§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) whether the services provided to claimants at his Department's Kirkby office are up to standard; and whether any steps are being taken to improve them;
(2) why claimants at his Deparment's Kirkby office experience a delay of, on average, 32 working days before receiving a visitor.
§ Mr. NewtonThe area of work in which the performance of the Department's office at Kirkby is 465W seriously below standard is in the visiting of those claimants already receiving supplementary benefit who are seeking an increase in its amount. The number of such cases awaiting a visit is much higher than normal because of a recent take-up campaign by Merseyside county council. Nine reserve staff have temporarily been seconded to help clear the backlog of work, and the clearance time for visiting has been reduced from an average of 32 to 15 working days. Priority is given to new claimants for supplementary benefit, to whom a visit is normally made within a few days of claim.