§ Mr. Gordon Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will bring forward proposals to decentralise the operations of the Child Benefit Order Department at Washington, Tyne and Wear, to local Department of Health and 314W Social Security offices, in view of the hardship caused by their inefficiency and failure to respond to urgent requests.
§ Mrs. ChalkerNo. In the circumstances of recovery after a period of industrial action, the child benefit centre is doing all it can to respond to the exceptional demands being made upon it. Any cases of hardship caused by the failure of order books to arrive should be taken up with the local DHSS office. I intend to take whatever steps may be necessary to try to overcome the circumstances which led to the situation which we inherited on 4 May.
§ Mr. Gordon Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) why Mrs. Phyllis Sheriffs, c/o Dunean, 129 Dunbar Crescent, Dundee, has been deprived of a child benefit order book since 2 April through the failure of his office in Washington, Tyne and Wear;
(2) why Mrs. Veronica Jackson, 46 Fenlaggan Crescent, Dundee (Ref. FAM 30.33.66.0) has been deprived of a child benefit order book for 18 weeks through failure of his office in Washington, Tyne and Wear;
(3) why Mrs. Mary Wilson, 314 Omiston Crescent, Dundee, has been deprived of a child benefit order book since 7 February through the failure of his office at Washington, Tyne and Wear.
§ Mrs. ChalkerI shall write to the hon Member about these cases as soon as possible. One cause of child benefit payments being held up is that the issue of child benefit order books was interrupted for a month as a result of earlier industrial action at the child benefit centre. During this period no child benefit order books were issued or claims processed by the computer. Since normal work resumed, every effort is being made to catch up with the work which accumulated during the interruption.