HC Deb 24 June 1985 vol 81 cc325-6W
Mr. Caborn

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the average waiting time for claimants requesting single payments applications to be processed in the Sheffield area; how many applications are outstanding in Sheffield over the 14 day limit currently; and what is the average waiting time for processing of single payments applications throughout all regions.

Mr. Whitney

Sheffield area is served by four of the Department's offices and the average time taken by those offices to process a claim for a single payment is four weeks. At 18 June there were 2,148 claims for single payments outstanding in those offices for 14 or more days.

Information on the average time taken to process single payments in all regions could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.