§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many(a) claims, (b) requests for review and (c) late appeals have been received by the Department or by housing benefit or community charge benefit departments for the inclusion of severe disability premium in the assessment of income support, housing benefit or community charge benefit.
§ Miss WiddecombeThe information requested is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will provide a breakdown of his Department's estimated expenditure on the disability living allowance in(a) 1992–93 and (b) 1993–94 by estimated number of awards of (i) the lower rate mobility component, (ii) the lower rate care component, (iii) higher rate care component, (iv) middle rate care component and (e) higher rate mobility component.
§ Mr. ScottThe latest estimated expenditure and average numbers of recipients for the components of disability living allowance are in the following table. 605W Projections for the lower rate components are inevitably more uncertain than those for the components which correspond to the existing attendance allowance and mobility allowance schemes.
Estimated expenditure Estimated average number of recipients 1992–93 1993–94 1992–93 1993–94 £ million £ million 000s 000s Lower rate mobility component — 100 — 150 Lower rate care component — 100 — 140 Higher rate care component 350 400 160 170 Middle rate care component 350 400 235 250 Higher rate mobility component 1,050 1,200 680 710 Notes:
Expenditure estimates rounded to the nearest £50 million, caseload estimates to the nearest 5,000.
The rate of build up of numbers and expenditure on the lower rates in the early months of the new benefit is necessarily extremely uncertain.