§ Ms. Richardsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many unemployed claimants have been in receipt of supplementary benefit for over a year; and how many children they were responsible for in total at the latest date available.
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§ Dr. BoysonSome 622,000 claimants and 480,000 dependent children in December 1982, the latest date for which information is available.
Source: Annual statistical inquiry, December 1982 —provisional figures.
§ Ms. Richardsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many staff were employed in local offices on supplementary benefit claims on 1 January 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1983, respectively.
§ Mr. NewtonThe numbers of staff provided through the Department's complementing system to deal with the regular continuing work relating to supplementary benefit claims on the dates quoted are as follows:
Number 1 January 1979 30,679 1 January 1980 29,124 1 January 1981 31,282 1 January 1982 33,246 1 January 1983 33,214
§ Ms. Richardsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many appeals were made to supplementary benefit appeal tribunals and how many were heard in each year from 1979 to 1982 inclusive.
§ Mr. NewtonThe information requested is set out in the following table:
Type of Addition Paragraph of schedule 3 of the Supplementary Benefit (Requirements) Regulations under which payment was made Numbers (000s, rounded to the nearest 000) December 1981 December 1982 Heating—lower rate 1(1), 2(a) 617 621 Heating—higher rate 1(2), 1(3), 2(b) 377 383 Central heating—lower rate 3(a) 357 422 Central heating—higher rate 3(b) 384 492 Amenity charges payable with rent and estate rate heating addition 4, 5 53 18 Disabled persons' heating 6 71 90 Age related heating 7 488 521 Age 8 424 403 Attendance needs 9 * * Baths 10 1 3 Blindness 11 35 42 Boarding-out fees 12 * * Diet—lower rate 13(b), (c) 204 222 Diet—higher rate 13(a) 189 195 Diet—dialysis rate 13(d) * 1 Diet—others 13(c) * 2 Domestic assistance 14 5 3 Hire purchase 15 3 2 Hospital fares 16 2 3 Laundry 17 94 94 Special wear and tear on clothing 18 7 10 Storage of furniture 19 * * * less than 500 Source: Annual statistical inquiries. The figures for 1982 are provisional
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Supplementary Benefit Appeal Tribunals Year Appeals lodged Appeals heard 1979 94,178 50,639 1980 94,481 49,355 1981 108,570 49,864 1982 *129,524 *55,893 * These figures are provisional.
§ Ms. Richardsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many training courses were run for members of supplementary benefit appeal tribunals in 1980 to 1982 inclusive; and how many training courses are planned for such members in 1983.
§ Mr. NewtonApproximately 100 training courses have been run by senior chairmen for members of supplementary benefit appeal tribunals from 1 January 1980 to date. No further training courses have been planned, pending the appointment of the president of social security appeal tribunals for the new system of adjudication provided for in the Health and Social Services and Social Security Adjudications Act 1983.
§ Ms. Richardsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list by reference to the powers under which they were made the number of supplementary benefit additional requirements payments made to claimants in the years 1981 and 1982.
§ Dr. BoysonThe additional requirements for which provision is made under the supplementary benefit scheme are listed in schedule 3 of the Supplementary Benefit (Requirements) Regulations 1980. The information requested is as follows:
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§ Mr. Campbell-Savoursasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will state for those offices covering the Workington travel-to-work area the total number of supplementary benefit appeals registered during the last month for which statistics are available;
(2) if he will state for those offices covering the Workington travel-to-work area the total number of unemployed people claiming supplementary benefit during the last month for which statistics are available and the figures for the comparable month in the previous year;
(3) if he will state for those offices covering the Workington travel-to-work area the total number of supplementary benefit claimants for the last month for which statistics are available and the figures for the comparable month in the previous year.
§ Dr. BoysonThree supplementary benefit appeals were registered at the Workington local office during May 1983. The number of cases in action in that office in that month and May 1982 were as follows:
thousands May 1983 May 1982 Unemployed claiming supplementary benefit 2.7 2.1 All claiming supplementary benefit 6.1 5.6 Source: 100 per cent. count of cases in action.