HC Deb 22 April 1991 vol 189 cc328-9W
Mr. Flynn

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what percentage of new claims for family credit were unsuccessful in each of last 24 months for which records are available; and what was the spending on advertising family credit during those months.

Mr. Jack

Of the new claims for family credit cleared during each of these months the percentage which was unsuccessful was as follows:

Per cent.
April 1989 46.2
May 1989 64.6
June 1989 60.0
July 1989 52.2
August 1989 48.6
September 1989 48.4
October 1989 47.0
November 1989 48.4
December 1989 52.8
January 1990 53.4
February 1990 49.1
March 1990 49.5
April 1990 47.8
May 1990 45.0
June 1990 46.2
July 1990 47.0
August 1990 47.5
September 1990 49.5
October 1990 46.6
November 1990 45.1
December 1990 45.5
January 1991 49.4
February 1991 47.6
March 1991 48.4

During the same period the percentage of renewal claims which were unsuccessful ranged from 11.6 per cent. to 18.6 per cent.

Notes

1.The figures are for the four or five weeks ending on the last Friday of each month.

2.Unsuccessful claims includes those which were withdrawn or were invalid, as well as those where it was decided there was no entitlement to benefit.

It is not possible to express the spending on advertising on a month by month basis. The spending on each of the advertising campaigns during the period was as follows:

Advertising campaign Expenditure (£)
April-June 1989 3,635,000
October 1989-January 1990 2,200,000
June-August 1990 2,394,000
February-March 1991 1,500,000