§ Mr. Kirkwoodasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) whether he will institute a search of casepapers of supplementary benefit claimants in receipt of statutory sick pay back to April 1983, following the decision of the Social Security Commissioners case CSB 402/84;
(2) (a) what are the numbers of supplementary benefit claimants likely to be affected by the decision in the Social 592W Security Commissioner's case CSB 402/84, (b) what are the estimated annual costs of applying the Commissioner's decision and (c) when he anticipates that the relevant paragraphs of the 'S' manual will be altered to take account of the decision.
§ Mr. Newton[pursuant to his reply, 15 March 1985, column 327.]: I understand that the Chief Adjudication Officer is seeking legal advice on whether to apply for leave to appeal from the Commissioner's decision. The question of what administrative action would be appropriate in respect of earlier cases is therefore for later consideration. We have, however, today laid before Parliament the Supplementary Benefit (Resources) Amendment Regulations so as to put beyond any doubt the original policy intention at the earliest opportunity.
Insufficient information is available to enable meaningful estimates to be made of the costs of applying the Commissioner's decision and of the number of claimants who might be affected by it.