§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what was the total amount of benefit received as a result of the exercise carried out by his specialist claims control unit in Kirkby in 1983;
(2) what was the average amount of benefit lost by the 88 cases in Kirkby which had their benefit stopped or reduced as a result of the exercise carried out by his specialist claims unit in Kirkby in 1983.
§ Dr. BoysonIt is calculated that the total benefit that will be saved as a result of the exercise in Kirkby is £139,219. The average amount of benefit loss per week in each case where benefit ceased or was reduced was £30.42.
§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Social Services on what basis his specialist claims control unit chose the 220 cases to investigate in Kirkby in 1983.
§ Dr. BoysonAbout 75 per cent. of the cases examined during the exercise were selected by the specialist claims control team in accordance with set criteria. The remainder were referred to the team by local office staff because there was some doubt about the validity of the claim.
§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the total numbers of staff involved and their grades, the man hours employed and the total cost of the specialist claims control unit that operated in Kirkby in 1983.
§ Dr. BoysonThe team for the Kirkby exercise consisted of five officers of the local officer I grade. The exercise occupied a total of 275½ man days at an estimated total cost of £21,000.
§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what benefits the 88 persons who had their benefit stopped or reduced as a result of the action of the specialist claims unit in Kirkby were receiving; and what benefits were received by the other 132 cases.
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§ Dr. BoysonRecords are not maintained of the various benefits payable in cases subject to examination by specialist claims control teams and the information requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. In most cases, however, the 220 claimants would have been in receipt of supplementary benefit and, perhaps, unemployment benefit.