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SOCIAL SECURITY

European Union Flag

Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what instructions were issued to his Department's offices and agencies in respect of flying the European Union flag on 8 May; and if he will make a statement. [31511]

Mr. Lilley: I gave instructions that the European Union flag should not be flown from Department of Social Security buildings on 8 May.

17 Jun 1996 : Column: 326

Recruitment

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security in what circumstances his Department or its executive agencies uses an executive search or employment agency to recruit staff in preferences to using personnel staff within his own Department or its executive agencies.[31527]

Mr. Burt: Under the next steps programme responsibility for recruitment has been devolved to individual business units and, within agencies, to local level. Employment agencies and executive search agencies are used by personnel sections where their expertise can add value to the recruitment process. In most cases they are used to fill senior or specialist vacancies. The Department uses recruitment and assessment services to recruit staff to the fast stream grade. The Contributions Agency has contracted out its personnel services and the contractors undertake all recruitment action on the agency's behalf.

War Disablement Pension

Mr. Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the average length of time currently taken to process (a) an application for a war disablement pension and (b) an appeal against a refusal of an application for a war disablement pension. [32153]

Mr. Heald: These are matters for Mr. Kevin Caldwell, chief executive of the War Pensions Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from K. C. Caldwell to Mr. David Hanson, dated 13 June 1996:

The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about War Pension claims and appeals.
The current average time being taken by the War Pensions Agency to clear a first claim to War Pension is 169 working days and the average time to clear an appeal is 328 working days.
War Pensions claims and appeals, in many instances, relate to World War II cases and thus involve the determination of cause and effect of medical conditions arising from incidents in service over 50 years ago. The retrieval of old service records and the linkage from service incidents to current disablements, as well as the assessment of the current degree of disablement and determination of the part played by the service incident are all complicating factors.
The War Pensions Agency set about a programme of modernising its administrative processes and through 1995 introduced a substantial programme of change: restructuring its operational teams into end-to-end sections to provide holistic service to claimants; introduction of a major operational computer system linked to the Department's other systems; and moving to new purpose built accommodation. These changes, aimed at providing an improved, more cost-effective service, did lead to a down-turn in performance in the second half of 1995 as the costs of retraining staff in the new arrangements were felt. As the throughput of work has picked up, and more cases are being cleared, more of these are relatively old cases in the system and average clearance times are elongated.
The position on appeals has also been affected by the considerable increase in appeals in 1994. There are still many old appeals in the system, which will continue to depress performance, but the Agency is making inroads and now has 10,475 appeals on hand compared to 14,360 at the same time last year and is clearing about 1,000 a month against a current average intake of less than half that number.

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I should explain the War Pension appeals are dealt with in two stages. First, the Agency prepares appeal papers and a Statement of Case for the independent Pensions Appeal Tribunals (PAT), who come under the jurisdiction of the Lord Chancellor's Department. The PAT, who consider all War Pension appeals, are then responsible for arranging the appeal hearing.
The figures I have quoted relate solely to the Agency's performance. I am advised by the PAT that, after receiving the appeal papers from the Agency, it is currently taking them on average 59.4 weeks to arrange a hearing.
I hope you find my reply helpful.

Incapacity Benefit

Mr. Alan Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to (a) commission and (b) undertake research into the impact of incapacity benefit. [32489]

Mr. Burt: A programme of external research and in-house studies is already in place to help assess whether incapacity benefit is meeting its objectives. These are to target help on people whose medical condition makes them incapable of work and to provide help in getting them back to work through arrangements that are simple to understand and fair.

Appeals

Mrs. Jane Kennedy: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) when he intends to complete his review of the legal basis of decision-making and appeals for social security benefits. [32240]

(2) what plans he has to reform the system of independent appeals tribunals with right of audience for appellants. [32241]

Mr. Roger Evans: The review my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, announced in February is concerned with how to achieve simpler, more efficient and cost effective arrangements for decisions and appeals whilst preserving claimants' rights to properly based decisions and access to an independent appeals mechanism. It is too soon to say when the review will be completed.

Civil Servants (Duties Abroad)

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much his Department spent during the financial years 1994-95 and 1995-96 on sending civil servants accompanying Ministers from his Department on official duties abroad. [32420]

Mr. Burt: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Warrington, South (Mr. Hall), on 20 March, Official Report, columns 238-40. Costs attributable to civil servants cannot reliably be identified separately.

Means Testing

Mr. Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 7 May to the hon. Member for Glasgow, Rutherglen (Mr. McAvoy), Official

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Report, columns 93-94, if he will provide the same information for each year since 1978. [32579]

Mr. Burt: The information is in the table:

£ million

Year	Social security benefit expenditure (a)	Means-tested benefits (b)	(b) expressed as a percentage of (a)
1978-79	15,873	2,692	17.0
1979-80	18,777	2,940	15.7
1980-81	22,658	3,830	16.9
1981-82	27,698	5,587	21.1
1982-83	31,628	7,917	25.0
1983-84	35,332	9,449	26.7
1984-85	38,225	10,755	28.1
1986-86	41,699	12,163	29.2
1986-87	44,913	13,171	29.3
1987-88	46,697	13,398	28.7
1988-89	47,333	13,265	28.0
1989-90	50,174	14,050	28.0
1990-91	56,509	16,804	29.7
1991-92	66,382	20,328	30.6
1992-93	75,336	25,518	33.9
1993-94	82,427	28,707	34.8
1994-95	84,866	30,308	35.7
1995-96	88,787	31,625	35.6

"The Growth of Social Security"

Mr. Alan Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security which of the assumptions concerning gross domestic product growth and unemployment in the three cases in "The Growth of Social Security" were used as the basis for calculating figure 10 in the Social Security departmental report, Cm3213. [32485]

Mr. Burt: The projections in "The Growth of Social Security" all assumed an unemployment level of around 3 million in 1992-93 which either stayed constant (case 1) or fell (cases 2 and 3) over the period to 1999-2000. None of these cases were appropriate for the latest projections--figure 10 of the Social Security departmental report--which assumed that the unemployment level remained constant at 2.1 million from 1995-96 to 2000-2001.

Child Benefit

Mr. Steinberg: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many families with children in receipt of child benefit aged (a) 16, (b) 17, (c) 18 and (d) 19 years, have a household income of (a) £0 to £5,000 per annum, (b) £5,000 to £10,000 per annum, (c) £10,000 to £15,000 per annum, (d) £15,000 to £20,000 per annum, (e) £20,000 to £25,000 per annum, (f) £25,000 to £30,000 per annum, (g) £30,000 to £35,000 per annum, (h) £35,000 to £40,000 per annum, (i) £40,000 to £45,000 per annum, (j) £45,000 to £50,000 per annum and (k) £50,000 and over. [30138]

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Mr. Andrew Mitchell [holding answer 20 May 1996]: The information is not available in the format requested as child benefit is not payable in respect of 19-year-olds. Such information as is available is set out in the table.

Numbers of benefit units receiving child benefit for children aged 16, 17 and 18, by bands of gross household weekly income, UK, 1992-93Thousands

	Numbers of benefit units receiving child benefit for children aged:
Gross household weekly income (January 1993 prices)	16	17 to 18	16 to 18
£0-£192	80	60	130
> £192 to £385	140	120	250
> £385 to £577	130	110	220
> £577 to £769	70	90	150
Over £769	90	100	180
Total	510	470	930

Notes:

1. Figures show the estimated number of benefit units which receive child benefit in respect of a child aged 16 to 18, by bands of weekly gross household income. A benefit unit is defined as a single adult or a couple with any dependent children; a household can contain one or more benefit units. Benefit units with children aged 16, and aged 17 or 18, will appear in both the first two columns; rows may therefore not sum.

2. Benefit units are grouped according to bands of gross weekly household income. If received throughout the year, these bands would correspond to annual incomes in January 1993 of: (i) £0 to £10,000 (ii) over £10,000 to £20,000 (iii) over £20,000 to £30,000 (iv) over £30,000 to £40,000 and (v) over £40,000. A more detailed breakdown would not be reliable.

3. 1992-93 is the latest period for which data is available. Figures for 1992-93 are for two calender years combined.

4. Estimates are derived from survey data and are subject to sampling error.

Estimates for 17 and 18-year-olds are combined, as are certain income groups, to reduce these sampling errors. Figures are shown to the nearest 10,000 benefit units. Columns may not sum due to rounding.

Source:

1992-93 Households Below Average Income dataset.

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