HC Deb 13 July 1989 vol 156 cc621-2W
Mr. Robin Cook

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what has been(a) the total number of claims for family credit and (b) the number of claims assessed as eligible for payment.

Mr. Peter Lloyd

Up to and including 7 July 1989, 1,028,536 claims for family credit had been received and 610,487 awards had been made. The total number of claims received includes 48,853 which were either subsequently withdrawn, or were invalid because they were made more than four weeks before the expiry of an existing award. At 7 July 1989, 86,440 claims were still being processed.

Mr. Robin Cook

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what has been the expenditure to date on the publicity campaign to re-launch family credit.

Mr. Peter Lloyd

Up to 30 June expenditure on paid advertising was £3.7 million and £1.1 million on other promotion and marketing costs, mostly printing and postage.

Mr. Robin Cook

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what proportion of claims for family credit have been assessed as ineligible for payment in each month since April 1988.

Mr. Peter Lloyd

The percentage of valid claims dealt with in each month which were unsuccessful is as follows:

Percentage
1988
April 32.0
May
June 27.0
July 27.8
August 27.0
September 26.4
October 24.9
November 24.8
December 26.1
1989
January 26.9
February 25.6
March 24.4
April 26.2
May 48.8
June 44.8

Valid claims exclude those withdrawn and those made more than four weeks before the expiry of an existing award.