§ Dr. Godmanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people are at present awaiting the hearing of tribunal appeal cases at the Greenock and Port Glasgow offices of his Department; and how many people have experienced delays of three, four, five and six months respectively.
§ Mr. MajorThere are 41 social security benefit appeals outstanding at the Greenock office and 76 at the Port Glasgow office.
The latest available statistics giving the period between the lodgement of an appeal and the subsequent hearing are for the quarter ended 31 December 1984 and relate to Scotland. Equivalent figures are not available for localities smaller than a social security region.
Clearance rate (in weeks) from lodgement of appeal to hearing Weeks Great Britain Scotland 1 9 1 2 19 — 3 167 9 4 722 35 5 1,507 97 6 2,150 122 7 2,169 123 8 2,182 133 9 1,916 90 10 1,733 86 11 1,453 86 12 1,319 69 13 1,168 61 Over 13 9,626 445 Average 13.9 13.3
§ Dr. Godmanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many claims for single payments have been made in each quarterly period for the last three full years for which figures are available at the Greenock and Port Glasgow offices of his Department.
§ Mr. MajorThe following figures relate to decisions on single payment claims—separate figures for claims are not kept—for each four-week period in the past three years. Figures are not kept quarterly.
564W
Single Payment Decisions Four Weeks Ending Greenock Port Glasgow 15 March 1983 423 359 12 April 1983 401 307 10 May 1983 393 281
Four Weeks Ending Greenock Port Glasgow 7 June 1983 413 269 5 July 1983 485 359 2 August 1983 246 246 30 August 1983 565 328 27 September 1983 493 365 25 October 1983 490 390 22 November 1983 551 336 20 December 1983 624 402 17 January 1984 315 172 4 February 1984 565 444 13 March 1984 599 374 10 April 1984 549 388 8 May 1984 604 503 5 June 1984 578 628 3 July 1984 661 775 31 July 1984 722 610 28 August 1984 888 601 25 September 1984 885 445 23 October 1984 979 713 20 November 1984 973 702 18 December 1984 1,119 848 15 January 1985 526 398 12 February 1985 1,080 845 12 March 1985 1,142 845 9 April 1985 1,232 688 7 May 1985 1,010 707 4 June 1985 1.096 792 2 July 1985 1,155 877 30 July 1985 1,221 797 27 August 1985 1,000 719 24 September 1985 1.092 606 22 October 1985 1,140 935 19 November 1985 1,277 999 17 December 1985 1,318 1,185 14 January 1986 477 638 11 February 1986 1,441 1,415 Notes:
(1) A single payment claim may result in more than one decision.
(2) These figures include decisions not to pay single payments.
(3) The basis for recording decisions changed on 11 April 1984. Up to then only one decision resulted from a claim covering items under different single payment regulations. Since then a decision has been recorded for each appropriate single payment regulation covered by the claim.
§ Dr. Godmanasked the Secretary or State for Social Services how many new claims for social security were made in the past 12 months to the Greenock and Port Glasgow offices of his Department; how many of these are still awaiting assessment; and how long they have, on average, been awaiting assessment.
§ Mr. MajorThe following figures relate to supplementary benefit claims:
Greenock Port Glasgow Decisions given in 12 months up to 11 February 1986* 12,969 5,723 Awaiting assessment on 11 February 1986 507 229 Average clearance times 10 days 7½ days * Separate figures are not collected for supplementary benefit claims received.
§ Dr. Godmanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many live claims for social security the Greenock and Port Glasgow offices of his Department are currently handling.
§ Mr. MajorOn 11 February 1986 the supplementary benefit live load at Greenock was 11,386 and at Port Glasgow 5,030. The figures are marginally higher than the numbers of live claims being handled at that time because they include some claims which had recently finished.
565W
§ Dr. Godmanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many requests for home visits have been received by the Greenock and Port Glasgow offices of his Department in the past 12 months; how many are currently outstanding; and on average, for how long they have been outstanding.
§ Mr. MajorInformation is not available in the precise form requested because records are not kept of the number of requests for home visits. In the 12 months up to 11 February 1986, 7,685 home visits were made (including those initiated by the Department), 317 are currently outstanding and the average clearance time was just under
Greenock ILO Number of Cases in Action Complement Staff in Post Supplementary Benefit Short-term Benefits Severe Disablement Allowance Disablement Benefit 1980 134 140 6,465 N/A N/A 472 1982 144 146 8,480 N/A N/A 555 1985 162 176 10,664 3,380 370 573 1986 164 172 11,386 4,023 442 560 Port Glasgow ILO
As Port Glasgow ILO did not open until October 1981, information is provided from 1982 onwards.
Number of Cases in Action Complement Staff in Post Supplementary Benefit Short-term Benefits Severe Disablement Allowance Disablement Benefit 1982 71 74 3,813 N/A N/A 375 1985 70 76 4,826 1,501 232 423 1986 74 74 5,030 1,647 272 391 Note: Complement and staff in post relate to March in the stated year. All other figures relate to February.
Abbreviation: N/A—Not Available; ILO—Integrated Local Office.
§ Dr. Godmanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many urgent needs payments have been made to claimants in the last 12 months by the Greenock and Port Glasgow offices of his Department; and how many are currently outstanding.
§ Mr. MajorIn the 12-month period up to 11 February 1986, 884 urgent needs payments were made at Greenock and 380 at Port Glasgow. Neither office had any outstanding on that date.