§ Mr. Allan Stewartasked the Secretary of State for Social Services when he will make available the second annual report of the chief adjudication officer; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MajorThe report is being published today. The publication of the report follows from the provisions of the Health and Social Services and Social Security Adjudications Act 1983, which sought to improve the quality of social security adjudication by a number of measures, including the requirement for the chief adjudication officer to report annually to the Secretary of State on the standards of social security adjudication. We are grateful to the chief adjudication officer for the efforts which he and his staff have put into the report. The report makes a number of constructive suggestions which we shall consider carefully.