§ Mr. Frank FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give the total number of people in receipt of sickness benefit for each month during the past two years and also the number of people in receipt of sickness benefit at the end of 1983, 1984 and 1985.
§ Mr. Peter LloydInformation is not available in the precise form requested. The total number of sickness benefit claimants each month between April 1985 and March 1987, the latest date for which figures are available, is given in the following table:
Date Claimants (000's) 2 April 1985 227 7 May 1985 209 4 June 1985 201 2 July 1985 203 6 August 1985 207 3 September 1985 210 1 October 1985 219 5 November 1985 219 3 December 1985 232 7 January 1986 241 4 February 1986 246 4 March 1986 239 1 April 1986 236 6 May 1986 207 3 June 1986 187 1 July 1986 177 5 August 1986 169 2 September 1986 166 7 October 1986 172 4 November 1986 178 2 December 1986 180 6 January 1987 184 3 February 1987 188 3 March 1987 184 The number of claimants and recipients of sickness benefit at the end of the statistical years 1983 to 1986 is as follows:
Date Claimants (000's) Recipients (000's) 2 April 1983 408 338 31 March 1984 247 190 30 March 1985 225 180 5 April 1986 237 179
§ Mr. Frank FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will specify the number of people disqualified from receiving benefit on grounds of non-availability for work for each of the following years: 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1988.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe numbers of adjudication officers' decisions disallowing unemployment benefit on grounds of non-availability for work are as follows:
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Year Disqualified 1983 57,237 1984 49,043 1985 53,680 1986 68,773 1987 101,774 1988 148,290 1 To 30 June 1988 only. Later information is not available.
§ Mr. McCrindleTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if he has any plans to seek to recoup the full amount of social security benefits paid to accident victims from any damages they recover by legal action; and if he will make a statement;
(2) if he has any plans to recoup the full amount of social security benefits paid to accident victims whether they seek to claim damages or not; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter LloydWe are currently considering a proposal to recover benefits paid to a person as the result of an injury for which he has also claimed and is paid damages. This follows recommendations made by the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee. No decision has yet been made about the proposal which would require primary legislation.
§ Mr. McCrindleTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the savings of recouping the full amount of social security benefits paid to accident victims from any damages they recover by legal action; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter LloydTouche Ross management consultants have estimated that benefits totalling £57.5 million a year are paid to injured persons who receive damages for the same injury. A copy of their report is in the Library.
§ Mr. McCrindleTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the impact on motor insurance premiums of seeking to recoup the full amount of social security benefits paid to accident victims from any damages they recover by legal action; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter LloydTouche Ross management consultants have estimated that motor insurance premiums would rise by an average of 0.7 per cent. A copy of their report is in the Library.
§ Mr. Frank FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what would be the cost of increasing national insurance unemployment benefit for payment as long as a person was unemployed; and if he will present the data in gross and net terms, taking into account the savings on income support and housing benefit.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe annual cost of unemployment benefit expenditure of removing the duration limit would be about £1,400 million. Savings on income support and housing benefit would be about £800 million. These costs and savings are calculated at 1988–89 benefit levels and assumed current levels of unemployment.
§ Mr. Frank FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give the numbers of unemployed claimants claiming unemployment benefit only, the numbers claiming unemployment benefit and income support/supplementary benefit, and the numbers claiming only income support/supplementary benefit for the latest available date.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe information requested is in the following table:
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Number of unemployed claimants as at 12 May 1988 Type of claim Number Unemployment benefit only 504,142 Unemployment benefit and income support 131,682 Income support only 1,254,417