HC Deb 29 October 1992 vol 212 cc800-1W
Mr. Wigley

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will amend the therapeutic earnings rule to enable people undertaking a specified and limited amount of voluntary work to continue obtaining invalidity benefit or severe disablement allowance.

Mr. Scott

People receiving invalidity benefit or severe disablement allowance may undertake work, including work for a voluntary organisation, if it is likely to benefit their health; and as long as their earnings do not exceed £40.50 a week. We have no plans to amend these conditions.

Mr. Michael

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what arrangements he intends to implement to reduce the number of occasions on which responses are unavailable on an application for disabled living allowance because the file has been lost.

Mr. Scott

The administration of disability living allowance is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member and a copy will be placed in the Library.

Letter from Mr. Michael Bichard to Mr. Alun Michael, dated 28 October 1992.

As Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency, it is my responsibility to answer questions about relevant operational matters. I am therefore replying to the points raised in your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about what arrangements he intends to implement to reduce the number of occasions on which responses are unavailable on an application for Disability Living Allowance (DLA) because the file has been lost.

I regret that there have been occasions when telephone enquiries could not be answered because the file has been unavailable but I am sure you will appreciate that when vast numbers of cases are being handled it may sometimes be difficult to locate a particular file. When files have been temporarily mislaid, a special search is instigated as soon as possible so that the enquiry can be answered.

The measures we have introduced to clear the backlog of DLA claims have already reduced the number of outstanding cases and location of files should be more straightforward in future. There will always be a steady volume of outstanding work, for instance where further enquiries have to be made, but with the clearance of the backlog this will reduce to manageable proportions.

I hope you will find this reply helpful. A copy of this reply will appear in the Official Report. Copies are also being placed in the Library.