§ 1992. Mr. RowlandsTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate of the number of people in receipt of invalidity benefit in Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, and in Wales, in(a) 1979, (b) 1983, (c) 1987 and (d)
§ Mr. ScottThis is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member with such information as is available.
Letter from Michael Bichard to Mr. Ted Rowlands, dated 17 February 1994:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your Parliamentary Question about the number of people in receipt of Invalidity Benefit in Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, and in Wales, in 1979, 1983, 1987 and 1992.The information is not available in the exact format requested. This is because statistics for the years in question are only available for the standard statistical regions of the Benefits Agency, one of which is Wales, but are not broken down into individual Districts.The areas of Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney are dealt with by the Agency's Merthyr Tydfil District. This District deals with areas other than Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney and so the statistics provided will include people not living in the area in question. Also statistics are not retained by Districts for longer than two years; I have therefore only provided figures for March 1992.There were a total of 11,946 people claiming Invalidity Benefit in the Merthyr Tydfil District at the last working day of March 1992. The figures were obtained from a 100 per cent. clerical count of cases in the Office, and include a small number of people who have claimed but are not receiving Invalidity Benefit, eg. because there is underlying entitlement which has been extinguished by the payment of a higher overlapping benefit. The table shows the number of customers in receipt of Invalidity Benefit in Wales at a point in time in 1979, 1983, 1987 and 1992. The statistics are based on a 1 per cent. sample of claimants.
Number of IVB beneficiaries at a point in time in Wales Number 2 June 1979 69,000 2 April 1983 87,000 4 April 1987 122,000 4 April 1992 159,000 Note: The table figures are rounded to the nearest thousand.
I hope you find this reply helpful.
§ Mr. RowlandsTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many recipients currently in receipt of invalidity benefit are over the age of 58 years in(a) Merthyr Tydfil, (b) Rhymney and (c) Wales.
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§ Mr. ScottThis is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member with such information as is available.
Letter from Michael Bichard to Mr. Ted Rowlands, dated 17 February 1994:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your Parliamentary question about recipients of Invalidity Benefit who are over the age of 58 in Merthyr Tydfil, Rhymney and Wales.The information is not available in the exact format requested. This is because statistics are only available for the standard statistical regions, one of which is Wales, but are not broken down into individual Districts.The latest available information for Wales is based on a 1 per cent. sample of claims to Invalidity Benefit in Great Britain. At 4 April 1992, there were approximately 69,000 Invalidity Benefit recipients aged 59 and over in Wales.Statistics for the specific areas of Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney are not readily available and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost. This is because statistics are maintained by Benefits Agency Districts whose boundaries do not correspond with those of constituencies; and the statistics are not kept by age. To obtain the information you request would require a manual inspection of each individual claim within the Merthyr Tydfil District which covers Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney.I hope you find this reply helpful.