain that 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. As you have asked about claims that are refused, I will limit my reply to entitlement appeals.
You have asked about the average time lapse between a War Pension claim being made and a subsequent appeal being dealt with by a Tribunal. I am unable to give you that information in the way you requested because there are no time limits for lodging entitlement appeals. It does not follow, therefore, that the appeals received in any period are related to the decisions made in any specific earlier period. Indeed, some entitlement appeals are lodged 20 or 30 years after the original claim. No information is available which measures the average time between notification of a rejected claim and an appeal being lodged.

18 Dec 1995 : Column: 884

I can, however, tell you that the average time taken to clear a first claim to War Pension so far in 1995-96 is 157.12 working days (31.42 weeks). If rejection of a claim leads to an appeal, the War Pension Agency (WPA) is responsible for preparing the Statement of Case for the independent Pensions Appeal Tribunal (PAT), who consider all War Pension appeals and are responsible for arranging appeal hearings. The average time taken by WPA to review the evidence and prepare an entitlement appeal Statement of Case, including any comments from the appellant, is 326 working days (65.2 weeks).
The average times taken to deal with appeals are longer than would normally be the case and are a reflection of the considerable increase in appeals that occurred in 1994. As I explained in my letter to you on 7 November, the introduction of our new computer system and the re-structuring of the Agency has also had an effect on our achievements so far this year.

As I have said, the arrangement of appeal hearings is a matter for the PAT who come under the jurisdiction of the Lord Chancellor's Department. They have told me that the average time taken since April this year for the PAT to schedule a hearing following receipt of the Statement of Case from WPA is 42.35 weeks.

I am aware that the PAT have addressed the problem of large numbers of appeals awaiting hearing 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.
You have also asked the proportion of rejected claims that go to appeal and are subsequently granted. Again, I am unable to provide that exact information you have asked for because of the time limits I explained earlier. I can, however, give you the following information on the number of rejected first claims and entitlement appeals, as well as those allowed by the PAT during the last three financial years. Not all appeals proceed to the Tribunal because we are sometimes able to review the decision and allow the claim, or the appellant withdraws the appeal after it has been lodged. I must stress that because of the time lapse, there is no direct correlation between the figures shown.

Year	Rejections	Ent. appeals lodged	Ent. appeals sent to PAT	Ent. appeals allowed at PAT
1992-93	14,850	8,451	2,209	555
1993-94	19,889	10,001	4,754	994
1994-95	14,156	(14)5,158	5,074	1,242




(14) From 5 April 1994 an appeal is classed as lodged from the date

that appeal forms are returned to the War Pensions Agency. Previously, an intention to appeal was classed as a lodged appeal. I hope you find my reply helpful.

Benefits Smart Card

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what will be the cost of introducing a benefits smart card system. [4729]

Mr. Heald: The feasibility studies estimated set up costs for a magnetic stripe card system and supporting technology to be £135 million. The same studies estimate that when fully implemented the system would save approximately £140 billion a year in benefits fraud. Competitive proposals are being considered now, under the private finance initiative, from the three short-listed potential service providers. The cost will not be known until the procurement process has been completed.

Housing Benefit

Mr. George Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what were the numbers and amounts

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of housing benefit backdated payments under regulation 72(15); and what percentage this was of each local authority's housing benefit expenditure in each year since 1991-92. [5053]

Mr. Roger Evans: The information has been placed in the Library.

Uprating

Mr. Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list (a) for each benefit and each capital or income limit which is not to be increased in April 1996, the reasons for not going so and (b) the current value of

18 Dec 1995 : Column: 886

each such benefit or limit and the value which would have resulted from increasing it in line with prices and average earnings since it was last increased or since it was introduced. [4084]

Mr. Burt: The figures requested for the existing social security benefits and capital or income limits which will not be uprated in April 1996 are in the table. In deciding whether or not to increase those benefits and limits which are not required to be uprated by statute, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State takes into account many factors, including the national economic situation and whether increasing these items is in accordance with his general policy.

18 Dec 1995 : Column: 885

Benefit/Limit	Current value	Date from which current value applied	April 1996 rate if increased by rise in earnings since date at column 3	April 1996 rate if increased by rise in prices since date at column 3	Basis of calculation for figure in column (5)
Widows Payment	1,000	April 1988	1,632.10	1,473.20	RPI
Capital Limits in	3,000	April 1988	4,896.10	4,297.15	Rossi
IS and FC	8,000	April 1990	10,929.20	10,403.60
Capital Limits in	3,000	April 1988	4,896.10	4,297.15	Rossi
HB	16,000	April 1990	21,858.35	20,807.25
UB Earnings Limit	2 per day	March 1982	5.20	4.00	RPI
UB Earnings Limit (full extent normal)	12	December 1989	17.90	16.75	RPI
IS Earnings	5	April 1988	8.15	7.15	Rossi
Disregards	15		24.50	21.50
HB/CTB Earnings	5	April 1988	8.15	7.15	Rossi
Disregards	10	April 1988	16.40	14.30
	15	April 1988	24.50	21.50
	25	October 1990	34.10	32.50
War Pension disregard for income-related benefits (irbs)	10	April 1990	13.65	12.95	Rossi
Income from a boarder (irbs)	20	April 1990	27.30	26.00	Rossi
Disregard of income from a sub-tenant	4	April 1988	6.45	5.75	Rossi
Disregard of Training Bonus (irbs)	200	September 1988	326.45	294.60	RPI
Maintenance disregard (HB, CTB, FC, DWA)	15	April 1992	17.35	16.90	Rossi
Student Loan disregard (irbs)	10	September 1990	13.65	12.95	Rossi
Occupational Pension Disregard (UB)	35	April 1981	101.80	77.10	RPI
Lower savings limit for Voluntary Unemployment Deduction (UB and IS)	200	April 1988	326.45	286.45	Rossi
Protected earnings limit where IS recovered after Trade Dispute	27	April 1988	44.05	38.65	Rossi
SF Maternity Payment	100	April 1990	136.65	130.05	Rossi
SF Capital Limits	500	April 1987	879.65	739.15	Rossi
(Maternity and	(Under 60)
Funeral Payments)	1,000	April 1990	1,366.15	1,300.45
	(60 years and over)
Additional Expenses limit for SF Funeral Payment	75	April 1987	132.00	110.90	Rossi
Over 80 Age Addition to RP	25p	September 1971	3.65	1.65	RPI
Christmas Bonus	10	December 1972	110.55	66.95	RPI
Limit for recovery of benefit from Compensation payments	2,500	September 1990	3,415.40	3,232.10	RPI
ICA Earnings Limit	50	April 1993	55.10	54.05	RPI
Lone Parent	(IS) 5.20	April 1995	(15)5.35	(15)5.35	Rossi
Premium	11.50		(15)11.85	(15)11.85
	(HB/CTB)
One Parent Benefit	6.30	April 1995	6.50	6.55	RPI
Community Care	500	April 1988	815.95	716.15	Rossi
Grants and	(Under 60)
Budgeting loans	1,000		1,632.10	1,432.35
	(60 years and over)
IS Amount for	1.10	April 1988	1.70	1.60	Rossi
meals	1.55		2.50	2.20
IS: Personal	17.35	April 1995	17.85	17.85	Rossi
Expenses for Claimant and Partner, Dependant Child aged 18, Polish Home, Ilford Park	15.55	April 1995	16.00	16.00
Pneumoconiosis, Byssinosis and Miscellaneous Diseases Scheme Maximum Death Benefit	300	1952	12,697.50	4,474.00	RPI

Notes:

(15)No difference between Earnings/Rossi calculations due to effect of rounding to nearest 5p.

The uprating of each benefit in column 5 has been carried out using price indices in the same way as for actual upratings since 1971. "RPI" in column 6 indicates that the Retail Price Index (all items) has been used throughout. "Rossi" refers to the RPI less all housing costs up to the 1991 uprating; the RPI less rent, mortgage payments and 80 per cent. of community charge for the 1992 uprating; and the RPI less rent, mortgage payments and council tax thereafter. It is assumed that benefits would have been uprated before 1971 in line with the RPI at the dates of uprating of Retirement Pension. The uprating of benefits by earnings in column 4 is based on the average earnings of full-time adult male manual employees before 1963, the old series index of earnings from 1963 to 1976 and the average earnings index (whole economy) unadjusted since 1976. The same uprating dates have been used as for the calculations at column 5. The index for September 1995, used for the 1996 calculation, is provisional and subject to change. All calculations are rounded to the nearest 5p at each uprating date. Where the current value of a benefit was set at a date between upratings the calculation has started from the previous uprating date. Abbreviations: IS = Income Support; FC = Family Credit: HB = Housing Benefit; UB = Unemployment Benefit; CTB = Council Tax Benefit; DWA = Disability Working Allowance; SF = Social Fund; RP = Retirement Pension; ICA = Invalid Care Allowance.

18 Dec 1995 : Column: 887

18 Dec 1995 : Column: 887

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