HC Deb 13 June 1984 vol 61 cc517-8W
Dr. Godman

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many staff were employed in local supplementary benefit offices of his Department on 1 January 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1984, respectively, in Scotland;

(2) how many advisory staff are employed in his Department's Scottish region to give advice on benefit entitlement and to promote claims;

(3) how many staff are involved in the Scottish region of his Department on the detection and prevention of fraud;

(4) how many staff are employed in the Scottish region of his Department on giving advice to the mentally handicapped on their benefit entitlement; and whether he has any plans to extend this area of work.

Dr. Boyson

The following staff were allocated to supplementary benefit duties in Scotland:

Number
1 January 1979 3,624
1 January 1980 3,435
1 January 1981 3,739
1 January 1982 3,985
1 January 1983 4,222
1 January 1984 4,714

As with all the staff of the Department's local offices, they have an overall responsibility to ensure that claimants receive the benefits to which they are entitled. A central part of that responsibility is the giving of advice and information on the whole range of benefits and helping to promote claims. Some staff are specifically responsible for the provision of advice and information—in Scotland

Claimants in Scotland who have received Supplementary Benefit for more than 52 weeks
Claimants Dependants
Required to be available for employment —all ages 71,000 74,000
Required to register for employment— aged under 18 years 2,000 Nil

Source: Annual Statistical Enquiry December 1982

Dr. Godman

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many appeals were made to supplementary benefit appeals tribunals in each of the years 1979 to 1983 inclusive; how many were superseded by revised decisions; how many were heard; at how many claimants were represented; and what proportion of the appeals were successful.

Mr. Newton

The information requested is set out in the table:

they include five in the Freefone service, two for a mobile information unit and eight working on the benefit entitlement of individuals attending adult training centres. The work of this last group is now being extended to include special schools and centres attached to psychiatric hospitals.

In addition, all staff must bear in mind the potential for fraud. In Scotland, 221 staff have been directly allocated to fraud work in local offices with a further 40 in the central office.