§ Mr. Mike O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what assessment he has made of the number of staff required to deal with the present level of claims for disability living allowance; and how many are actually in post;
(2) how many staff have been transferred from the invalid care allowance unit to the disability living allowance unit to assist in dealing with claims since January 1991; and if he will list the dates of transfer and the number transferred on each of those dates;
(3) whether staff transferred from the invalid care allowance unit to the disability living allowance unit to assist in dealing with claims will return to their previous post once the backlog has been reduced.
§ Mr. ScottThe administration of disability living allowance is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He wrote to the hon. Member and copies will be placed in the Library and the Public Information Office.
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many people in the Warwickshire, North constituency submitted claims for disability living allowance more than three months ago whose claims are still outstanding;
(2) how many claims for disability living allowance from people living in north Warwickshire are still outstanding; and what is the anticipated average length of time before they will be determined.
§ Mr. ScottI understand from Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency, that the information is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. DewarTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many claims for(a) the care component, (b) the mobility component and (c) both components of disability living allowance have been received in each month to date; how many were decided in each month; and how many remained outstanding at the end of each month.
§ Mr. ScottThe information for(a) and (b) is not available in the form requested.
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DLA claims received DLA claims decided1 DLA claims outstanding February 72,000 2,000 71,000 March 124,000 15,000 179,000 April 68,000 22,000 225,000 May 59,000 32,000 251,000 June 47,000 48,000 248,000 July 44,000 66,000 221,000 August 41,000 71,000 185,000 September 44,000 78,000 148,000 Notes:
1 Claims decided = awards plus refusals; does not include cases withdrawn, defective or otherwise disposed of. Includes new and top up claims. Rounded to nearest thousand.
All figures are provisional and may be subject to amendment.
§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if he will list, in monthly order, the number of claimants still awaiting for their claims to be actioned by his Department's disability living allowance unit in Blackpool; and if he will make a statement;
(2) if he will list by month for the last 12 months the number of claims that have been actioned by his Department's disability living allowance unit in Blackpool; and if he will make a statement;
(3) if he will list for the last 12 months the average time taken by his Department's disability living allowance unit in Blackpool to complete a claim; and if he will make a statement.
New claims—number of awards made February March April May June July August September 1,100 7,700 8,800 11,000 15,400 26,200 25,900 30,100 Reasons for refusal186 per cent on disability grounds.
13.5per cent on age grounds.
0.5 per cent on other grounds.
Rate of awards (February—September) Higher rate care only 4,300 Middle rate care only 6,100 Lower rate care only 12,600 Higher rate mobility only 35,100 Lower rate mobility only 9,600 Higher rate care and higher rate mobility 14,400
Top up claims from existing beneficiaries of AA and Mob A—number of awards made February March April May June July August September 200 2,600 5,600 11,800 18,500 18,700 21,400 19,700 Reasons for refusal1 99. per cent. on disability grounds.
0.5 per cent. on age/other grounds.
Rate of awards (February—September) Higher rate care 3,800 Middle rate care 13,000 Lower rate care 34,100 Higher rate mobility 5,300 Lower rate mobility 42,200 Notes:
1 Percentage of those cases where a reason for refusal was recorded.
All figures have been rounded to nearest hundred. Figures should be treated as provisional and may be subject to amendment.
§ Ms. Janet AndersonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list, by parliamentary
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§ Mr. ScottThe administration of disability living allowance is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He wrote to the hon. Member and copies will be placed in the Library and the Public Information Office.
§ Mr. DewarTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what percentage of claims for disability living allowance were cleared in 30 days in each month to date at each disability benefit centre; and what was the success rate for claims at each centre.
§ Mr. ScottThe administration of disability living allowance is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He wrote to the hon. Member and copies will be placed in the Library and the Public Information Office.
§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make it his policy to allow people of all ages to apply for disability living allowance.
§ Mr. DewarTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many of the decisions on claims for each component of disability living allowance in each month to date were favourable; how many awards were made at each rate and, for those which were unfavourable, what were the reasons for refusal.
§ Mr. ScottThe information is as follows:
Rate of awards (February—September) Higher rate care and lower rate mobility 2,800 Middle rate care and higher rate mobility 7,800 Middle rate care and lower rate mobility 6,700 Lower rate care and higher rate mobility 12,900 Lower rate care and lower rate mobility 13,900 constituency, the number of applications for disability living allowance so far approved under the new regulations and the number of applications still outstanding; and if he will indicate the average length of time between application and approval.
§ Mr. ScottI understand from Mr Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency, that the information is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. Alfred MorrisTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the meeting of the chief executive of the Benefits Agency about his 169W meeting in September with representatives of disability organisations to discuss their complaints about the administration of the disability living allowance; when he now expects the agency's backlog of work on the processing of claims to be cleared.
§ Mr. ScottWe do not receive formal reports of the meetings attended by Mr Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He wrote to the hon. Member about this and the administration of disability living allowance. Copies will be placed in the Library and the Public Information Office.
§ Mr. Alfred MorrisTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what study he has made of complaints to the Benefits Agency about delays in processing claims for the disability living allowance; how many of such complaints he and the agency received in each whole month since claims for the allowance were invited; what action he will be taking; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. ScottThe administration of disability living allowance is a matter for Mr Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He wrote to the hon. Member and copies will be placed in the Library and the Public Information office.