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28 Feb 2006 : Column 691W—continued

Incapacity Benefit

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent estimate he has made of the number of (a) males and (b) females aged (i) 18 to 29, (ii) 30 to 39, (iii) 40 to 49 and (iv) 50 to 59 years claiming
 
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incapacity benefit; and what estimate he has made of the number of males aged 60 to 65 years claiming incapacity benefit. [43341]

Mrs. McGuire: The information is in the table.
Incapacity benefit (IB) and severe disablement allowance (SDA) claimants by duration and gender: Great Britain, May 2005

	All	Female	Male
Total caseload (aged 16 to 65)	2,784,000	1,166,000	1,617,900
All aged 18 to 65	2,749,700	1,142,100	1,607,500
18 to 29	316,000	139,400	176,700
30 to 39	486,000	205,000	281,000
40 to 49	667,000	314,800	352,200
50 to 59	944,400	466,900	477,500
60 to 65	336,300	16,100	320,200

Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred. Totals may not sum due to rounding.
2. 'Claimant" figures include all IB/SDA claimants, including IB credits only cases.
Source:
Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent. data.

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many individuals who would otherwise qualify for incapacity benefit are affected by (a) whole and (b) partial withdrawal of benefit owing to their receipt of an occupational pension; and what the total annual benefit foregone from this clawback was in each of the last five years. [44428]

Mrs. McGuire: No information is available on the number of incapacity benefit claimants whose entitlement is reduced to nil by virtue of the amount of their occupational pension.

The information on the numbers and total estimated annual incapacity benefit foregone for those with reduced entitlement by virtue of the amount of their occupational pension is in the table.
Incapacity benefit claimants whose benefit is reduced by virtue of the amount of occupational pension in payment and associated annual benefit foregone.

	Claimants (Thousand)	Annual incapacity benefit foregone (£ millions, 2005–06 prices)
2001–02	4	5
2002–03	13	17
2003–04	22	29
2004–05	28	39

Notes:
1. Numbers are rounded to the nearest hundred and expenditure to the nearest million.
2. Figures have only been supplied for four years because occupational pensions were first taken into account against incapacity benefit entitlement in April 2001.
Source:
DWP Information Directorate 5 per cent. sample, Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent. data and DWP medium term expenditure tables.

John Cummings: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) men and (b) women
 
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in receipt of incapacity benefit owing to mental health conditions are aged (i) 20 to 29, (ii) 30 to 40, (iii) 41 to 49, (iv) 50 to 60 and (v) 61 to 65 years. [48414]

Mrs. McGuire: The available information is in the table.
Incapacity benefit (IB) and severe disablement allowance (SDA) claimants in Great Britain with a primary diagnosis in the "mental and behavioural disorders" group of diagnoses; August 2005

	All persons	Men	Women
All Ages	1,089,100	609,200	479,900
Under 20	21,200	10,700	10,600
20 to 29	168,500	95,700	72,800
30 to 40	289,000	172,000	117,000
41 to 49	261,600	137,600	123,900
50 to 60	293,400	146,900	146,600
61 to 65	46,300	43,000	3,400
Over 65	9,000	3,400	5,700

Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred. Totals may not sum due to rounding.
2. 'Claimant" figures include all IB and SDA, including IB credits only cases.
3. All diagnoses are coded using the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Edition, published by the World Health Organisation.
Source:
DWP Information Directorate, Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent. data.

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many claimants of incapacity benefit attended face-to-face medical examinations pursuant to (a) an initial own occupation test and (b) an initial personal capability assessment in each of the last three years; and how many claims were terminated as a result. [49969]

Mrs. McGuire: The information is not available in the form requested.

The total number of claimants of incapacity benefit and severe disablement allowance who were medically examined is shown in the following table.

September to August each year:	Examinations
2002–03	524,894
2003–04	467,256
2004–05	483,084

Notes:
1. Volumes include severe disablement allowance cases which cannot be identified separately.
2. Figures include initial and subsequent examinations.





 
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The number of allowance and disallowance decisions given to applicants for incapacity benefit after referral to medical services, including cases where a medical examination was necessary to make a decision, are shown in the following table.

Incapacity benefit (IB) applicants/ recipients	Total IB disallowed	Disallowed on personal capability assessment	Disallowed on own occupation test	Allowed after referral to medical services
1 April 2002 to 31 March 2003	181,680	172,570	9,110	700,305
1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004	188,740	180,735	8,005	634,760
1 April 2004 to 31 March 2005	181,995	175,090	6,905	594,335

Notes:
1. Figures include "Did not attend" and "Failure to return questionnaire'.
2. Figures have been rounded to the nearest five.
3. Figures may not correspond to totals due to rounding.
4. Figures include initial and subsequent examinations.
Source:
Figures are from 100 per cent. counts of adjudication decisions entered on the benefit computer system and will exclude a small number of clerically held cases.

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many face-to-face medical examinations have been conducted in each of the last three years in relation to claimants who have been in receipt of incapacity benefit for (a) 0 to six months, (b) six to12 months, (c) 12 to 24 months, (d) 24 to 36 months, (e) 36 to 48 months, (f) 48 to 56 months and (g) over 56 months; and how many resulted in the termination of a claim. [49977]

Mrs. McGuire: The information is not available in the form requested. Details of the number of claims which were terminated following application of the Own Occupation Test or the Personal Capability Assessment, by duration of their incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance claim, are set out in the following table.
Incapacity benefit (IB)/severe disablement allowance (SDA) claims terminating following the application of the own occupation test (OOT) or the personal capability assessment (PCA) Thousand

		Months
	Total	Up to six	Six to 12	12 to 24	24 to 36	36 to 48	48 to 56	Over 56
1 September 2002 to 31 August 2003	102.6	25.3	31.2	17.1	10.3	5.8	2.8	10.1
1 September 2003 to 31 August 2004	102.0	22.9	35.5	14.3	10.2	6.4	2.8	9.8
1 September 2004 to 31 August 2005	110.7	22.0	37.1	16.2	12.0	7.0	3.5	12.9

Notes:
1. Figures are shown in thousands and rounded to the nearest 100. Totals may not sum due to rounding.
2. "Claimant" figures include all incapacity benefit and severe disablement allowance (including incapacity benefit credits only cases).
3. Information is collected quarterly. The figures for the latest quarter do not include any late notifications and are subject to major changes in future quarters.
4. Information on face-to-face medical examinations is not available from our 5 per cent. samples.
Source:
Information Directorate, 5 per cent. samples.





 
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Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many current incapacity benefit claimants will have reached the aged of 65 years by 31 September 2018. [51955]

Mrs. McGuire: The estimated number of those currently claiming incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance who will have reached the age of 65 years by 31 September 2018 is 1,153,700.

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of people who will be transferred from incapacity benefit to pensions in each of the next 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [53900]

Mrs. McGuire: We estimate the number of incapacity benefit claimants (both payment and credits-only cases) that will transfer from claiming incapacity benefit to receiving retirement pension in each of the next 10 years is 60,000.

Note:

Estimate is rounded to the nearest 10,000 cases.

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