§ Mr. Shersbyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services why it is administratively necessary for child benefit order books to be returned to his Department for amendment when an increase in benefit occurs; and if in future he will arrange for the necessary uprating of benefit vouchers to be made at the post office at which benefit is drawn.
§ Mr. OrmeMy Department is responsible for authorising the amount of benefit payable and it would not be right to delegate the amendment of rates to the paying authority. Under present arrangements for uprating child benefit many order books are issued containing the new rates. When changes in the duration of child benefit order books are introduced early next year it will be possible to take account of benefit upratings at the time that the great majority of order books are issued.
§ Mr. Shersbyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services when he expects to be able to arrange for child benefit to be paid on a quarterly basis by standing order into the private bank accounts of those recipients who prefer not to draw benefit in cash at a post office.
§ Mr. OrmeWork on the further computerisation of the child benefit payment system must be completed before any alternative method of payment can be offered. However, the possibility of arranging for payments to be made directly into bank accounts is being studied by a joint working party of officials of my Department and representatives of the Inter-Bank Research Organisation and Bankers' Automated Clearing Services Ltd. Some preliminary work remains to be done before it will be possible to take a decision in principle on whether to introduce such a system and if so to produce a timetable for implementation.