§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what has been the number of staff serving in social security offices each year since 1979; what has been the average work load each year in number of cases dealt with by each of them; how many staff each year undertook home visits; how many home visits they made; and how many welfare visits each member of the visiting staff made on average each year.
§ Mr. Major[pursuant to his reply, 14 February 1986, c. 595–6]: The only information available is as follows:
Year Local office complement Average work load* Visits (including ineffective) Supp. B STB† 1979–80 61,086 101 N/A 4,145,205 1980–81 62,115 103 N/A 4,352,026 1981–82 62,198 113 N/A 4,437,920 1982–83 62,758 127 N/A 4,168,382 1983–84 57,038 132 321 4,275,290 1984–85 59,032 129 320 3,658,564 Abbreviations: Supp. B—Supplementary Benefit; STB—Short Term Benefits; N/A—Not Available.
Notes:
* Number of cases in action divided by number of staff allocated to the work described.
† Short term benefits include sickness benefit, invalidity benefit, noncontributory invalidity pension arid severe disablement allowance.
No records are kept on the number of staff undertaking home visits, and no separate records are kept on welfare visits, although all home visits have a welfare aspect.