§ Baroness Jegerasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many applications for heating additions remain unprocessed; and what is the average time between application and payment.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Security (Lord Glenarthur)Entitlement to heating additions is normally assessed as part of the initial assessment of supplementary benefit entitlement. In the four-week period ending 22nd November 1983, the average time taken to process applications to supplementary benefit was three working days for claims taken by those calling at the office and seven working days for other claims. No information is available on the number of claims outstanding or on the numbers of, or time taken to process, requests by existing claimants for a review of their entitlement to heating additions.
§ Baroness Jegerasked Her Majesty's Government:
What heating additions are available for people who depend on solid fuel or paraffin for warmth.
§ Lord GlenarthurHeating additions payable on grounds of health, accommodation, central heating, age or disability can be paid to supplementary benefit claimants using solid fuel or paraffin, on the same basis as to those using other fuels, providing they satisfy the prescribed conditions. Those conditions are summarised in Chapter 4 of theSupplementary Benefit Handbook, a copy of which is in the Library.