§ Mr. Kirkwoodasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what plans he has to seek to remove discrimination by sex in entitlement to state pensions and related benefits.
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§ Mr. MajorDiscrimination by sex has already been largely removed from social security benefits. We have no present plans to remove those areas of unequal treatment, such as pension age, which falls outside the scope of European Community Directive 79/7. We are still considering the implications for benefit provision of European Community Directive 86/378, on occupational social security, the main provisions of which must be implemented by January 1993. We have already gone beyond the requirements of this directive in the new pension arrangements introduced by the Social Security Act 1986, which provide for equal annuities for equal premiums in relation to the proceeds of minimum contributions to personal pensions and money purchase employers' pension schemes contracted out of the state earnings-related pension scheme.
Benefit 1986 1983 1979 Attendance Allowance 8.3 weeks 12.5 weeks * Invalid Care Allowance 15.1 weeks * * Mobility Allowance 8.5 weeks 14.5 weeks 13.5 weeks Child Benefit a. Straightforward claim (See note 1) 3.81 days 3.58 days 12.09 days b. Non-straightforward claim (See note 2) 14.16 days 10.20 days 26.40 days One-Parent Benefit 11.73 days 7.9 days * Maternity Benefit 11 days (see note 3) 7 days 12 days Sickness/Invalidity (see note 4) 9 days 9 days 6 days Supplementary Benefit 6 days 6 days 5 days Family Income Supplement 23 days * * Notes:
(1)—Claims processed by computer
(2)—Claims processed clerically
(3)—Excludes non-contributory maternity grant for which separate information is not held
(4)—Separate figures not available.
*Not retained
Information is not available to show the interval between a decision being made and the initial payment nor is information in the form requested available for the remaining social security benefits not listed.
§ Mrs. Beckettasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many applications for judicial review are currently in process regarding delays in payments of benefits by his Department.
§ Mr. Wareingasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many cases of claims for supplementary benefit to his Department's Liverpool offices during 1986 were not met within 14 days; and what percentage of total claims this represents.
§ Mr. Maclennanasked the Secretary of State for Social services whether he has received advice from the Social Security Advisory Committee on the operation of regulations governing unemployment benefit payments to those regularly engaged in seasonal work; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. LyellThe Social Security Advisory Committee has issued a consultation document on the operation of the seasonal workers' regulations and it has set 12 February 1987 as the closing date for responses. I expect that the committee will go on to consider the question and prepare its report in the light of those responses.
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§ Mrs. Beckettasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many uncleared claims for supplementary benefit, how many items of unlinked post and how many uncleared claims for single payments there were at each local social security office in the London north and south regions at the latest available date; and what were the comparable figures for 1979 and 1983.
§ Mrs. Beckettasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the current average interval between claim and initial payment for each social security benefit; and what were the comparable figures in 1979 and 1983.
§ Mr. LyellBased on the latest available data the average time taken between the date of claim and when a decision on the claim is made is as follows:
§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many claims for supplementary benefit take more than 14 days before payment is made after first applications in each social security office; what proportion of supplementary benefit claims this represents in each office; and what is the average number of weeks delay before supplementary benefit claims are met at each office.
§ Mrs. Beckettasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the average interval between the lodging of an appeal and the tribunal hearing for each social security benefit in each year.
§ Mr. LyellI refer the hon. Member to tables 49.02A and 49.02B in "Social Security Statistics 1986" (HMSO). Comparable statistics for all social security benefit appeals were not collected prior to April 1984.