§ Mr. Peter Walkerasked the Secretary of State for the Social Services how many appeals his Department has made to the National Insurance Commissioner in each of the years 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1977 to date; how many times his appeals were upheld; and how many times they were rejected.
§ Mr. EnnalsAn analysis of appeals made to the National Insurance Commissioner by the Department—formally by the Secretary of State for Social Services—during the years mentioned in the question is given below, for industrial disablement benefit and mobility allowance. There were no appeals by the Department in attendance allowance cases during the years mentioned. The Department itself has no right of appeal to the Commissioner in the case of any other social security benefits, though the independent insurance officers may appeal to the Commissioner from the decisions of local tribunals.
INDUSTRIAL DISABLEMENT BENEFIT Year Appeals by department Appeals upheld Appeals rejected 1974 3 2 1 1975 — — — 1976 1 1 — 1977 (January-October) 2* 1
MOBILITY ALLOWANCE (introduced in 1976) Year Appeals by department Appeals upheld Appeals rejected 1976 1 1 — 1977 (January-October) 5† *1 case not yet decided. † All 5 cases as yet undecided. Appeals by the Department are restricted to questions of law. They provide a means of maintaining the standards of medical appeal tribunals' decisions and achieving consistency in matters of law. 521W This is of particular importance with regard to mobility allowance, for which case law has yet to be established.
§ Mr. Peter Walkerasked the Secretary of State for the Social Services how many appeals his Department has made to medical tribunals in each of the years 1974, 1975, 1976, and 1977 to date; how
INDUSTRIAL DISABLEMENT BENEFT Year References by Department Boards decision changed unfavourably to claimant Boards decision changed favourably to claimant No change in Boards decision 1974 … … … … 3,536 1,604 1,234 698 1975 … … … … 3,069 1,346 1,123 600 1976 … … … … 2,903 1,285 1,083 535 1977 (January-October) … 2,449 1,069 971 404
MOBILITY ALLOWANCE (introduced in 1976) Year References by Department Boards decision changed unfavourably to claimant Boards decision changed favourably to claimant No change in Boards decision 1976 … … … … 49 27 10 — 1977 (January-October) … 20 19 6 — 7 undecided. My Department frequently refers cases to medical appeal tribunals in the claimant's own interests where, because the assessment is provisional, the claimant himself does not, at that point, have a right of appeal, and not only where the assessment made by the medical board is thought to be too high. The vast majority of the decisions shown in the table as being favourable to claimants would in fact have been referred in their interests.