§ Miss Boothroydasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give the number of claimants at social security offices in the borough of Sandwell, the number of full-time staff dealing with inquiries and all forms of supplementary benefits and the ratio of staff to claimants at each office.
§ Mr. NewtonAt 8 December there were 19,257 supplementary benefit claimants being dealt with at the Smethwick office and 20,148 at the West Bromwich office. At 13 December 104 of the Smethwick office's staff were assigned to supplementary benefits work and 107 of the West Bromwich office's staff. Three and two staff, with, in each case, one extra when necessary are employed at Smethwick and West Bromwich respectively on reception enquiries; it is not possible to give a figure for postal and telephone enquiries work. While these figures would allow the hon. Member to calculate a staff to claimant ratio, she should bear in mind that the Department's local office complementing system assigns staff on the basis of a much more sophisticated analysis of work loads. This is described in a note I have placed in the Library.