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Disability Living Allowance

Mr. Denis Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many applications for the (a) care and (b) mobility component of Disability Living Allowance have (i) been refused and (ii) been successful during each of the last five years. [6295]

Maria Eagle: People claim Disability Living Allowance and may qualify for either the care or the mobility component or both. Relevant figures are in the table.

Disability Living Allowance applications: decisions from 1996–97 to 2000–01

			Benefit awarded
			Components awarded(65)
Year	All decisions	Benefit refused	All awards	Care	Mobility
1996–97	515,795	276,126	239,669	184,708	184,005
1997–98	466,960	255,711	211,249	168,849	155,387
1998–99	383,794	208,197	175,597	148,988	126,299
1999–2000	371,431	190,390	181,041	155,225	129,377
2000–01	417,485	206,144	211,341	182,582	151,292

⁽⁶⁵⁾ Care and mobility components do not sum to 'all awards' because claimants can be awarded both.

Source:

Department for Work and Pensions Information Centre: 100 per cent. data.

Mr. Denis Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many applications were received for the (a) care and (b) mobility component of Disability Living Allowance in each of the last five years; and what average time was taken to determine an application in each of those years. [6286]

Maria Eagle: People claim Disability Living Allowance and may qualify for either the care or the mobility component or both. Relevant figures for the past four years are set out in the table. I will write to my hon. Friend about the figures for 1996–97 which are archived and not immediately available today.

20 Jul 2001 : Column: 705W

Disability Living Allowance applications from 1997–98 to 2000–01

Year	Number of claims received	Average clearance time (days)
1997–98	461,359	37.23
1998–99	398,277	35.03
1999–2000	392,599	42.63
2000–01	410,269	46.80

Source:

The Department of Work and Pensions Information Centre: 100 per cent. data

Significant backlogs of work accrued in the processing of Disability Living Allowance in 2000 because of the growing caseload and the introduction in October 1999 of a new system of decision-making and appeals. The Benefits Agency tackled this backlog as a priority and it has now been substantially cleared. The average clearance time in the first three months of 2001–02 is 42.17 days.

Landlord Fraud

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many prosecutions by his Department there have been against landlord fraud in the Greater London area during the last 12 months. [6305]

Malcolm Wicks: The administration of Housing Benefit is the responsibility of local authorities and they would take forward the prosecution of landlords involved in benefit fraud.

Benefits (Regulatory Reform)

Mr. Kevin Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he will begin public consultation on the introduction of changes to the Invalid Care Allowance and Vaccine Damage Payment schemes by regulatory reform orders. [6526]

Maria Eagle: As announced last autumn, we intend to introduce changes to both the Invalid Care Allowance and Vaccine Damage Payment schemes. The changes will allow carers over the age of 65 to claim Invalid Care Allowance and also extend entitlement by up to eight weeks after the death of the person being cared for. At the same time we intend to make provision to change the name of the benefit to Carer's Allowance.

The changes to the Vaccine Damage Payment scheme will extend the time limits for claiming payment, reduce the level of disability necessary to qualify and allow certain people previously disallowed under the time limit or disability threshold to have their claims reconsidered.

We intend to introduce these changes by regulatory reform orders introduced later this year. We will be issuing public consultation documents setting out our proposals on Monday 23 July 2001.

Social Fund

Mr. Kevin Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he will publish his annual report on the social fund for 2000–01 and the social fund commissioner's annual report. [6527]

20 Jul 2001 : Column: 706W

Malcolm Wicks: The Secretary of State's annual report on the social fund for 2000–01 (CM 5238) was published today and has been laid before Parliament.

The social fund commissioner's report has also been published today and copies placed in the Library.

DEFENCE

Kenya

Mr. Caton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the recent preliminary report by David Taylor concerning the Archer's Post training area in Northern Kenya. [2783]

Mr. Ingram: Neither I nor my officials have seen Mr. Taylor's report, nor was it commissioned by the Ministry of Defence.

European Trans-sonic Wind Tunnel

Jane Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if his Department will contribute to the funding of the European Trans-sonic Wind Tunnel. [4551]

Dr. Moonie: Over the next two years the Ministry of Defence will be making payments equivalent to some £1.3 million towards the European Trans-sonic Wind Tunnel at the prevailing euro rates of exchange. Some 68 per cent. of this sum will be recovered from the Department of Trade and Industry. There are no plans to contribute further funding beyond 2003.

Defence Aviation Repair Agency

Mr. John Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has for the future of DARA at RAF St. Athan; and if he will make a statement. [4638]

Mr. Ingram: The business case to possibly re-site DARA has recently concluded that due to high infrastructure costs, along with environmental and ecological considerations, it was not feasible to move DARA to Cardiff international airport.

The Welsh Development Agency has now re-focused its attention back to the St. Athan option and is working closely with the Defence Estates Agency, which is now taking the lead of this project, together with DARA, to provide a solution. DARA will be the hub of any development on the site.

Mr. John Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the impact of the abandonment of the move from RAF St. Athan to Cardiff international airport on the restructuring of the Defence Aviation Repair Agency. [5317]

Mr. Ingram: Red Dragon has not been abandoned. In conjunction with the Defence Estates Agency, the Welsh Development Agency and DARA are now focusing on an option to develop the St. Athan site as an aviation business park and for other industrial and defence uses. Much of the work carried out to define DARA's requirements for its fixed-wing aircraft business unit for possible relocation to Cardiff airport will facilitate the St. Athan study. There has therefore been very little impact on the overall project, which has not been abandoned.

20 Jul 2001 : Column: 707W

Mr. John Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence who decided that the proposed move of DARA at RAF St. Athan was not feasible. [5324]

Mr. Ingram: The recommendation was made jointly by the Chief Executives of the Welsh Development Agency and the Defence Aviation Repair Agency following a review meeting and was endorsed by the DARA ministerial board on 11 July 2001.

Mr. John Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the environmental costs were of the proposed relocation of DARA at RAF St. Athan to Cardiff international airport. [5322]

Mr. Ingram: Two options were studied at Cardiff airport—a West side and an East side. The study revealed there would be extremely high infrastructure and land preparation costs of at least £30 million at both locations. Additionally, the studies concluded that there was an unacceptably high impact on protected species and listed buildings within the area, and that noise pollution may have been a problem.

The study also revealed that the available space that could be created was not sufficient to provide for potential future expansion.

Mr. John Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the infrastructure costs were of the proposed relocation of DARA at RAF St. Athan to Cardiff international airport. [5323]

Mr. Ingram: Following completion of the studies for the possible move of DARA to Cardiff international airport, projected costs were estimated to be in the order of £65 million including provision for up to 46 fast jets and all supporting facilities. DARA's intention was to negotiate a leased facility option to avoid up-front capital costs.

Mr. John Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for what reason the Red Dragon project has been abandoned by the Defence Aviation Repair Agency. [5318]

Mr. Ingram: Red Dragon has not been abandoned, but its focus is now on developing first-class modern facilities at St. Athan that will help to reduce DARA's overhead so that it can compete favourably for long-term business. Only the Cardiff airport options have been eliminated from the study.

Mr. John Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish the consultants' report on the relocation of the Defence Aviation Repair Agency from RAF St. Athan to Cardiff International airport. [5319]

Mr. Ingram: No. The consultants' report is owned by the Welsh Development Agency and any decision to publish it would be a matter for them.

Mr. John Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he intends to review the contract of the Chief Executive of the Defence Aviation Repair Agency; and if he will make a statement. [5320]

Mr. Ingram: The Chief Executive of the Defence Aviation Repair Agency is employed on a fixed term contract which has been extended to August 2003.

20 Jul 2001 : Column: 708W

Mr. John Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost was of the feasibility study into the proposed move from RAF St. Athan to Cardiff International Airport. [5321]

Mr. Ingram: The estimated feasibility study costs were £330,000, which were equally shared between the Welsh Development Agency and the Defence Aviation Repair Agency.

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