---

Advice Lines

Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what use was made of the 0800 advice service across north Staffordshire in 1995-96; what was the cost of the service; what mechanism he has adopted to assess the value of the service to claimants; and if he will make a statement as to the continued availability of this service. [23723]

3 Apr 1996 : Column: 355

Mr. Roger Evans: This is a matter for Peter Mathison, chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Ursula Brennan to Ms Joan Walley, dated 2 April 1996:

As Peter Mathison is on leave at the moment, the Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what use was made of the 0800 advice service across North Staffordshire in 1995-96; what costs were involved; what mechanism he has adopted to assess the value of the service to claimants; and if he will make a statement as to the continued availability of this service.

The information is not available in the form requested, this is because the Freeline, Social Security service is operated on a national basis. Since November 1994 customers dialling the Freeline number can be connected to any one of the Freeline Centres across the country.

Annex A gives the national details for the number of calls answered and the cost.

Freeline, Social Security is covered in the Benefits Agency national customer survey. The National Freeline Co-ordinators Office also conduct their own annual customer survey and they have a formal complaints procedure.
A review of the service is currently looking at options for handing these types of enquiries within the overall benefit advice service.
I hope you find this reply useful.
Annex A: National Freeline--Performance/costs 1995-96

(1) Call answered	(2) Costs
3.2 million	£6.6 million(32)




(32) Staff/running costs (including telecomms). Figures are provisional and subject to change.

Figures are rounded to nearest 100,000.

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many calls the Benefits Agency's freeline benefit advice line receives on average per year; how many calls it received for each year of its operation; and how many calls he estimates will be received in the next two years. [23819]

Mr. Evans: This is a matter for Peter Mathison, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Ursula Brennan to Mr. Frank Field, dated 2 April 1996:

As Peter Mathison is on leave at the moment, the Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many calls the Benefits Agency's (BA's) freeline benefit advice line receives on average per year; how many calls it received for each year of its operation; and how many calls he estimates will be received in the next two years.
Freeline, Social Security has been operating since 1984, however information about the number of calls is available only from 1993. The number of calls received has been taken to mean the number of calls answered by an advisor.
The average number of calls received is approximately 2.4 million per year and the number of calls received is shown in the list below:
1993-94: 1.5 million
1994-95: 2.6 million
1995-96: 3.2 million.
These figures are rounded to the nearest 100,000.

3 Apr 1996 : Column: 356

The target set for the number of calls to be answered for 1996-97 has been set at 3.4 million, a target has not been set for 1997-98. However a review of the service is currently underway.
I hope you find this reply helpful.

Lump Sum Widow's Payment

Mr. Chris Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what would be the cost to the Exchequer of (a) increasing the lump sum widow's payment to £1,500 and (b) thereafter uprating this new payment annually in line with the retail price index. [23587]

Mr. Heald: The extra cost of increasing the widow's payment to £1,500 would be approximately £21 million in 1996-97 and £22 million in 1997-98 ¹ .

Uprating in 1997-98 would cost approximately £650,000 per 1 per cent. increase.

Note: ¹ Source: Government Actuary's Department. Figures rounded to nearest million.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Mrs. Helen Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will extend industrial disease No. A12 to include frequent and repeated movements of the hand and wrist as a cause of carpal tunnel syndrome, in addition to the use of hand-held vibrating tools. [23972]

Mr. Roger Evans: There are no plans at present to extend the current terms of prescription in respect of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Mrs. Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many cases of carpal tunnel syndrome were granted compensation under industrial injuries legislation in each of the last five years. [23971]

Mr. Evans: The information is not available in the format requested. Carpal tunnel syndrome in respect of hand-held vibrating tools was added only in April 1993 to the list of prescribed diseases for which industrial injuries disablement benefit can be paid. The available information is set out in the table:

Results of initial medical assessments where carpel tunnel syndrome is diagnosed from 19 April 1993 to 30 September 1995

Period	All cases	0 per cent.(33)	1-13 per cent.(34)	14-100 per cent.
19 April 1993 to 31 December 1993	254	205	40	9
1 January 1994 to 31 December 1994	434	116	263	55
1 January 1995 to 30 September 1995	241	44	158	39
Grand total	929	365	461	103

(33) Cases where there is no loss of faculty or it is assessed at less than 1 per cent.

(34) Benefit is normally paid only for assessments of 14 per cent. or more. Entitlement to benefit could arise if an assessment in this range could be aggregated with one or more other assessments to reach 14 per cent.

1. Based on 100 per cent. count of cases.

3 Apr 1996 : Column: 357

Reduced Earnings Allowance

Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will postpone his decision to introduce the withdrawal of reduced earning allowance to women who have reached the age of 60 years until it has been subjected to parliamentary scrutiny. [24253]

Mr. Roger Evans: No. Parliament agreed, in passing the 1988 Social Security Act, that compensation for loss of earnings through reduced earnings allowance should continue past pension age only for those men and women who continued in regular employment. Otherwise it should cease and be replaced by retirement allowance payable at 25 per cent. of rate of reduced earnings allowance.

Computers

Mr. David Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the problem of non-recognition by computers of the year 2000 with regard to his Department's computers and those for which it is responsible. [24401]

Mr. Burt: The Department is currently assessing the impact of the millenium on its information technology systems and will work closely with suppliers to ensure that any necessary changes to our benefits delivery system are carried out well in advance of the change of the century.

One-parent Benefit

Ms Jowell: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what savings his Department expects to make by freezing one-parent benefit and lone-parent premium. [22728]

Mr. Andrew Mitchell: Some £15 million per year from 1996-97.

Ms Jowell: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his time scale for the phasing out of one-parent benefit and lone-parent premium. [22725]

Mr. Mitchell: Over time, the intention is to narrow the existing gap between benefits which go to lone parents and those which go to couples. Decisions on the pace and time scale of this process will be taken from year to year. Draft regulations to implement our proposals to restructure family benefits have been referred to the Social Security Advisory Committee. Subject to completion of the statutory consultation procedures and to Parliamentary approval, the draft regulations are expected to be laid in May/June and to come into force in April 1997.

Retention and Regeneration Packages

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to establish retaining and regeneration packages to assist staff and locations affected by proposed run-downs in his Department's employment after 1 April. [23701]

Mr. Burt: It is inevitable that Departmental efficiencies will result in staff reductions. However, it is too early to assess the possible impact of this on staff or particular localities.

3 Apr 1996 : Column: 358

---