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SOCIAL SECURITY
Employee Fraud
Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what data-matching exercises the Benefits Agency has carried out on its own employees; and how many employees have subsequently been discovered to be involved in (a) breaches of confidence and (b) illegal benefit claims. [19488]
Mr. Heald: In 1994, a limited clerical exercise involving three offices was undertaken to check staff national insurance numbers against records held in the departmental central index. The aim was to protect the interests of staff by checking that their national insurance number was not being used by other persons for fraudulent purposes. The exercise complied fully with
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Data Protection Act 1984 requirements, including appropriate authorisation, registration and the handling of data. The appropriate trade union side was kept informed.
No cases of benefit fraud nor any breaches of confidence were found.
Incapacity Benefit
Mr. Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people who have been examined for the all-work test of incapacity have been found capable of work (a) in total and (b) during each month since April 1995, for each of the 11 medical services centres. [20180]
Mr. Burt: The information is not available in the format requested. National figures for the number of claimants disallowed following examination are in the table.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| April 1995 | 10 |
| May 1995 | 28 |
| June 1995 | 1,087 |
| July 1995 | 3,680 |
| August 1995 | 5,015 |
| September 1995 | 5,987 |
| October 1995 | 7,281 |
| November 1995 | 8,540 |
| December 1995 | 5,716 |
| January 1996 | 9,966 |
| Total | 47,310 |
These figures do not include clerically processed cases, credits-only cases or severe disablement allowance cases.
Mr. Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many IB50 all-work questionnaires have been issued by his Department in each of the months since April 1995; how many have been returned in the time allowed; and how many people failed to return the questionnaire without good cause in each of the 11 medical services centres. [20174]
Mr. Burt: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the tables:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| April 1995 | 59,382 |
| May 1995 | 140,929 |
| June 1995 | 114,244 |
| July 1995 | 87,020 |
| August 1995 | 77,729 |
| September 1995 | 93,976 |
| October 1995 | 115,600 |
| November 1995 | 124,295 |
| December 1995 | 96,639 |
| January 1996 | 156,319 |
| Total | 1,066,133 |
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| Number | |
|---|---|
| April 1995 | 0 |
| May 1995 | 9 |
| June 1995 | 724 |
| July 1995 | 855 |
| August 1995 | 630 |
| September 1995 | 442 |
| October 1995 | 608 |
| November 1995 | 717 |
| December 1995 | 655 |
| January 1996 | 1,269 |
| Total | 5,909 |
Figures do not include clerically processed cases, credits-only cases or severe disablement allowance cases.
Mr. Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many appeals (a) have been lodged to date against a decision that the claimant is capable of work and (b) have been heard; how many and what percentage were found in the claimant's favour; and how many claimant were represented. [20176]
Mr. Burt: Information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available as at the end of January 1996, is in the table:
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| Number | |
|---|---|
| Appeals lodged against AWT decision | 26,506 |
| Appeals heard | 3,275 |
| Appeals found in favour of claimant. | 1,494 |
| Percentage of appeals heard found in claimant's favour | 45.6 |
Mr. Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the savings to his Department from the introduction of incapacity benefit. [20181]
Mr. Burt: I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to the hon. Member for Caernarfon (Mr. Wigley) on 26 January 1996, Official Report, column 274.
Supply Estimates
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 4 March 1996, Official Report, columns 808-82, if he will set out as much of the information on Supply estimates and supplementary estimates for the DSS votes as is available for 1995-96. [20769]
Mr. Burt: The table sets out the original 1995-96 estimate provision and the changes secured in the summer and spring supplementary estimates for each of the votes accounted for by the Department of Social Security. Outturns for each of the votes will be published in due course in the Department's annual appropriation accounts.
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| Vote number | Vote title | Original revised | Summer | Winter | Spring |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995-96 | |||||
| Class XIII, Vote 1 | Central Government Administered Social Security Benefits and Other Payments | 33,232,636 | -- | -- | 1,151,000 |
| Class XIII, Vote 2(3) | Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit, Payments into the NI Fund and Payment into the Social Fund, IRO Regulated Expenditure | 12,236,830 | -- | -- | Token IK |
| Class XIII, Vote 3(4) | Housing Benefit Administration and Council Tax Benefit Administration, Payments into the Social Fund IRO Discretionary Expenditure and other Grants | 403,139 | -- | 14,566 | 1,550 |
| Class XIII, Vote 4(4) | DSS Administration and Miscellaneous Services | 2,676,396 | -- | -- | 19,355 |
(3)Vote title changed to housing benefit subsidies, council tax benefit subsidies, payments into the national insurance fund and payments into the social fund in respect of regulated expenditure, in Spring supplementary estimate.
(4)This vote is subject to a cash limit, the figures quoted above represent the NET provision.
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Age Allowance
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the estimated cost of converting the 25p per week age allowance to pensioners on their 80th birthday into an annual £13 lump sum payment; and if he will make a statement. [21020]
Mr. Heald: The cost to the national insurance fund of converting the 25p per week age allowance to pensioners on their 80th birthday into an annual £13 lump sum payment is estimated to be £2 million per annum.
If the lump sum payment is not treated as weekly income for the purposes of calculating entitlement to income-related benefits, it is estimated that there could be income-related benefit costs of £9 million per annum.
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Source: Government Actuary.
Disability Discrimination Act 1995
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what guidance he plans to issue in respect of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995; and what monitoring will be undertaken of its provisions. [21539]
Mr. Burt: A brief guide to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 was issued in November 1995 and further information material on the provisions of the Act will follow. There will be statutory guidance related to the definition of disability. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Employment will be issuing a code of practice relating to the employment provisions in the Act. The National Disability Council is currently consulting on its proposals for a code of practice relating to the rights of access to goods, facilities, services and property, which will be published by the Secretary of State in due course. All these items will be published in
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time to allow employers and service providers to prepare themselves for the introduction of the new rights and duties.
The Government will monitor the effectiveness of the Act by a range of measures, including research. The National Disability Council is also under a specific duty to advise the Government on the operation of the Act, and can recommend changes if necessary.
Social Fund
Mr. David Martin: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what gross budget will be set for the discretionary social fund in 1996-97. [21641]
Mr. Roger Evans: I am pleased to announce that the social fund gross discretionary budget for 1996-97 will be £419.5 million--£97 million will be allocated to grants, £321.5 million to loans and the remaining £1 million will be set aside as a contingency reserve. The new allocations represent an increase of £13.5 million, or 3.3 per cent. over the total gross budget for 1995-96.
This represents a prudent increase, especially at a time when it is essential that every aspect of public expenditure is looked at very carefully. I am pleased that we have once again sustained our record in increasing the social fund budget each year since it began.
The recycling of loans means that we are able to give more help to more people and the loans system is being widely used. For example, between 1 April 1995 and 29 February 1996, over 1.8 million non-repayable grants and interest-free loans were made.
The increase from April 1996 will allow even more people to be helped.
Details of individual district budget allocations have been placed in the Library.
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