§ Mr. Terry Davisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will list in the Official Report, for each of his Department's local offices serving the Birmingham, Stechford constituency, the current number of non-pensioner and pensioner claimants; and if he will give comparable figures for 1979, 1980 and 1981 where available;
(2) if he will list in the Official Report, for each of his Department's local offices serving the Birmingham, Stechford constituency, the current numbers of persons employed; and if he will give, where available, the comparable figures for 1979, 1980 and 1981.
§ Mr. Newton:The information requested is as follows:
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31 August 1982 1 September 1981 2 September 1980 4 September 1979 Birmingham, Erdington Non-pensioners 1,016 1,693 1,806 1,958 Pensioners 735 1,880 1,512 2,019 Notes:
- 1. The staffing figures for 1 October 1982 are for the number of staff employed on that date. Comparable information is not available for earlier years and details supplied are of the number of staff allocated to cope with the workloads then current.
- 2. Claims statistics. Figures for supplementary benefit are the number of cases in action on the dates shown. Figures for contributory benefits are the number of claims received in the four-week period ended on the date shown.
- 3. The number of staff needed to do the work required in social security local offices is calculated and allocated on the basis of comprehensive and detailed statistical analyses and forecasts of the workload which cover a large number of factors, of which the number of claims expected at any particular time is only one. It is thus misleading simply to compare numbers of claims with numbers of staff at any particular time. The situation in Birmingham is also complicated by the fact that both offices have been subject to boundary changes during the period covered and these have affected both staffing levels and workload volumes.