§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people were in receipt of mobility allowance at 31 December 1983; and if he will break down the figures by social security region and the rate per thousand population in each region.
§ Mr. NewtonThe available information is as follows. I regret that, because of reorganisation of the social security regions, it is not possible to give a regional breakdown.
488W
Number in receipt of mobility allowance Rate per 1,000 population (mid-82 estimates) England 243,800 5.2 Scotland 33,700 6.5 Wales 25,000 8.9
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many decisions were made, in 1983, by the Social Security Commissioner on appeals (a) by him and (b) by the claimants from the decision of a medical appeal tribunal concerning mobility allowance; and, in each case, in what number of cases the allowance was awarded.
§ Mr. NewtonIn 1983 the Social Security Commissioner made 98 decisions on appeals concerning mobility allowance. Of these 86 were appeals from a decision of a medical appeal tribunal. Of the 86, 82 were made by the claimants, two by the Secretary of State and two by associations.
The decision of the tribunal was set aside in 82 cases, including the two appeals by the Secretary of State. Complete information is not yet available about the number of these cases in which the allowance was eventually awarded.
Of the other 12 appeals, five appeals were by the insurance officer and seven by the claimant from a decision of the local tribunal. The allowance was not awarded in any of these cases.
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will break down the national figure for the number of people in receipt of mobility allowance by the length of time for which the awards were made.
§ Mr. NewtonThe information at 26 March 1984 is as follows:
Number Awards of 1 year 6,530 Over 1 year and up to and including 2 years 19,990 Over 2 years and up to and including 3 years 5,220 Over 3 years and up to and including 4 years 630 Over 4 year, but not up to age 75 17,540 Up to age 75 237,190 Awards for life under the Mobility Allowance (Vehicle Scheme Beneficiaries) Regulations 1977 26,170
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many reviews of mobility allowance there were during the currency of an award in 1983 489W nationally which were instituted (a) by the insurance officer and (b) by the claimant; and in what proportion and number the allowance was withdrawn.
§ Mr. NewtonThe information is as follows:
Reviews at request of insurance officer Reviews at request of claimant or his representative Number 89 Percentage in which allowance withdrawn 81 Number 242 Percentage in which allowance withdrawn 94
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will give details of the numbers of decisions there were in 1983 on renewal claims for mobility allowance (a) nationally and (b) in each social security region; and if, in each case, he will give the proportion and number which were awarded;
(2) if he will give details of the number of decisions made on mobility allowance applications in 1983 (a) nationally and (b) in each social security region; and what, in each case, was the number of decisions in which an award of the allowance was made.
§ Mr. NewtonThe information for Great Britain is as follows:
Initial claims Renewal claims Total Number of decisions 87,300 19,500 106,800 Number of awards 53,400 16,400 69,800 Percentage awarded 61.2 84.1 65.4 I regret that such information is not available for each social security region.
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give details of the average time between receipt by the Social Security Commissioner of an appeal concerning mobility allowance after leave to appeal has been granted, and a decision on that appeal; and if he will also give details of how long it takes to grant leave to appeal in such cases.
§ Mr. NewtonThe average time between receipt by the commissioner of an appeal concerning mobility allowance after leave has been granted and a decision on that appeal is 57 working days. The average time between the lodgement of an application seeking leave to appeal and the commissioner's ruling on that application is nine working days. These figures have been calculated using the statistical data from 1 September 1983 to 2 March 1984.