§ Mr. BradleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his oral statement of 21 March,Official Report, column 259 what is the global figure for the number of people who have won their appeals against refusal of benefit under the habitual residence test. [17437]
§ Mr. Roger EvansIn the debate on 21 March I referred to certain global figures which had been supplied to the hon. Member. Unfortunately these figures relate to the application of the habitual residence test at the point of claim, not the appeal stage.
The position on appeals is as I have previously explained. The reasons for an appeal are not routinely identified and figures for past appeals could not be obtained without disproportionate cost. Department officials are looking at whether this type of information could be extracted without disproportionate cost for future appeals.