§ Mr. McWilliamasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what were the total number of short-term benefit claimants and the actual staff employed in the short-term benefit section at his Department's Gateshead, Tyne and Wear office for each of the following years: 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82, and 1982–83;
(2) what are the projected number of short-term benefit claimants and the projected number of staff to be employed in the short-term benefit section of his Department's Gateshead, Tyne and Wear office for the years 1983–84, 1984–85, and 1985–86, respectively.
§ Dr. BoysonThe Department's local office complementing system is elaborate — I have placed a full180W description of it in the Library—and in considering the following table showing the complement issued to the Gateshead office for short-term benefits work, the hon. Member should bear in mind that:
- (1) In any year the number of staff required is determined by national work load forecasts; its distribution is determined by past, actual, regional and local work load counts. The format of the table reflects that latter point.
- (2) There is scope for regional and local management discretion in placing allocated staff, and local offices are allowed a surplus of staff over complement in order to secure a complement of fully-trained staff.
- (3) Prior to December 1982 new claims (and the following table lumps together the various benefits dealt with at various times by short-term benefits sections) stood as proxy for the work of short-term benefit sections. Since December 1982 continuing claims have also been counted.
More generally the hon. Member should also bear in mind that a simple comparison over time of claims (or claimants) with staff is misleading since it takes no account of changes in work procedures.
Short-term benefit claims received Short-term claims load Gateshead short-term benefits complement November 1977–78: 54,925 Not available April 1979: 61 November 1978–79: 53,071 Not available April 1980: 60 November 1979–80: 46,041 Not available April 1981: 52 November 1980–81: 34,934 Not available April 1982: 45 February 1982–83: 27,170 Approx 7,000 April 1983: 24 Figures are not available for 1983–84 (claims, load) and forward projections for 1984–85 or 1985–86 are not made for individual offices.