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SOCIAL SECURITY

Benefits

Mr. Alan Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many (a) male and (b) female claimants of (i) severe disablement allowance, (ii) incapacity benefit, (iii) unemployment benefit claimed for an adult dependant but were disqualified; and if he will break the figures down by category of disqualification. [34218]

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Mr. Burt: The information is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate of the (a) numbers of claimants gaining or losing and (b) amounts of costs and savings arising from the option of voluntary reporting of changes of circumstances between fixed-term reviews as detailed in his departmental research report No. 45. [37422]

Mr. Roger Evans: The information is not centrally available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list those benefits where payments currently are lower in real terms than in 1979; and how many people (a) are now and (b) were in 1979 drawing each of those benefits. [35579]

Mr. Roger Evans: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on Monday 22 July, Official Report, column 65.

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much was paid out in benefits (a) nationally, (b) in the north-west and (c) in Warrington in 1995-96. [37557]

Mr. Burt: The information is not available in the format requested and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Expenditure on social security benefits in Great Britain in 1995-96 is estimated to have been £88.8 billion.

Mr. Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate listed by benefit of (a) the numbers gaining from and (b) the costs of amending the Social Security Benefit (Computation of Earnings) Regulations 1978 to calculate earnings (i) net of income tax and (ii) to disregard half of any contribution made towards an occupational or private pension scheme. [39186]

Mr. Heald: Based on the data contained in the family resources survey, it is estimated that the number gaining, and the costs of amending, the Social Security (Computation of Earnings) Regulations to calculate earnings net of income tax and to disregard half of any contribution made towards an occupational or personal pension would be negligible.

Mr. Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many and what proportion of claimants of (a) unemployment benefit, (b) incapacity benefit and (c) severe disablement allowance received payments from earnings during 1995-96. [39005]

Mr. Evans: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available relates to unemployment benefit and is set out in the table:

Number and percentage of unemployment benefit recipients receiving payments from earnings--Great Britain

	November 1995	February 1996
Total number of unemployment benefit recipients receiving earnings (thousands)	16	16
Percentage of all unemployment benefit recipients receiving earnings	4	4

Notes:

1. A number of recipients who receive earnings do not have the information recorded on the computer system. These figures relate to computerised claims only and should therefore be taken as a broad indication only.

2. Figures apply to claimants who were receiving unemployment benefit on the second Thursday of the months shown and who have earnings in the benefit week in which that date fell.

Source:

Five per cent. sample of unemployed claimants in Great Britain on the second Thursday of the months shown.

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Mr. Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon will receive answers to his questions about the child care disregard, adult dependency increases and benefits uprating tabled on 21 June. [39187]

Mr. Burt: I refer the hon. Member to the replies I gave him on Wednesday 3 July, Official Report, column 469, and today and to the reply given to him by the Under-Secretary, my hon. Friend the Member for Monmouth (Mr. Evans), on Tuesday 23 July.

Disability

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what considerations led him to exclude from the definition of disability the personality disorders set out in section 4(1) of the Disability Discrimination (Meaning of Disability) Regulations 1996. [34861]

Mr. Burt: A consultation document, published in December 1995, stated that the Government intended to exclude from the definition of disability kleptomania, paedophilia and personality disorders including psychopathic disorders. The document went on to say that this was because, while such disorders might meet the definition of disability in the Act, the Government believe that it would be wrong to require employers and service providers to consider adjustments to cater for these conditions. Over 75 per cent. of those who expressed a view agreed with the proposal.

Child Support Agency

Mr. Pawsey: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans there are to seek tenders for a replacement for the Child Support Agency computer. [36175]

Mr. Andrew Mitchell: If it is decided to replace or upgrade the Child Support Agency computer system, a procurement exercise will be conducted in accordance with the EC directives which govern public sector procurement. This legislation ensures fair and open competition and results in the selection of the supplier whose bid offers best value for money. The Department cannot speculate as to the outcome of any procurement exercise.

Mr. Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the average length of time taken by his Department to reply to letters from hon. Members on

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matters relating to the Child Support Agency; and how many complaints from hon. Members his Department has received in each of the months since the Child Support Agency started its operations in April 1993. [39740]

Mr. Mitchell: I shall write to the hon. Member shortly.

Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many individual personal records the Child Support Agency computer system was designed to accommodate. [39689]

Mr. Mitchell: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Miss Ann Chant to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 24 July 1996:

I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the Child Support Agency Computer System.
The database structure of the main Child Support Computer System would enable it to hold just over 11.5 million records of individual people
I hope this is helpful.

Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what data are required for the purposes of monitoring his targets for the Child Support Agency; and for how long it is required to be held. [39690]

Mr. Mitchell: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Miss Ann Chant to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 24 July 1996:

I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about Child Support Agency data held for monitoring the targets he sets the Agency.
The Child Support Agency's targets for 1996/97 are as follows:
(1) Collection--A band of £380 million to £400 million of maintenance to be collected or arranged for direct payment from the absent parent to the parent with care in 1996/97.
(2) Payments--95% of payments to the parent with care to be made within 10 working days of receipt from an absent parent.
(3) Accuracy--To achieve a continuing improvement in accuracy so that in at least 85% of cases checked during March 1997 the cash value of the assessment will be correct.
(4) Second Tier Reviews--Where a client is dissatisfied with a Child Support Officer's decision and requests a review, 55% to be cleared within 13 weeks; 80% to be cleared within 26 weeks; and no more than 15% to be older than 26 weeks as at 31 March 1997.
(5) Maintenance Assessments--60% of new maintenance applications to be cleared within 26 weeks and as at 31 March 1997, no more than 10% of all maintenance applications received by the Agency to be over 52 weeks old.
In order to measure Agency performance and effectiveness, statistical and financial data is obtained from a wide range of sources. Collection of this information can be both clerical and from scans of the Child Support Computer System. The information is used not only to measure performance against the targets but also to manage the business effectively. Statistical and financial data is retained as long as there is a business need to do so and the periods involved vary considerably from say 18 months to many years.
I am sorry I cannot be more precise but this is a very wide ranging question; nevertheless I hope this information is helpful to you.

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