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23 Feb 2005 : Column 664W—continued
Incapacity Benefit
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people received incapacity benefit in each (a) local authority and (b) parliamentary constituency in the last period for which figures are available; and what proportion of the working population these totals amounted to in each case. [214639]
Maria Eagle:
Working age population estimates are not available by parliamentary constituency. The available information has been placed in the Library.
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Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people who received incapacity benefit had a net benefit receipt of (a) zero and (b) less than £20 a week after assessment with other means-tested benefits in the last period for which figures are available. [215056]
Maria Eagle: The available information is in the tables.
n/a=Not applicable.
Notes:
1.Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred. Totals may not sum due to rounding
2.Working age claimants are men aged 16–64 and women aged 16–59.
Source:
Information Directorate, 5 per cent. Working Age Client Group sample.
Notes:
1.Figures are rounded to the nearest ten thousand. The totals may not sum due to rounding.
2.The figures are based on a one per cent sample and are therefore subject to a degree of sampling variation.
3.The data refers to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple.
4.Council tax benefit totals exclude any second adult rebate cases.
5.Housing benefit figures exclude any extended payment cases.
6.All overlaps between HB and CTB recipients have been removed.
Source:
Housing benefit and council tax benefit management information system, annual one per cent sample, taken in May 2003.
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average time taken is for the completion of a personal capability assessment for (a) incapacity benefit claimants and (b) income support claimants in each year since 1997. [215110]
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Maria Eagle: Doctors spend as long as is required to carry out an appropriate assessment for each individual claimant. Some types of disabling conditions will take longer than others to assess, depending on the nature of the individual's physical and/or mental disabilities.
No breakdown is available by which benefit is in payment.
The available information is in the table.
| Minutes | |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 37.8 |
| 2001 | 37.1 |
| 2002 | 35.2 |
| 2003 | 35.8 |
| 2004 (January to August) | 36.9 |
Note:
The information requested is not available for the period 1997 to 1999
Source:
Atos Origin
Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what the average time taken to process a claim for incapacity benefit was in each year since 1975; [215246]
(2) what the average time taken to process a claim for income support was in each year since 1975; [215250]
(3) what the average time taken to process a claim for income-based jobseeker's allowance was in each year since 1975; [215251]
(4) what the average time taken to process a claim for contribution-based jobseeker's allowance was in each year since 1975. [215252]
Mr. Pond: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of the Jobcentre Plus, David Anderson. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from David Anderson to Mr. Howard Flight, dated 23 February 2005:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply directly to your questions concerning the average time taken to process a claim for Incapacity Benefit, Income Support, Income-Based Jobseeker's Allowance and Contribution-Based Jobseeker's Allowance in each year since 1975. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Jobcentre Plus sets internal performance measures for managing its workloads in addition to the published targets set by Ministers. These internal measures include clearance times for Incapacity Benefit, Income Support and Jobseeker's Allowance. Currently, these internal measures are being met.
You will see from the following tables that the Average Actual Clearance Time for each of the benefits shown has increased, although our performance targets are still
being met. The upward trend in clearance times reflects the greater emphasis on secure and accurate payment of benefit. Changes to the Claims and Payments regulations in 1997 put the onus of proof on customers to provide supporting evidence for a claim.
Increasing effort has been applied to enforcing this regime and we believe that this has been reflected in reductions in fraud (fraud and error losses have reduced by 37 per cent. between 1998 and 2004).
There has also been a significant period of change across the Department; the creation of Jobcentre Plus and The Pension Service involved considerable movement of staff between the two agencies and consequently required the training
| Calendar year | Average actual clearance time (days) |
|---|---|
| April-December 1998 | 11.9 |
| 1999 | 15.9 |
| 2000 | 16.0 |
| 2001 | 15.7 |
| 2002 | 16.2 |
| 2003 | 15.7 |
| 2004 | 16.9 |
Source:
Central Data Unit for figures up to and including July 2004; Management Information Systems Programme 04 (MISP04) from August 2004 to December 2004.
Source:
Central Data Unit for figures up to and including July 2004; Management Information Systems Programme 04 (MISP04) from August 2004 to December 2004.
Figures are not available broken down by type of Jobseeker's Allowance. Figures are only available from 1997. The available information is in the table.
| Calendar year | Average actual clearance time (days) |
|---|---|
| 1997 | 8.1 |
| 1998 | 8.7 |
| 1999 | 9.7 |
| 2000 | 9.1 |
| 2001 | 9.6 |
| 2002 | 10.2 |
| 2003 | 10.8 |
| 2004 | 12.0 |
Source:
Central Data Unit for figures up to and including July 2004; Management Information Systems Programme 04 (MISP04) from August 2004 to December 2004.
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list other benefits available to incapacity benefit recipients; and what changes there have been in recipient numbers of each benefit in each of the last five years. [217425]
Maria Eagle: The key benefits available to incapacity benefit claimants are income support, disability living allowance, housing benefit and council tax benefit. The information on the total numbers receiving these benefits is in the table.
Notes:
1.Figures are rounded to the nearest 100.
2.The data refers to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple.
3.From November 2003 income support figures are severely affected by the introduction of pension credit, which replaced minimum income guarantee on 6 October 2003. Pension credit cases are not included in the figures in the table.
4.Disability living allowance figures are adjusted to take out late terminations.
5.Housing benefit and council tax benefit figures for any non-responding authorities have been estimated.
6.Council tax benefit totals exclude any second adult rebate cases.
7.Housing benefit figures exclude any extended payment cases.
Source:
Information Directorate, 5 per cent. samples and Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information System Quarterly 100 per cent. caseload stock-count taken in May 2000 to 2004.
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people left incapacity benefit, broken down by destination, in the last period for which figures are available. [217426]
Maria Eagle: The available information is in the following table.
Notes:
1.Figures are rounded to the nearest 100. Totals may not sum due to rounding.
2.Figures include all incapacity benefit, severe disability allowance and credits-only cases.
3.Figures for the latest quarter do not include any late notifications and are subject to major changes in future quarters. For illustration purposes, total incapacity benefit only terminations for August 2003 increased by 34 per cent. in the year following their initial release.
Source:
Information Directorate, 5 per cent. sample.
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