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Tuition Fees

Mr. Welsh: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what compensation and from whom will be available to Scottish institutions for the revenue they will lose as a result of the waiving of fourth year tuition fees for Scottish domiciled students. [26562]

Mr. Wilson [holding answer 30 January 1998]: There is no question of Scottish institutions losing revenue as a result of the Government's decision on fourth year tuition fees for Scottish domiciled students. As I announced in my speech to the Annual Forum of the Conference of Scottish Higher Education Principals on 27 October 1997, the Student Awards Agency for Scotland will pay the tuition fee for Scottish students in Scottish higher education institution for the fourth or honours year of courses which are a year longer than comparable courses elsewhere in the UK. This is in line with the Garrick Committee's recommendation that the fees contribution from Scottish students should be equitable with that from students on comparable courses in the rest of the UK.

Correspondence

Mr. Ian Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how long on average it takes his Department to answer letters from hon. Members; what target date his Department sets; what percentage receive replies within the target date; and what assessment he has made of how long it takes to deliver a letter after it has been typed.[27033]

Mr. Dewar: My Department has a target of 17 working days to reply to Ministerial Correspondence and 57 per cent. of correspondence receives a reply within this target. My Department monitors performance against the

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target but does not keep statistics on the average time taken to answer letters from hon Members or on the length of time taken to deliver a letter after it has been typed.

SOCIAL SECURITY

Winter Fuel Payments

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many pensioners on income support in the West Chelmsford constituency received outdated giros to pay for their winter fuel bills; and when they can expect to receive their new giros; [26545]

(2) how much it will cost the Exchequer to rectify the sending of out-of-date giros to pensioners for winter fuel bills; [26546]

(3) how many pensioners have been adversely affected by the error in the cheques sent to pensioners receiving the additional money to help with their winter fuel bills; and when she expects them to receive their money;[26547]

(4) if she will make a statement on the reasons for the computer error that has led to the sending of out-of-date giros for winter fuel payments to pensioners on income support. [26548]

Mr. Denham: Winter fuel payments are one of a number of initiatives the Government have taken to help vulnerable people, especially the elderly, keep warm in the winter. This is the first time any Government have made a payment to all pensioners towards their heating costs.

This is an enormous and unprecedented exercise, involving the making of around 10 million payments to over seven million pensioner households at a total cost of around £200 million.

A problem occurred earlier this week which has now been rectified. Replacement girocheques along with an apology have been sent to all of the 40,801 pensioners who received out-of-date cheques.

No pensioners in receipt of Income Support in the West Chelmsford constituency should have received outdated giros for winter fuel payments.

I have set up an investigation into the error.

The administration of winter fuel payments 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. Simon Burns, dated 30 January 1998:

The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions about the computer error that led to the issue of out-of-date giros for Winter Fuel payments, the cost to the Exchequer to rectify the position and in particular the number of pensioners on Income Support in your constituency who received outdated giros.

You may find it helpful if I explain that the Benefits Agency is currently engaged in issuing Winter Fuel Payments to around ten million pensioners. Priority has been given to issuing payments to the poorest pensioners--the 1.5 million who are receiving Income Support. All those payments have now been issued and should be received by the end of this week.

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Computer services are provided by an external contractor through the Information Technology Services Agency (ITSA) on behalf of the Department. An error by a computer operator led to out-of-date girocheques being sent to 40,801 pensioners in receipt of Income Support. This was an isolated incident which is confined to these customers. Arrangements have been made for pensioners to receive replacement girocheques by 31 January 1998.

The five Benefits Agency District offices affected by the computer error are listed below:

Clyde Coast and Renfrew District, which includes offices of Greenock, Port Glasgow and Renfrew.

Ealing District, which includes the offices of Ealing, Acton, Nottinghill and Southall.

Glasgow East District, which includes the offices of Shettleston, Bridgeton and Provan.

West Pennine District, which includes the offices of Bury, Manchester Middleton and Rochdale.

Palace District, which includes the offices of Fulham, Crystal Palace, Dulwich, Kensington and Peckham.

The cost of remedial action will be borne by the supplier. A full investigation is now taking place.

I apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what advice (a) the Chancellor of the Exchequer and (b) other Ministers in the Treasury received from civil servants on the consistency of the proposed winter fuel payments for pensioners campaign with the Civil Service rules on Government advertising; and if she will make a statement. [26792]

Mr. Denham: The Civil Service rules on Government advertising clearly state that it is right and proper for governments to use public funds for publicity and advertising to explain their policies and to inform the public of the government services available to them and of their rights and liabilities.

Within this Department a multi-media campaign was recommended, in accordance with guidelines, as the most cost effective way of making sure that pensioners had information about Winter Fuel Payments. Pensioners need to know what payments are coming to them, how and when, in order to make informed decisions about how to heat their homes.

Winter Fuel Supplement

Mr. Rendel: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what percentage of the winter fuel supplement she estimates will be paid after 28 February. [26171]

Mr. Denham: The additional help of £400 million over this winter and next, announced by the Chancellor on 25 November 1997, Official Report, columns 773-98, demonstrates the Government's commitment to help the elderly keep warm in their homes.

The administration of winter fuel payments 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. David Rendel, dated 29 January 1998:

The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what percentage of the winter fuel supplement she estimates will be paid after 28th February.

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This is an enormous and unprecedented exercise for the Department. All payments are being issued as quickly as possible. Payments will be issued automatically without the need to make a claim.

Current planning assumptions are that approximately 10m pensioners will receive a Winter Fuel Payment.

Priority has been given to making payments to the poorest pensioners--the one and a half million receiving Income Support and Job Seekers Allowance (Income Based). All those payments have now been made and should be received by the end of January. Payments to these pensioners totals £70 million. This represents 35% of the overall expenditure and approximately 15% of the total number of eligible pensioners.

As soon as payments have been made to the Income Support and Job Seekers Allowance pensioners, around 15 million computer records will be checked to identify other eligible pensioners. Addresses will be matched to determine whether a payment of £20 or £10 should be made. Given the sheer size of the task, it will take a number of weeks to complete. Payments will be made using the pensioners normal payment route. For example where a pensioner is paid at the Post Office they will obtain payment at the Post Office and where they are paid directly into their bank or building society, payment will be paid direct into their account. These payments will start being issued during March and represents approximately 85% of the estimated eligible pensioners.

This programme means that the vast majority of payments will be sent by the end of March.

I hope this is helpful.

Disability Living Allowance

Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what assessment she has made of the difficulties faced by claimants in filling in the new questionnaire for claiming of disability living allowance;[25063]

(2) how many claimants have had their benefit stopped following the new procedure introduced for claiming disability living allowance. [25069]

Mr. Denham: The administration of Disability Living Allowance is a matter for Peter Mathison, the Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to my hon. Friend.

Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Llew Smith, dated 30 January 1998:

The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions asking what assessment she has made of the difficulties faced by claimants in filling in the new questionnaire for claiming Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and how many claimants have had their benefit stopped following the new procedure introduced for claiming DLA.

Minor revisions to the DLA/Attendance Allowance claim packs were made in April and October 1997. A new child specific claim pack was introduced in April 1997, following a lengthy and wideranging consultation exercise with a large number of groups representing disabled customers. The introduction of the child specific claim pack was as a direct result of concerns expressed by customers who felt that the existing DLA claim pack did not adequately cater for children. The introduction of these claim packs did not include a questionnaire for claiming DLA.

However a questionnaire was introduced for the Benefit Integrity Project (BIP). The BIP was set up in response to the recent Benefit review of DLA. Over the next two years, specially trained staff will make enquiries by postal questionnaire or home visit in over 400,000 cases to establish whether DLA is paid correctly. The BIP will look again at existing DLA awards of the higher rate of mobility combined with either the middle or highest rate of care.

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The questionnaire used by the BIP is based on the DLA claim pack in use until October 1997. However, it also takes account of customer research undertaken by the Benefits Agency in 1996-97 which highlighted that more "free text" space was needed rather than using a "tick box" format. Although the questionnaire is more than 30 pages long this makes sure that people have the opportunity to fully describe their circumstances and that we obtain enough information to allow Adjudication Officers to reach properly informed decisions. Project staff are considering to what extent the improvements in the revised DLA claim pack can be introduced into the BIP questionnaire.

The most appropriate and sensitive method of gathering information from people receiving the higher rate of mobility combined with the highest rate of care is to visit them and complete an enquiry form. This form is designed to provide an up to date picture of their circumstances. The visits are by appointment and are made at least a week in advance. The letter informing the person about the appointment invites them to have a friend or carer present, reassures them the appointment can be rearranged if it is inconvenient and asks them to contact the Disability Benefits Helpline if they have any special needs, such as an interpreter. Calls to the Helpline are charged at British Telecom's local rate.

People receiving the higher rate of mobility combined with the middle rate of care are sent an enquiry form by post. They have three weeks to complete and return the form. The letter accompanying the form informs people that they can contact the Disability Benefits Helpline if they have difficulty completing or need more time to return it.

There has been no formal monitoring of the difficulties encountered by DLA customers who have been sent a questionnaire as part of the BIP. Approximately 10 people a week have made use of the BIP forms completion service, which involves a member of the BIP team. This suggests that generally people do not find completing the questionnaire difficult. The average time taken to return the questionnaire is 19 days compared with the 21 days allowed, as at 30 November 1997.

At 30 November, a total of 33,490 cases had been examined of which 6,953 have been changed. Of these changes, 2,232 have been disallowed, 3,880 reduced and 841 increased. Figures for the period to 31 December and subsequent months will be placed in the House of Commons Library.

I hope you find this reply helpful.

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