§ Mr. Ingramasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will give the average waiting time from date of appeal to hearing under the social security appeal tribunal system in each year since 1979;
(2) if he will give the number of appeals under the social security appeal tribunal system in each year since 1979;
(3) if he will give the number of appeals upheld in part or total under the social security appeal tribunal system in each year since 1979.
§ Mr. PortilloPrior to April 1984 appeals statistics which measured the time between lodgement and hearing were kept only for supplementary benefit appeal tribunals. There are no comparable figures available for the pre-1984 national insurance local tribunals. The table gives details of the number of appeals to supplementary benefit appeal tribunals lodged and heard in the years 1979 to 1983 and for the first quarter of 1984.
From April 1984 supplementary benefit appeal tribunals and national insurance local tribunals were unified into social security appeal tribunals. At the same time, responsibility for the administration of social security appeal tribunals was transferred to the independent office of the president of social security appeal tribunals. The table gives figures for appeals to social security appeal tribunals for all social security benefits for the period from April 1984 to the quarter ending 31 March 1987 (the latest quarter for which figures are available).
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Supplementary Benefits—Great Britain—1979–84 (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Year Number of appeals lodged Number of appeals heard Number of successful appeals Percentage successful appeals (column 3 as percentage of column 2) Average length of lime from lodgement to hearing in weeks 1979 94,178 50,639 10,840 21.4 4.4 1980 94,481 49,355 10,914 22.1 4.4 1981 108,570 49,864 8,862 17.8 6.8 1982 129,909 56,084 10,195 18.2 8.5 1983 142,779 60,567 11,828 19.5 9.4 19841 37,721 16,871 3,314 19.6 10.5 1 First quarter only. New statistical system introduced 1 April 1984
Great Britain—Social Security appeal tribunals—all benefits—1984–87 (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Year Number of appeals lodged3 Number of appeals heard Number of successful appeals Percentage successful appeals (column 3 as percentage of column 2) Average length of lime from lodgemen I to hearing in weeks 19841 192,576 74,542 15,745 211 13.5 1985 293,728 114,550 26,689 23.3 14.8 1986 355,731 125,838 31,675 25.2 160 19872 191,250 37,685 9,132 24.2 18.2 1 9 month period April.December 1984. 2 First 3 months January.March 1987. 3 As well as new appeals lodged this figure includes appeals lodged but not decided and carried over from the previous year.