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Incorporated Colleges
Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent provision he has made for accountancy services for incorporated colleges, broken down by (a) human and (b) technical support services, and what he estimates to be the cost of these services in this and the next financial year. [998]
Mr. Ancram: Additional provision of £510,000 has been made in the current financial year for use in strengthening their financial systems. No separate provision has yet been made for 1997-98.
| 1996-97 £ | 1997-98 £ | |
|---|---|---|
| Capital | 384,000 | -- |
| Recurrent | 555,000 | 376,000 |
Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the extra costs to his budget will be this year of funding the incorporation of the further education colleges; and if he will itemise that expenditure.[999]
Mr. Ancram: A budget of £1 million has been made available in the current financial year. It is estimated that this will be used as follows:
Strengthening college financial systems: £510,000
Project management and other college preparations: £395,000
Consultancy support, conferences, training and guidance for colleges: £95,000.
Nursery Vouchers
Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what (a) decisions have been made and (b) procedures have been followed in respect of the appointment of a private company to fund the nursery voucher scheme; and what estimate he has made of the initial and annual costs of this administration. [1000]
Mr. Ancram: Following a competitive tendering process a contract to administer the nursery education voucher scheme on a UK-wide basis was awarded to Capita Management Services Ltd.
Legislation is currently being prepared to permit the extension of the nursery voucher scheme to Northern Ireland and the contract with Capita Management Services includes an opt-in clause for this purpose.
Consultation on the scheme in Northern Ireland ended on 7 June and I will make an announcement on the outcome later in the autumn. The cost of administering the scheme for Northern Ireland is estimated at a total of £300,000 over three years.
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Mr. Worthington:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the likely capital costs of site acquisition and building integrated schools in the next three years. [1001]
Mr. Ancram:
Expenditure on integrated schools likely to qualify for capital grant is estimated as follows:
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 1997-1998 | 8.3 |
| 1998-1999 | 13.3 |
| 1999-2000 | 9.0 |
| Total | 30.6 |
SOCIAL SECURITY
Incapacity Benefit
Mr. Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what has been the average delay for each claimant of (a) invalidity benefit and (b) incapacity benefit for each year since 1990. [735]
Mr. Burt: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the table.
| Clearance time target | Performance achieved | |
|---|---|---|
| 1990-91 (SB/IVB) | average clearance time of 9 days | average clearance time of 9 days |
| 1991-92 (SB/IVB) | average clearance time of 9 days | average clearance time of 7 days |
| 1992-93 (SB/IVB) | 65 per cent. in 10 days 95 per cent. in 30 days | 77 per cent. in 30 days 95.1 per cent. in 10 days |
| 1993-94 (SB/IVB) | 65 per cent. in 10 days 95 per cent. in 30 days | 72.5 per cent. in 10 days 94.3 per cent. in 30 days |
| 1994-95 (SB/IVB) | 65 per cent. in 10 days 95 per cent. in 30 days | 77.4 per cent. in 10 days 95.7 per cent. in 30 days |
| 1995-96 (IB) | 65 per cent. in 10 days 85 per cent. in 30 days | 78.9 per cent. in 10 days 96 per cent. in 30 days |
Notes:
1. Figures are from successive Departmental and Benefits Agency Reports.
2. Up until 1992-93 the performance on the processing of claims was measured by the average time taken to clear claims. From 1992-93 the method of measuring performance changed to set percentages within 10 and 30 day targets.
Abbreviations:
SB = Sickness Benefit.
IVB = Invalidity Benefit.
IB = Incapacity Benefit.
Mr. Alan Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many claimants of (a) incapacity benefit who were formerly receiving invalidity benefit, (b) incapacity benefit since April 1995, (c) severe disablement allowance and (d) credits only have been disallowed benefit during the year April 1995 to April 1996 by reason of (i) being found capable of work following the own occupation test, (ii) being found capable of work following the all work test (iii) failure to return IB50 questionnaire (iv) failure to attend medical examination and (v) other reasons. [417]
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Mr. Burt: Information is not available in the format requested. It is not yet possible to provide reliable data on the numbers disallowed in each of the groups specified. The available information, for the period 13 April 1995 to 31 March 1996, is in the table.
| Reason for disallowance of benefit | Incapacity benefit recipients |
|---|---|
| Capable of work following own occupation test | 1,288 |
| Capable following all work test | 66,367 |
| Failure to return questionnaire without good cause | 7,710 |
| Failure to attend medical examination without good cause | 2,416 |
Source:
100 per cent. monthly count from the incapacity benefit computer system. Excludes a small number of cases not held on the system.
Mr. Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if, following the introduction of incapacity benefit in 1995 and the requirement for claimants to undergo a medical examination, he will publish (a) the number of medical exemptions, (b) the number of cases automatically exempted because the clients are in receipt of the higher rate of DLA, (c) the number of cases allowed after medical scrutiny, (d) the number of cases allowed after medical examination, (e) the number disallowed after examination and (f) the numbers disallowed for failure to attend examination sessions. [758]
Mr. Burt: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the tables.
| Grounds for exemption | Numbers of incapacity benefit claimants at 31 May 1996 |
|---|---|
| Severe sickness or terminally ill | 129,000 |
| In receipt of highest rate care component of disability living allowance | 21,000 |
Source:
5 per cent. sample from the incapacity benefit computer system. Excludes a small number of cases not held on the system.
| Numbers up to 30 September 1996 | |
|---|---|
| Allowed after medical scrutiny or examination(3) | 960,000 |
| Disallowed following medical examination (Incapacity Benefit recipients only) | 122,000 |
| Disallowed following failure to attend medical examination without good cause (Incapacity Benefit recipients only) | 5,000 |
Note:
(3) It is not possible to distinguish those allowed benefit following medical scrutiny from those allowed following examination. Figures include a small number of severe disablement allowance cases.
Source:
100 per cent. count of cases on the incapacity benefit computer system. Excludes a small number of cases not held on the system.
Mr. Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many examinations for the all work test
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have (a) been carried out and (b) scheduled but not yet taken place during the year April 1995 to April 1996 for each of the regional medical centres. [419]
Mr. Burt: The administration of incapacity benefit 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. Alan Howarth, dated October 1996:
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