§ Mr. MilburnTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many recipients of family credit there have been in each year since 1990 in Darlington. [9732]
§ Mr. Roger EvansThe administration of family credit is a matter for Peter Mathison, chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Alan Milburn, dated 18 December 1996:
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many recipients of Family Credit (FC) there have been in each year since 1990 in Darlington.The information is not available in the format requested. It may he helpful if I explain that FC is administered centrally by the Family Credit Unit. Statistics are produced on a national basis and provide the number of families in receipt of FC within a particular Benefits Agency (BA) office area at a given date. However, this only serves as a "snap-shot" of the position at that given date and does not provide details of the number of families in receipt of FC annually.Furthermore, details relating to FC claims are normally destroyed after 18 months. However, the information requested is currently available from 1993 onwards and these figures are as follows:
Families in receipt of FC in the area of the BA Darlington Office Number April 1993 1,605 October 1993 1,773 April 1994 1,748 October 1994 1,911 April 1995 2,016 October 1995 2,087 April 1996 2,119 October 1996 2,298
Figures are provisional and subject to change.I hope you find this reply useful.