§ Mr. Bruce-Gardyneasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what has been the aggregate cost to date of payments of supplementary benefit to those involved in the industrial dispute at the parliamentary printers, and to their dependants; and of administrative arrangements necessitated thereby;
(2) what was the aggregate cost to public funds of payments of supplementary benefits to those involved in the recent industrial dispute at Chrysler Motors, and their dependants, of payments made after resumption of work and not recovered, and of administrative arrangements necessitated thereby;
(3) what was the aggregate cost to public funds of supplementary benefit paid to those involved in the industrial dispute at Fine Tubes Limited, and to their dependants, of payments made after resumption of work and not recovered, and of administrative arrangements necessitated thereby;
(4) what has been the aggregate cost to date of supplementary benefit payments to those involved in the dispute at Perkins Diesel Engines, and their dependants, and of administrative arrangements necessitated thereby.
§ Mr. DeanFollowing is the information:
and between regions; and what proportion of cases referred to medical practitioners are confirmed as having some mental or physical disability.
§ Mr. Dean, pursuant to his reply [OFFICIAL REPORT, 28th June 1973], gave the following information:
I regret that the precise information requested is not available. In dealing with claims to supplementary benefit from 71W unemployed people all officers, not only unemployment review officers, have regard to the claimant's physical and mental condition. A claimant may be referred to the Department of Employment's disablement resettlement officer if he appears to be disabled but not registered as such, or to his own doctor where there is a question of ill health. No statistics are kept of such referrals. Claimants may also be referred to the regional medical service to resolve any doubts about capacity for any or for a particular employment, and, if appropriate, for advice about the need for treatment or rehabilitation. The numbers so referred in the last three years in each region are shown below; there are no statistics on the specific reasons for referral and the results are not centrally recorded.
Region 1970 1971 1972 Northern 226 113 78 Yorkshire and Humberside 134 90 42 East Midlands and East Anglia 220 136 138 London North 66 39 37 London South 148 135 75 London West 90 39 45 South Western 140 186 125 West Midlands 594 505 394 North Western (Manchester) 146 88 67 North Western (Merseyside) 530 481 283 Scotland 284 152 84 Wales 25 34 61 Total 2,603 1,998 1,429
§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what are the length and content of training for unemployment review officers; and whether any standard or qualification is required at the end of training before this type of work can be entered upon.
§ Mr. Dean, pursuant to his reply [OFFICIAL REPORT, 28th June 1973], gave the following information:
Those selected to be unemployment review officers generally have had considerable experience of local office supplementary benefit work and the normal training given to all executive officers. They are initially trained on the job, and subsequently attend a two-week residential course at Leicester University, run by members of the University School of Social Work. The course, which includes 72W lectures, discussions, films, project work and visits of observation, is designed to provide an introduction to social and psychological influences on human behaviour with especial reference to the problems of unemployed people, and to consider aspects of the social services with which the officer has contact. It does not test standards of work or lead to a formal qualification. Additionally there are departmental regional seminars directed towards particular problems.