§ Mr. Bellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will provide the total number of claimants receiving invalidity benefit per region of his Department in 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1982, and the latest available figures for 1983.
§ Mr. NewtonThe available information, as follows, relates to standard statistical regions, not social security regions. The figures for 1983 are not yet available.
available for 1979. With regard to the hon. Member's third question, the regional medical service's opinions normally relate to capability or otherwise for full-time work in the claimant's normal occupation or alternative occupation. opinions on capability for part-time work are infrequently given, and separate statistics are not available.
247W
Claimants examined by regional medical service thousands 1979 1980 1981 1982 *1983 Great Britain 251.1 259.3 259.8 274.1 210.4 England 167.4 174.5 174.8 188.7 147.3 North Eastern n.a. 31.8 36.1 40.8 36.8 East Midlands n.a. 28.4 28.3 31.3 23.8 Eastern n.a. 16.6 17.8 16.7 14.5 Southern n.a. 16.2 16.2 17.7 12.8 Western n.a. 31.4 27.2 32.8 24.4 North Western n.a. 50.1 49.2 49.4 35.0 Scotland 42.3 46.0 45.3 46.7 34.7 Wales 41.5 38.8 39.7 38.6 28.4 * to end September
Claimants considered by regional medical service to be not incapable of work thousands 1979 1980 1981 1982 *1983 Great Britain 50.7 52.8 48.8 46.8 33.9 England 35.5 35.1 31.6 30.6 22.4 North Eastern n.a. 6.9 6.6 61 5.4 East Midlands n.a. 6.1 4.9 4.8 3.4 Eastern n.a. 2.3 2.2 1.8 1.3 Southern n.a. 2.7 2.5 2.6 1.7 Western n.a. 4.7 3.5 3.6 2.7 North Western n.a. 12.4 11.9 11.7 7.9 Scotland 9.6 11.0 10.5 9.8 7.0 Wales 5.6 6.6 6.7 6.4 4.5 * to end September
Claimants considered by regional medical service to be incapable of normal occupation but fit for alternative work thousands 1979 1980 1981 1982 *1983 Great Britain 27.8 29.1 29.2 32.6 25.2 England 21.4 23.1 23.5 27.0 20.9 North Eastern n.a. 4.5 5.0 5.3 4.5 East Midlands n.a. 4.1 4.4 5.5 4.8 Eastern n.a. 3.2 3.2 2.9 2.4 Southern n.a. 2.5 2.6 3.1 2.2 Western n.a. 4.9 4.5 5.9 3.9 North Western n.a. 3.9 3.8 4.3 3.1 Scotland 4.7 4.8 4.5 4.5 3.5 Wales 1.7 1.2 1.2 1.1 0.8 * to end September
§ Mr. Bellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will provide the total number of claimants receiving invalidity benefit per region of his Department who upon being pronouced fit for full-time or part-time work were declared unfit for work by the claimant's family practitioner, thus necessitating a second medical examination by his Department;
(2) if he will provide the total number of claimants receiving invalidity benefit per region of his Department who upon being pronounced fit for full-time or part-time work by a regional medical officer appealed to a medical appeals tribunal; and how many appeals were successful, and how many unsuccessful.
§ Mr. NewtonI regret that the information is not available.