§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many claims for supplementary benefit take more than 14 days before payment is made after first application in each social security office, what proportion of supplementary benefit claims this represents in each office, and what is the average number of weeks delay before supplementary benefit claims are met at each office.
§ Mr. Lyell[pursuant to his reply, 12 January 1987, c.106–7]: The number of claims for supplementary benefit which take more than 14 days to clear is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
551WDetails of the average time taken to deal with a fresh claim for supplementary benefit by each local social security office for the year up to and including 8 April 1986 have been placed in the Library.