§ Mr. Home Robertsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the average time between the receipt of a request for a single payment and the payment of such a claim in Great Britain, in Scotland and in the East Edinburgh office of his Department respectively.
§ Mr. MajorClaims for single payments are determined as soon as possible after -all the information required has been collected. A limited sample of recent cases at Edinburgh (East) local office suggests that, on average, claims for single payments are currently being determined 18 days after their receipt. (When a claim is successful the payment is normally made on the day it is determined or the following day). Similar figures for Great Britain and Scotland are not available.