§ Mr. DobsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he has any plans in relation to the 593W six-months qualifying period for attendance allowance, in the light of the abolition of the attendance needs addition, previously available to supplementary benefit claimants; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. ScottWe have no plans to change the six-months' qualifying period for attendance allowance. Severely disabled people who have claimed the allowance and are waiting to qualify can apply to the Independent Living Fund for help with the cost of domestic assistance or personal care.
§ Mr. DobsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what information is available to his Department concerning the number of people who die each year whilst awaiting a decision on their attendance allowance.
§ Mr. DobsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will give for each of his Department's local offices the latest available figure for the average length of time it takes to decide an attendance allowance claim;
(2) what is the combined average length of time taken by his Department's local offices to decide an attendance allowance claim; and what standards are laid down by his Department on the turnaround time which offices should aim to achieve.
§ Mr. ScottAttendance allowance claims are processed centrally and figures are not kept on a local basis. Since 1983 the average time taken to decide claims has been reduced from 12.5 weeks to 9.8 weeks. Our aim is further to reduce this time to eight weeks.