§ Mr. Blunkettasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give the number of cases where applications relating to invalidity payments for married women have been outstanding (a) for more than 12 months, (b) for more than six months, (c) for more than three months and (d) in total.
§ Mr. ScottI regret that the requested information is not available, but at 17 July some 120,000 invalid care allowance claims had been received from married women of which about 31,500 were awaiting decision. The average time taken to process an invalid care allowance claim is currently about 19.2 weeks.
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§ Mr. Skinnerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will take steps to ensure that applicants for invalid care allowance are informed whether award of invalid care allowance will affect any other allowance of any kind for any member of the same family; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. ScottInformation about the effect of invalid care allowance (ICA) on social security and related benefits which may be paid to claimants or members of their families is contained in leaflet NI 212 which incorporates the ICA claim form and is seen by all claimants. It would not be practicable to attempt an exhaustive account of any wider effect on domestic incomes of ICA payments.