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Incapacity and Unemployment Benefits

Mr. Alan Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people failed to qualify for (a) incapacity benefit and (b) unemployment benefit in (i) 1994-95 and (ii) 1995-96 because they failed the contribution conditions for benefit; and in each case, how many of these failed (1) the first contribution condition and (2) the second contribution condition. [2781]

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

	Number
Claimants who failed the contribution conditions and were refused incapacity benefit from April 1995 to March 1996	(44)389,000
Unemployed claimants as at 11 May 1995 not in receipt of unemployment benefit who failed the contribution conditions	(45)1,127,000
Unemployed claimants as at 9 May 1996 not in receipt of unemployment benefit who failed the contribution conditions.	(45)1,081,000

Source:

(44) Monthly scan of incapacity benefit computer.

(45) Five per cent. sample of unemployed claimants.

Mr. Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the impact of the Social Security Benefit (Computation of Earnings) Regulations 1996 and the Social Security (Invalid Care Allowance) Amendment Regulations 1996; how many people he estimates will (a) gain and (b) suffer financial loss as a result of these regulations; and what are the revenue projections relating to these measures. [2785]

Mr. Roger Evans: There are insufficient data on which to base reliable estimates. However, we anticipate that the numbers of gainers and losers will be small. The revenue implications of the regulations are expected to be broadly cost neutral.

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Disability Working Allowance

Mr. Alan Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate of (a) the cost and (b) the numbers gaining from raising the lower capital threshold from £3,000 to £8,000 for disability working allowance claims. [2784]

Mr. Andrew Mitchell: The estimated cost of raising the lower capital limit for disability working allowance from £3,000 to £18,000 is approximately £1 million at 1996-97 prices and benefit levels, for around 1,000 cases. Notes

1. The 1994-95 family resources survey has been used to estimate the effect of this proposal. However the data do not contain a sufficient number of DWA cases to allow the direct modelling of DWA options on the policy simulation model. Instead, the changes have been modelled using all childless benefit units as a proxy for DWA cases without children, and all family credit benefit units as a proxy for DWA cases with children.
2. The use of proxy groups means that these estimates are subject to relatively wide margins of error. Estimates will only be accurate to the extent that the proxy groups have the same characteristics as DWA cases, which is unlikely to hold in reality. Estimates should be treated with caution.
3. Estimated expenditure is rounded to the nearest £1 million, with caseloads to the nearest 1,000.
4. The figures should be treated only as broad estimates and not as actual.

Derelict Property, Romford Road

Mr. Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans his Department has for the future use of the derelict property it formerly occupied at 544 Romford road, London E12. [3280]

Mr. Roger Evans: None, as the Department's lease on the property expired in 1991.

Pension Liabilities

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when, and in what form, he proposes to reply to the first report of the Social Security Select Committee, HC23, Session 1996-97, on unfunded pension liabilities in the EU. [3529]

Mr. Lilley: We propose to respond in the usual way within the normal period of three months of the original publication date.

Benefits Agency (Emergency Payments)

Mr. Redmond: To asked the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement about the work load of the out-of-hours emergency payments service of the Benefits Agency area directorate covering (a) the Yorkshire and Humberside area (b) Doncaster and (c) Mexborough for the financial years (i) 1995-96 and (ii) 1996-97 to date. [2718]

Mr. Roger Evans: The administration of income support 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. Martin Redmond, dated 11 November 1996:

The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking if he will make a statement about the workload of the out of hours emergency

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payments service of the Benefits Agency Area Directorate covering (a) the Yorkshire and Humberside Area (b) Doncaster and (c) Mexborough for financial years (i) 1995-96 and (ii) 1996-97 to date.
Information is not available in the format requested. Statistics are collated at Area Directorate level and not by office. From April 1996, the two area Directorates of "South Yorkshire and Humberside" (which included Doncaster and Mexborough) and "North and West Yorkshire" merged to form Yorkshire Area Directorate (AD).
I have provided the number of referrals to the Out of Hours Service (OOHS) for the year April 1995 to March 1996 and the latest collated figures for Yorkshire AD for the period 1 April 1996 and 13 October 1996.
It should be noted that a referral means any contact by a customer or third party. Approximately 50% of the referrals require a visit by Benefits Agency staff.

Referrals to OOHS

1995-96
South Yorkshire and Humberside	1,878
North and West Yorkshire	2,533
1 April 1996 to 13 October 1996
Yorkshire	2,183

These figures are provisional and subject to change. I hope you find this reply helpful.

Peter Sutton

Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if all the benefit claimants affected by computer error referred to in his Department's response of 12 August to correspondence on behalf of Peter Sutton have been contacted and, where applicable, reimbursed and compensated for the error; and what was the total value of both (a) arrears of benefit and (b) compensation paid. [3107]

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

Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. David Hinchliffe, dated 11 November 1996:

The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking if all the benefit claimants affected by computer error referred to in his Department's response of 12th August to correspondence on behalf of Peter Sutton have been contacted and, where applicable, reimbursed and compensated for the error; and what was the total value of both arrears of benefit and compensation paid.
The exercise to contact the 12,325 benefit customers affected by the computer fault is continuing. I can confirm that 2088 awards have been revised from the statistics received so far from Benefit Agency Offices. The information requested is not available as the statistics relate specifically to the number of cases where all action has been completed and not to the number of customers contacted. Full details of the current information received are in the following table:

	Total number of cases identified	Number revised	Amount underpaid	Number of compensation claims	Number of compensation claims so far awarded	Amount of compensation paid
			£000			£000
Retirement pension and widows' benefit	6,742	1,392	821	1,039	336	24
Invalidity benefit	5,583	696	133	156	41	2.7




Figures are provisional and subject to change.

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Compensation will be payable in any case where the benefit arrears amount to over £50, the amount of compensation exceeds £5 and the delay in payment is more than eight months (retirement pension) or seven months (widows' benefit and invalidity benefit) from the date of entitlement to the revised rate of benefit.
I hope you find this reply helpful.

Benefits Agency (Public Caller Offices)

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many Benefits Agency public caller offices are scheduled to (a) close and (b) have their opening hours reduced in order to reduce administrative costs in the three years to March 1999. [2118]

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 Peter Mathison to Mr. Gordon Prentice, dated 11 November 1996:

The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent parliamentary Question asking the Secretary of State how many Benefits Agency (BA) public caller offices are scheduled to (a) close and (b) have their opening hours reduced in order to reduce administrative costs in the three years to March 1999.
In the period April to October 1996 16 BA public caller offices were closed and 2 had their opening hours reduced. From November 1996 to March 1999, 17 BA public caller offices are currently scheduled to close and 3 are currently scheduled to have their opening hours reduced.
Consultation with customers and customers' representatives always takes place before the closure of any BA public caller office.
We are directing our resources to where they are needed most, and BA District Managers, using their local knowledge, will continue to review, on an on-going basis, the service they provide to maximise service to the public and provide value for money to the tax payer. Since the advent of Job Seekers' Allowance, unemployed customers also have access to enquiry facilities sited in over 1000 Employment Services Job Centres.
I hope you find this reply helpful.

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