HC Deb 27 October 1989 vol 158 cc666-7W
Mr. Flynn

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many families are in receipt of family credit and how many of those families have members on employment training.

Mrs. Gillian Shephard

The latest information is for the end of July when the family credit case load was just over 320,000. Precise information is not available about the number of families with members on employment training at the time of the claim for family credit, but indications are that there are likely to be no more than a few hundred.

Mr. Flynn

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if his Department has issued, or intends to issue, fresh instructions to offices on the operation of paragraph 11 of schedule 2 to the Family Credit (General) Regulations concerning the disregard of premiums paid to those on employment training;

(2) in how many cases the training premium for employment training has not been disregarded for calculation of family credit entitlement, contrary to paragraph 11, schedule 2 Family Credit (General) Regulations in (a) Cornwall and (b) the rest of Great Britain;

(3) what is the total loss suffered by each individual who has been deprived of part of their family credit entitlement because the premium due to their familes under employment training has not been disregarded.

Mrs. Gillian Shephard

Instructions about the correct treatment of training premiums were issued to all staff of the family credit unit on 3 May 1989, and the correct disregard should have been applied in all appropriate cases dealt with since that date.

Action is already in hand, using computer records, which will indentify many of the cases dealt with incorrectly before that date. The remainder are cases which cannot be traced in this way and consideration is still being given to what action can be taken to identify them. Until these exercises have been completed, we shall not know the number of cases where the training premium was not disregarded or the amount of the loss suffered by individuals. However, all the indications are that the number of cases is likely to be small.