§ Mr. Sharpasked the Minister of National Insurance what is the average time taken by his records office at Acton to reply to queries from local offices about the records of insured persons; and what action is being taken to reduce this period, so as to permit a speeding up of payments to insured contributors whose contribution cards have been lost or misplaced by approved societies or by his Department.
§ Mr. J. GriffithsI presume my hon. Friend is referring to my Department's Central Record Office at Newcastle. When the correct National Insurance number is quoted replies are sent by return of post. When the identifying particulars are incomplete more time is needed, but for all types of cases dealt with by the Central Office the average time between receipt of inquiry and the despatch of the answer is 30 hours. Where the Central Record Office cannot help because essential contribution cards are not available, special inquiries are made by the local office to establish the claimant's insurance position by other means. No average figure for the time taken in such exceptional cases of difficulty is available, but all officers of the Department are alive to the importance of handling them- with special urgency.