§ Mr. StrangTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services how many applications for single payments and special payments were outstanding in each of his340W Department's social security offices serving the district of Edinburgh at 1 April and 1 May, respectively; and what extra resources are being made available to deal with any outstanding applications.
§ Mr. PortilloThe district of Edinburgh is served by five social security offices, although their boundaries are not conterminous with that of the district council. Information for the dates requested is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost, but figures are given in the table for the closest dates for which figures were collected.
Single payments Additional requirements 29 March 3 May 29 March 3 May Edinburgh City 244 1,569 1,504 1,591 Edinburgh East 502 2,638 2,396 2,527 Edinburgh North 239 2,012 1,112 840 Edinburgh South 646 2,153 2,018 1,989 Edinburgh West 253 1,687 1,980 1,595 The marked rise in single payment claims between 29 March and 3 May was due in large part to take-up campaigns organised by the Confederation of Scottish Local Authorities, and a large number of other groups. All claims were examined on receipt and priority has been given to urgent cases. All Scottish offices received an additional allocation of manpower resources to achieve the conversion of supplementary benefit cases to income support in the year to April 1988. This extra manpower resource has been carried forward into the first three months of this financial year to aid the clearance of residual supplementary benefit work. In addition central management has authorised overtime working and the employment of additional temporary staff in the Edinburgh offices to clear outstanding single payment and additional requirement work. Central management in Scotland is keeping the situation under close review.