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Rowntree Report

27. Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what policy changes he proposes consequent upon the Rowntree trust's report on poverty.[33000]

Mr. Andrew Mitchell: The report supports the Government's view that the most effective way of raising the living standards and prospects of unemployed people is by helping them return to work. Unemployment has fallen by nearly 800,000 since December 1992, and we are building upon this achievement with innovative policies on in-work and back-to-work benefits.

Mobile Information Unit

Mr. Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has for the mobile information unit; what is the current financial value of this unit; what has been the expenditure on the unit

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over the last five years; and how many residents the mobile information unit has been in contact with over the last five years. [33026]

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

Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Jon Trickett, dated 24 June 1996:

The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what plans he has for the Mobile Information Unit (MIU); what is the current financial value of this unit; what has been the expenditure on the unit over the last five years; and with how many residents the MIU has been in contact with over the last five years.
I have assumed that the MIU you refer to in your question is the MIU in Wakefield. The information is not available in the format requested. This is because the MIU for Wakefield was registered in December 1994, prior to this a unit was run by Kirklees District and covered a wider geographical area, serving several Districts.
A review of the customer services provided within the Yorkshire Area is ongoing. However, the MIU service in Wakefield has been suspended with effect from 3 June although a final decision on its future has not been made.
The current value of the MIU is estimated at £13,000.
The attached Annex gives details of expenditure and the number of customers seen.
I hope you find this reply helpful.
Mobile information unit--Wakefield

Period	Staff costs (£)	Operating costs (10)(£)	Number of customers seen
1994-95 (from December 1994)	10,631	1,580.78	1,992
1995-96	31,988	9,745.60	10,814
1996-97 (to June 1996)	5,315	4,657.37	1,503




Data is provisional and subject to amendment.

(10)Operating costs including maintenance, garaging, diesel and valeting.

Incapacity Benefit

Mr. Foulkes: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the percentage withdrawal of benefit following all-work test examinations at each Benefits Agency office in Scotland for each month in (a) 1995 and (b) 1996 up to the most recent available month. [33608]

Mr. Burt: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the tables:

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Percentage withdrawal of benefit following all work test referrals to Benefits Agency medical servicesApril 1995 to May 1996

Local office	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December	January	February	March	April	May
Greenock	0	1.3	13.3	11.4	20	11.8	22.3	15.1	12.9	10.4	8.7	14.4	11.6
Port Glasgow	0	4	14.1	23.1	13.8	9.6	20.3	14	--	--	--	--	--
Motherwell	0	5.2	23	25.6	18.2	10.9	11.2	18.4	29.7	29.3	18.7	6.5	16
Hamilton	0	9	19.7	19.9	16.6	33.3	16.8	6.2	24.9	28.3	21.4	12.3	23.9
Coatbridge	0	3.9	24.2	16.1	15.9	17.5	15.2	22.5	25.7	9.2	23.7	12	17.4
Airdrie	0	2.8	19.2	17.2	15.6	13.3	9.4	23.6	24.1	8.5	20.8	6.9	--
Edinburgh South	0	2.6	3.9	3.1	3.6	4.4	4.9	10	5.9	2.7	2.4	2.9	3.8
Edinburgh East	0	1.3	6	16.9	9.9	3.1	26.8	28.1	9	9.8	11.3	17.3	25.1
Galashiels	0	7	11.6	6.7	11.9	9.4	11.3	14	13.9	16.1	11	15.7	17.9
Kirkcaldy	0	2	11	9.3	9.7	18.2	30.6	25	18.2	22.6	30	23	19.5
Cowdenbeath	2.7	13	0	24.6	21.2	22.8	30	10.2	25.8	18.6	20.1	12.5	8.3
Leven	3.3	9.2	10.8	9.8	18.3	21.2	17.6	25	11.9	14.1	14.2	12.9	19.5
Dunfermiline	0	7.4	7.3	25.7	12.9	20	11.4	19.6	9.3	11.9	15.3	15.7	15
Stirling	0	2.6	9	8.1	8.2	8.4	18.1	16.6	15.6	15.2	12	8.1	15.3
Falkirk	0	2.7	3.5	12.9	12	24.6	17.6	12.7	11.3	15.9	10.5	10.4	10.7
Glasgow City	0	0	0	8.2	14	11.1	5.8	18.5	33.6	11.3	7.7	6.8	12.6
Glasgow Maryhill	0	0	0	8.4	8.9	12.4	7.1	19.8	33	15.7	10.2	4	15.4
Irwine	0	1.5	1.1	6.5	15.2	10	14.2	14	16.4	28.2	20.8	27.6	7.2
Kilmarnock	1.9	6.1	10.3	16.5	19.7	12.2	11.7	15.5	19.5	24.4	12.4	31.7	20.6
Clydebank	0	5.3	10.4	9	6.1	12.5	11	15.3	10.3	9.6	8.9	12	10.7
Cambeltown	0	0	17.9	3.9	7.7	20.5	17.1	20	10	16.7	0	16.2	13.2
Oban	0	0	18.7	0	0	13	29.8	14.3	7.1	28.2	23.8	25	12.5
Edinburgh City	0	1.7	5.6	20.5	22.1	23.9	12.6	15.1	15.5	17.2	14.2	19.8	12.9
Leith	0	0	15	1.8	8.1	5.3	4.6	2	6.7	7.4	8.6	5	1.6
Lothian West	1.9	5.5	10.2	14.5	12.8	15.1	12.4	11.2	13.6	11.1	11.2	7.5	10.6
Renfrew	0	4.9	9.2	10.9	16	10.4	7.8	10.5	4	14.4	14.8	13.7	7.8
Ayr	0	7.5	23.3	24.1	16.3	21.3	26.2	27.4	24.5	19.7	25.5	31.8	19.7
Dumfries	0	1.1	20.2	10.7	21.4	25.8	22.3	16.7	26.1	16.9	9.6	14.4	6.9
Stranraer	0	0	0	46.8	0	13.1	38.1	25.9	15.2	1.9	14.3	5.2	5.1
Dundee	0	6	11.7	18.4	19.8	22.9	24.9	17.7	15.9	16.1	17.9	15.3	16
Arbroath	0	5.2	15.2	9.6	26.9	15.3	11.4	5.2	18	14.2	18.8	12.4	15.6
Perth	0	0.9	6.5	8.7	13.6	8.9	16.1	9.3	11.5	9.6	11.9	10.2	6.3
Glasgow Shettleston	0	3.2	12.5	10.4	22.4	8.8	9.4	9.8	11.7	12.4	13.7	21.2	16.8
Glasgow Bridgeton	0	4.6	24.2	15.1	20.5	7.5	13.1	3.7	7.2	21.2	42	31.8	25.2
Glasgow Provan	0	3.4	10.9	12.3	23.2	9.7	13.3	3.9	6.6	14.9	10	64.2	18.1
Glasgow Laurieston	0	1.5	0.5	6.3	7	9.2	17.2	14.5	12.7	24.2	24.3	23.6	16
East Kilbride	0	0	0	9.1	15	16.9	15.5	12.1	14.5	19.4	30.7	24.4	10.5
Glasgow South West	1.4	4.8	10.8	15.8	16.5	16	19.1	20.5	22.9	18.7	20.9	28.5	26.7
Glasgow Springburn	0	4.2	5.7	5.1	6.9	14	19.4	5.1	12.1	15.9	15.2	13.6	10.7
Glasgow Cumbernauld	0	8.2	9.5	15.6	17.4	13	19.2	10.3	18.4	14.1	18.3	29.8	18.4
Glasgow Anniesland	0	0.9	13.4	11.2	13	4.6	25.3	19.3	14.1	20.6	10.2	15.4	10.5
Glasgow Patrick	0	0	12.1	10.2	18.1	6.8	17.5	22.8	11.5	18.6	12.9	12.7	15.3
Aberdeen	0.8	6.2	2.1	13.3	8.5	6.1	8.2	5.6	5.7	6.7	10.2	8.5	16.9
Lerwick	0	0	0	12.5	8.7	0	30.8	50	24	0	23.1	20	23
Peterhead	0	2.3	1.5	3.9	8.4	7.5	4.5	0.8	0	0.9	2.3	4.4	4.8
Inverness	0	5.5	12.6	8.7	13.3	9.8	11.8	17.5	12.2	13.9	18.7	10.4	6.3
Elgin	0	1.7	12.2	15.8	4.3	13.2	13.4	16.5	9.6	10.2	15.2	14	12
Fort William	0	5.9	4.2	0	7.1	8.6	8.6	0	11.6	5.3	13.7	25	6.6
Kirkwall	0	0	0	11.1	5.9	16.1	0	5.9	0	12.5	0	40	6.7
Stornoway	0	0	0	2.2	0	0	0	15.6	0	8.2	5.3	7.7	7.4
Wick	0	2.2	4.2	5.9	2.6	3.1	3.2	20.7	4.5	4.9	7.7	7.1	4.8

Notes:

1. Data for April 1995:--two cases were withdrawn benefit for the whole of Scotland, one in Leith and one in Clydebank.

2. Percentage withdrawal includes a small number of credits only cases withdrawn as they failed to return their questionnaire without good cause or failed to attend a medical.

3. From January 1996 data for Port Glasgow are included with the figures for Greenock.

4. From May 1996 data for Airdrie are included with the figure for Coatbridge.

5. The decision to withdraw benefit is made by the independent adjudication officer.

Source:

100 per cent. count of cases on the incapacity benefit system. Excludes a small number of clerically processed cases.

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Disability Working Allowance

Mr. Chris Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what percentage of people in receipt of disability working allowance were in work at the time of their claim. [33831]

Mr. Andrew Mitchell: In order to qualify for disability working allowance, a person must work for 16 hours or more a week. Therefore, all recipients of disability working allowance were in work at the time of their claim.

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