§ Mr. Berminghamasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give figures showing the percentage of errors found in supplementary benefit payments checked by his Department, the average amount of such errors, the categories of payment accounting for the higher proportion of errors, the average error in these categories and the overall amount of (a) overpayments and (b) underpayments expressed as a percentage of total payments.
§ Dr. BoysonAt September 1983, the latest date for which figures are available the regular check of a statistical sample of supplementary benefit payments recorded errors in 9.9 per cent. of them. Separate records are not maintained for the average amounts of errors, but a small-scale study of payments made during 1981 indicated that the average total underpayment or overpayment arising from errors was £15. The highest single category of errors is associated with heating additions, but details of the average amounts of these errors are not available. The 1981 study also indicated that the value of underpayments was marginally greater than that of overpayments and that each represented about 0.5 per cent. of the overall value of payments made.