§ Mr. McAllionTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what were the numbers of income support claimants in(a) Scotland and (b) the United Kingdom in each year since 1979. [35222]
§ 1. Mr. Roger EvansThe available information is set out in the table.
1485W
Numbers of Income Support claimants in Scotland and the United Kingdom since 1979 SupplementaryBenefit/Income Supportclaimants in Scotland (000s) Supplementary Benefit/Income Support claimants in UK (000s) 1979 286 2,969 1980 304 3,233 1981 371 3,823 1982 423 4,422 1983 440 4,518 1984 468 4,785 1985 — — 1986 506 5,122 1987 535 5,086 1988 499 4,536 1989 486 4,344 1990 481 4,369 1991 487 4,683 1992 519 5,293 1993 543 5,858 1994 550 — Notes:
Source: Supplementary benefit/Income Support Statistics Annual/Quarterly Enquiries 1979–1994.
2. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand.
3. Income Support replaced Supplementary Benefit in 1988.
4. The UK figure for 1981 is incomplete because industrial action affected the Northern Ireland count.
5. Figures are not available for 1985 due to industrial action.
6. A UK figure for 1994 cannot be compiled because data for Northern Ireland is not yet available.
§ Mr. ByersTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what difficulties have been experienced in the last two months with the retrieval by computer of income support details(a) in north Tyneside and (b) nationally in each case how many records have had to be retrieved manually; and what has been the additional cost. [36111]
§ Mr. EvansThe administration of income support is a matter for Mr. Ian Magee, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. member with such information as is available.
Letter from Ian Magee to Stephen Byers, dated 18 July 1995:
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about difficulties with the retrieval by computer of Income Support details in North Tyneside and nationally.The North Tyneside District Office have had difficulty retrieving information on only one case in the last few months. There are problems with the retrieval of information from the Income Support Computer System (ISCS) that could affect all offices. This will only be experienced on a limited number of cases, for example, if a customer moves address on more than one occasion over a short period of time.Where problems do occur with the retrieval of information on ISCS, a record print is obtained from the Information Technology Service Agency (ITSA).In the period since the beginning of May 1995, the ITSA have received 27 requests for record prints which could not be obtained locally. Each case requires an average of half a days action by a computer technician. The associated computer costs and action taken locally make it difficult to establish the exact cost.Work is continuing to resolve the data retrieval problems, for example, a backlog of information has been moved from one part of the ISCS system to another. As a result, data previously unavailable on a local basis has now become available. The Benefits Agency and ITSA recognise that there are problems with data 1486W retrieval and every effort is being made to resolve these problems as a matter of urgency.I hope you find this reply helpful.
§ Mr. Win GriffithsTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he plans to disregard the value of the nursery voucher for four-year-olds for the purposes of income support and family credit. [35395]
§ Mr. Evans[holding answer 18 July 1995]: Yes. It is planned to disregard the value of such vouchers in income support and family credit.