§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give a breakdown of those categories of persons entitled to make trace and inquiry accesses to his Department's central index; and if he will indicate for what purposes in each case.
§ Mrs. Gillian ShephardThere are four facilities currently offered by the central index. These are an inquiry service, the tracing of national insurance numbers (NINOS), the allocation of national insurance numbers and the ability to check on the social security benefits a customer is receiving. All DSS and Employment Department staff who have personal identification devices, without which they cannot access the system, can use the inquiry service. The remaining facilities can be broken down into the following categories:
1. Inquiries only DSS regional offices (of which only the North West region and Scotland have access to the strategy at present) Support sections at HQ, Lytham-St-Annes Social Security auditors 2. Trace NINOS Employment Department local offices Employment Department fraud offices Northern Ireland (only certain offices at present) 3. Trace NINOS/check benefit position Newcastle Central Office North Fylde Central Office Family Credit Branch Glasgow Social Security Centre 4. Trace NINOS/check benefit position/ allocate NINOS Social Security local offices