§ Mr. Andrew Bowdenasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his estimate of the level of the 587W pensioner addition to housing benefit needs allowance at April 1987 had it been increased in line with changes to the retail price index between May 1985 and September 1986.
§ Mr. LyellThe pensioner addition to the housing benefit needs allowance has, in fact, never been linked directly to the retail price index. In the past it has been calculated as a fixed percentage of the single person's needs allowance. Had the movement in RPI between May 1985 and January 1986 and between January and September 1986 respectively been applied at the upratings in July 1986 and April 1987 and the normal rounding convention applied, the addition would have remained at 85p at both upratings.
§ Dr. Godmanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people in Greenock and Port Glasgow are in receipt of (a) invalidity benefit, (b) housing benefit, (c) additional heating allowance, (d) mobility allowance and (e) sickness benefit for the latest available date.
§ Mr. LyellThe information is as follows
Invalidity benefit and sickness benefit: The number of claimants in receipt of invalidity benefit and sickness benefit as at 21 October 1986 (the latest date for which information is available) at the Department's local offices in Greenock and Port Glasgow is as follows:
GREENOCK 4,003 PORT GLASGOW 1,645 Separate records are not kept of the number of claimants in receipt of invalidity and sickness benefit.
Housing benefit: I regret that estimates of the total number of housing benefit recipients in the Inverclyde district council area, which covers Greenock and Port Glasgow, are not available. Neither are estimates of the numbers receiving rate rebate as these are administered by Strathclyde, the regional (rating) authority, which does not routinely break down its case loads by district. Estimates from Inverclyde district council's claim show that about 12,200 households received rent rebates or allowances in 1985–86.
Mobility allowance: Mobility allowance is administered centrally and details are not held locally of the number of beneficiaries in Greenock and Port Glasgow.
Additional heating allowance: These details are not readily available as information is gathered on a sample basis only.
§ Sir Peter Hordernasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people received rent relief, rate relief, or housing benefit, in 1956, 1960, 1970, 1975, 1980, and the latest date for which figures are available.
§ Mr. LyellInformation relating to 1970 and earlier is not available. The information requested for later years is given in the following table:
Estimated recipients of rent rebates, rent allowances and rate rebates Great Britain, Thousands 11975 11980 1985 Rent rebates 1,110 1,310 3,650 Rent allowances 180 240 1,010 Rate rebates 2,910 3,340 6,780 1Note Housing benefit was not introduced until 1983. It replaced the former DOE rent rebate and allowance, and rate rebate schemes and additionally brought in those who formerly received help for their rent and/or rates through the supplementary benefit scheme. The estimates for 1975 and 1980 only, therefore, reflect those who received help through the DOE schemes.
588W
§ Mr. Thurnhamasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people had their mobility allowance renewal applications refused during (a) the 12-month period prior to the House of Lords' decision Leeds v. Secretary of State for Social Services on 25 April 1985 and (b) the 12-month period since that date; how many of those in (b) above were refused because: (i) their condition had changed and (ii) they were adjudged differently from their original successful claims in the light of the Leeds decision; and how many of those in (b) above were (i) severely mentally handicapped, (ii) severely behaviourally disturbed and (iii) with other severe disabilities.
§ Mr. MajorIn the 12 months up to 25 April 1985, 4,360 renewal claims for mobility allowance (16.7 per cent. of the renewal claims decided in that period) were disallowed at the initial stage. The figures for the 12 months after that date were 4,250 and 15.7 per cent. respectively. I regret that records are not maintained of the reasons for disallowance of renewal claims or of the nature of the disability of unsuccessful claimants.
§ Mr. Thurnhamasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people had their original mobility allowance applications refused during (a) the 12-month period prior to the House of Lords' decision Leeds v. Secretary of State for Social Services on 25 April 1985 and (b) the 12-month period since that date; and of these how many were (i) severely mentally handicapped, (ii) severely behaviourly disturbed and (iii) blind with other severe disabilities.
§ Mr. MajorIn the 12 months up to 25 April 1985, 33,500 initial claims for mobility allowance (30.7 per cent. of the initial claims decided in that period) were disallowed. The figures for the 12 months after that date were 43,600 and 34.8 per cent. respectively.
I regret that records are not maintained of the nature of the disability of unsuccessful claimants.
§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if local offices of his Department can identify every person receiving supplementary benefit or supplementary pension, who has a dependent child under the age of two years, or is over the age of 65 years, or is in receipt of attendance allowance and mobility allowance.
§ Mr. MajorThe Department's local offices do not keep these statistics. To mount a special exercise to identify every person within these groups would be disproportionately costly.
§ Mr. Ashdownasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many extra civil servants he has employed in dealing with outstanding claims for invalid care allowance in respect of married women; and when he anticipates the backlog will be brought down to a similar level of outstanding claims as those pertaining to men and single women.
§ Mr. MajorThe Department has engaged an additional 320 staff to deal with claims for invalid care allowance from married women. Experience with the cases processed so far indicates that the majority of these claims should be cleared by early in the new year.
§ Mrs. Beckettasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will publish in the Official Report his Department's estimate of the number of (a) pensioner households, (b) families with children, (c) other 589W households, (d) local authority tenants and (e) private tenants who will (i) suffer a reduction in their housing benefit entitlement, and (ii) lose all entitlement to housing benefit as a result of the change to the rent taper in April 1987; and if he will also give his estimate of the total saving in benefit expenditure which he expects will be made as a result of this change;
(2) if he will publish in the Official Report his Department's estimates of the savings in benefit expenditure he expects to make in 1986–87 and 1987–88 as a result of his proposal to increase the main housing benefit needs allowances in July 1986 and April 1987 by the same cash amounts as the retirement pension rather than by the traditional up-rating formula; and if he will also provide an estimate of the total loss in benefit to November 1987 these savings entail for: (a) pensioner households, (b) single person households, (c) couples, (d) couples with one child and (e) couples with two children.
§ Mrs. Beckettasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many workers in the Midlands social security region have claimed disablement benefit during the last 10 years; and how many of those were claiming for injuries assessed at between 1 per cent, and 14 per cent.
§ Mr. MajorInformation is not available in the form requested, as the Midland social security region was only formed on 12 April 1982.
Between then and 23 September 1986, 95,097 claims for disablement benefit were made. We do not have a regional breakdown either of successful claims or of how many were for disablement below 14 per cent.
§ Mrs. Beckettasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the maximum daily amount an unemployed person was allowed to earn without loss of entitlement to unemployment benefit in 1956, 1965, 1975 and 1985; and approximately how many hours' work this represented for a person earning half the national average.
§ Mr. LyellThe information requested, based on half national average hourly earnings rates for male manual workers, is given in the table:
Unemployment benefit earnings limit (per day) Approximate number of hours work represented 1956 33⅓p 2½ 1965 33⅓p 1½ 1975 75 p 1½ 1985 £2.00 1
§ Mrs. Beckettasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will estimate the current value of the basic housing benefit needs allowances according to the traditional uprating formula; and what level of average local authority rent, rates and water rates have been used in this calculation.
§ Mr. LyellIf the basic housing benefit needs allowances to be implemented from April 1987 were to be calculated now according to the traditional formula, they would be:
Single person £49.65 Couple £72.85 The levels of housing costs used to calculate the housing element would be:
590W
average local authority rent £15.82 average domestic general rates £ 7.54 average domestic water rates £ 1.67
§ Mr. Leightonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people have moved from unemployment to other benefits in the past 12 months.
§ Mr. LyellPrecise figures are not available but it is estimated that in any year:
- (1) approximately 100,000 people move from unemployment benefit to sickness benefit (and a similar number move from sickness benefit to unemployment benefit);
- (2) approximately 10,000 people move from unemployment benefit to retirement pension;
- (3) approximately 230,000 people move to supplementary benefit when they have exhausted their entitlement to 312 days of unemployment benefit; and
- (4) small numbers move in other circumstances, for example to maternity or widows' benefits, but no reasonable estimates can be made of the numbers involved.