§ Andrew GeorgeTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the(a) target times and (b) average time it took to deal with (i) revisions, (ii) renewal claims and (iii) original applications for (A) disability living allowance and (B) attendance allowance were in the last 12 months. [14354]
§ Maria EagleThe administration of disability living allowance and attendance allowance is a matter for Alexis Cleveland, chief executive of the Benefits Agency. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Alexis Cleveland to Andrew George, dated 20 July 2001:
689WThe Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what the (a) target times and (b) average time it took to deal with (i) revisions (ii) renewal claims and (iii) original applications for (A) Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and (B) Attendance Allowance (AA) were in the last 12 months.The information is in the table attached. The Decision Making and Appeals procedures introduced in October 1999 mean revisions are shown as reconsiderations and supersessions. Reconsiderations occur when a claimant asks for a claim to be looked at again within one month of the previous decision. Supersessions occur when such requests are made outside the one month time limit.Target days are always expressed as 95 per cent. of those cases cleared within the number of days shown against each claim event. It is not possible to compare these figures directly with the actual average clearance times in each category as these are based on the number of days taken to clear 100 per cent. of cases per event in a particular month. Target figures are not available expressed in actual average clearance times.I hope this is helpful.
§ Andrew GeorgeTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many children broken down by(a) age group and (b) proportion of households with children in that age group, live in households where a parent is in receipt of (i) Incapacity Benefit, (ii) Severe Disablement Allowance, (iii) Income Support with a Disability Premium and (iv) Disability Living Allowance. [4356]
§ Malcolm WicksThe available information is in the tables.
Number of dependent children living in families where a parent receives Incapacity Benefit (IB), Income Support (IS) Disability Premium or Disability Living Allowance (DLA) Age group IB DLA IS Disability Premium 0–4 85.000 130,000 100,000 5–10 150.000 290,000 150,000 11–15 165.000 275,000 155,000 16+ 70.000 90,000 55,000
Number of dependent children living in families where the parent has IB, DLA or IS Disability Premium as a proportion of all children in Great Britain Percentage Age group IB DLA IS Disability Premium 0–4 2 4 3 5–10 3 7 3 11–15 4 8 4 16+ 6 7 4 Notes:
1.Caseloads are rounded to the nearest 5,000 and percentages to the nearest percentage point.
2. For IB and DLA the figures have been calculated from the 1999–2000 Family Resources Survey. For the IS Disability Premium they have been taken from the February 2001 Income Support Quarterly Statistical Enquiry and the February 2001 Child Benefit statistics.
3. Data are not provided for Severe Disablement Allowance because the sample sizes are too small to support a reliable estimate.
4. People are not counted as receiving a benefit if they receive it on behalf of someone else.