§ Mr. Ernie Rossasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people within Tayside region are receiving supplementary benefit; and how many of these are unemployed.
§ Mr. LyellTayside region is covered by the department's local offices at Perth, Arbroath, Dundee East and Dundee West, but their boundaries are not conterminous with those of Tayside. The total number of people receiving supplementary benefit from these offices, and the number of those who were unemployed on 10 December 1986—the latest available figures—were:
443W
Numbers Total in receipt of supplementary benefit 38,217 Unemployed people in receipt of supplementary benefit 15,501 Source: 100 per cent, count of cases in action.
§ 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. Lyell[pursuant to his reply, 12 January 1987, c. 105]: The number of claims for supplementary benefit which take more than 14 days to clear is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Details of the average time taken to deal with a fresh claim to supplementary benefit by each of the social security offices covering the Liverpool city council area, for the year up to and including April 1986, are as follows:
Name of DHSS local office Average clearance lime (in days) Belle Vuc 6 Breckfield 10
11 April 1984 10 April 1985 9 April 1986 to to to 9 April 1985 8 April 1986 13 January 1987 Supplementary benefit claims decided 21,156 22,892 17,526 Other benefits Sickness—invalidity benefit claims received 5,199 5,261 2,110 Severe disablement allowance claims received 64 139 95 Maternity benefit claims received 1,933 2,000 1,529 Retirement pension claims received 3,947 4,445 2,753 Widows benefit claims received 298 315 200 Death grant claims received 2,231 2,312 1,859 Industrial disablement benefit claims received 224 277 229