§ Mr. PawseyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many appeals are made each year to medical appeal tribunals; what is the average length of time taken for a case to reach a tribunal and what is the number of successful appeals expressed as a percentage of those made.
§ Mrs. Gillian ShephardThe details quoted in the table relate to appeals to medical appeal tribunals in respect of mobility allowance and industrial injuries disablement benefit for the years from 1985 to 1988, the last full year for which details are held. I regret that figures for appeals to medical appeal tribunals in respect of severe disablement allowance are not available for this period. However, the Department has started collecting these figures from 1 July 1989.
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1988 1987 1986 1985 Appeals heard 17,661 15,568 13,190 12,054 Claimant successful 7,395 6,193 4,946 4,408
1988 1987 1986 1985 Percentage successful 42 40 37 37 The Department has also recently begun compiling more detailed statistics relating to medical appeal tribunals, including information on the clearance time for such appeals. The latest statistics, for the three-monthly period ending 30 September 1989, show that the national average clearance time for appeals to medical appeal tribunals, from date of lodgement to hearing, is 17 weeks.