§ Mr. MallonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many community care grant applications were processed by each district office of the Department of Health and Social Services in each month since April 1988; and how many applications were(a) successful, (b) successful on appeal and (c) rejected.
§ Mr. HanleyInformation about the number of community care grants processed each month by each of the district offices from 1 April 1991 and the individual social security offices is available in the Library. The number of applications refused can be obtained from those figures.
Community care grants are discretionary awards and there is no right of appeal against these. Dissatisfied applicants can, however, apply for a review to the social 604W fund officer who made the original decision and if they are dissatisfied with the outcome of this review they can request a review by the social fund inspector. The SFI acts independently of the Department. Details of the number of decisions revised on review by each social security office for 1988–89, 1989–90 and 1990–91 is shown in the table. Information about the number of cases substituted on review by the SFI is compiled each month by the Social Fund Commissioner's Office for Northern Ireland as a whole, and is available in the Library. It should he recognised that not all cases revised by the SSO or substituted by the SFI on review will be to the applicant's benefit.
Community care grants—Decisions revised Social Security office 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 Andersonstown 22 97 185 Antrim 8 65 48 Armagh 10 14 29 Ballymena 7 40 38 Ballymoney 4 17 15 Ballynahinch 6 28 11 Banbridge 5 14 22 Bangor 6 6 16 Carrickfergus 3 20 26 Coleraine 6 22 56 Cookstown 24 33 31 Corporation Street 39 139 182 Downpatrick 14 33 42 Dungannon 14 75 55 Enniskillen 8 42 56 Falls 19 126 84 Holywood Road 22 101 67 Kilkeel 4 3 3 Knockbreda 24 47 44 Larne 7 21 34 Limavady 6 21 10 Lisburn 19 57 103 Londonderry 38 352 361 Lurgan 22 100 109 Magherafelt 12 14 12 Newcastle 3 11 15 Newry 19 103 144 Newtownabbey 9 45 39 Newtownards 0 4 7 Omagh 5 34 30 Portadown 3 21 15 Shaftesbury Square 33 123 100 Shankill 34 115 249 Strabane 8 46 102 Total 463 1,989 2,340