§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if she will instruct the manager of the Cardiff adjudication sector to report the number of unemployment benefit disqualification decisions made by adjudicating officers in that sector under each paragraph of section 28(1) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, and the periods for which disqualification was imposed, in a convenient week before the end of January; and if she will place this information in the Library.
§ Mr. McLoughlinResponsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service Agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from M. Fogden to Mr. Paul Flynn, dated 18 January 1993:
As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to write to you direct to respond to your Parliamentary Question to her about unemployment benefit disqualifications under Section 28(1) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992. This is something which falls within the responsibilities she has delegated to me as the Chief Executive of the Agency.You may recall that, during my absence, Mr. Johnson wrote to you in June 1992 in response to a similar question. To assemble information about the length of the periods of disqualifications imposed by the adjudication officers at the Cardiff sector during a specific week we would need to identify and examine each case in which disqualification was imposed. As mentioned previously this could only be done at disproportionate cost to public funds.46WWe do not collect or publish the type of information you have requested because the period of disqualification is decided in the light of the circumstances of each individual case and, without knowledge of those circumstances, no meaningful interpretation could be placed on it. Quality assurance of the adjudication process includes scrutiny of the evidence taken into account by adjudication officers in exercising their discretion in setting disqualification periods. This is carried out by adjudication management at local level and by the Central Adjudication Service as part of their statutory function to report on the standard of adjudication on benefit claims.I am sorry that I cannot help you further in this matter.As decided by the Administration Committee of the House of Commons, Chief Executive replies to written Parliamentary Questions will now be published in the Official Report. I will also place a copy of this letter in the Library of the House.