§ Mr. CabornTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what functions his Department carries out at the regional level; where the regional offices are located in each of the regions; what staff are employed and at what grades; what proportion of his Department's budget is spent in each of the regions; and what geographical boundaries determine his Department's regions.
Mrs. Gillian ShepherdThe Department's regional offices provide a support and advice service to the local office network, details of specific functions are shown in table 1. Information on location, staffing and boundaries are also detailed in tables 2, 3 and 5. Information on budgets in the format requested is not available. Table 4 gives details showing the expenditure for the regional and local offices in each region as a proportion of the Secretary of State's administration and miscellaneous services vote.
Table 1 Functions carried out at regional level 1 Regional support and advice on adjudication and policy matters relating to all national insurance and social security benefits. 2 Enforcement procedures in respect of non compliance with national insurance regulations. 3 Organised fraud, policy and advice on all fraud related matters. 4 Personnel matters, staff welfare and training. 5 Industrial relations, regional Whitley committee. 6 Implementation of Department's computerisation and new technology policies. 7 Regional estate management. 8 Freeline and regional information services.
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Table 2 Location of regional offices 1 Scotland—Edinburgh. 2 Midlands—Birmingham. 3 London South—Sutton, Surrey. 4 London North—Wembley, Middlesex. 5 North East—Leeds. 6 North West—Bootle. 7 Wales and South West—Cardiff.
MIDS LN LS SCOT NW NE WSW Totals SEO 25.5 25.5 26.0 28.0 30.0 26.5 23.0 184.5 HEO 112.0 90.0 110.5 102.0 95.0 106.5 85.0 701.0 LOI 116.0 145.0 139.5 150.0 105.0 154.0 74.0 883.5 EO 136.5 99.5 146.5 142.5 156.5 112.0 131.0 924.5 LOII 296.5 188.5 81.0 294.0 103.5 184.0 177.0 1,324.5 AO 143.0 75.5 145.0 91.5 227.5 154.5 174.0 1,011.0 AA 763.5 172.0 89.0 521.5 659.5 513.5 717.5 3,436.5 Typing manager 2.0 2.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 2.0 2.0 17.0 Typist 22.5 21.5 25.5 23.5 28.0 25.0 20.5 166.5 PES 8.0 4.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 10.0 4.0 47.0 Handicap instructor 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 7.0 MED/board assistant 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.0 0.0 2.0 4.0 SM3 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 2.0 Support grade 1 5.0 2.0 2.0 0.0 3.0 6.0 5.0 23.0 Support grade 2 19.0 8.0 13.0 7.5 19.0 13.0 15.0 94.5 Professionals 2.0 2.5 2.5 0.0 2.0 3.0 3.0 15.0 Totals 1,658.5 843.0 799.5 1,378.5 1,452.0 1,317.0 1,440.0 8,888.5
Table 4 Proportion of the Department's administration budget spent in each region Per cent. 1. Scotland 4.75 2. Midlands 5.38 3. London South 6.37 4. London North 6.37 5. North East 5.63 6. North West 5.45 7. Wales and South West 4.79
Table 5 Geographical boundaries of each region Region Boundaries 1. Scotland Scotland including the Islands. 2. Midlands Derbyshire excluding High Peak District, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and West Midlands. 3. London South Hampshire, Berkshire, Watlington, Nettlebed and Henley on Thames in Oxfordshire, all areas south of Thames, Kensington, Bloomsbury, Chelsea, City and Westminster to north of Thames 4. London North Essex, Bedfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire excluding small area covered by London South, Hertfordshire and the old GLC area north of Thames except Kensington, Bloomsbury, Chelsea, City and Westminster. 5. North East Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Durham, Yorkshire, Humberside and North Lincolnshire. 6. NorthWest Cumbria, Lancashire, Merseyside, Cheshire, Greater Manchester and High Peak District Derbyshire. 7. Wales and South West Clwyd, Powys, Gwent Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Dorset.