§ Mr. Knoxasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he is satisfied with the working of the child benefit scheme.
§ Mr. Hal Millerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he is satisfied with the operation of the child benefit office in Newcastle.
§ Mr. Stoddartasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what volume of representation he has received concerning delays, inconvenience and financial hardship caused to parents through the inefficient operation of the child benefit section of his Department; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mrs. ChalkerLetters of complaint addressed to me or my ministerial colleagues including those received through hon. Members or the media, during 1979 have averaged about 0.04 per cent. of the cases handled. This is about twice the normal level of complaint and is mainly due to the effect of industrial action at the child benefit centre. The arrears of work at the centre are gradually being cleared. In addition, we are considering ways of improving the standard of service which existed before the industrial action.
§ Mr. Greville Jannerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he 568W will cause an investigation to be made into the reasons for the delay in paying to Mr. and Mrs. Peter Miller of 41 Norman Street, Leicester the child benefits to which they were entitled.
§ Mrs. ChalkerI have made inquiries and am writing to the hon. and learned Member about the outcome.
§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he has any plans to introduce uniform child allowances.
§ Mrs. ChalkerChild benefit is already payable at a uniform rate, apart from the addition for the first child in certain lone-parent families. To increase child benefit to eliminate the national insurance benefit child dependency increase of £1.70 would cost about £1,000 million, and my right hon. Friend has no plans for such an increase.