§ Mr. BayleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many claimants in(a) York, (b) North Yorkshire and (c) England who were in receipt of mobility allowance or attendance allowance before April 1992 are still waiting for a decision on (i) claims and (ii) appeals for disability living allowance;
(2) how many claimants in (a) York, (b) North Yorkshire and (c) England have been waiting (i) less than three months, (ii) three to six months, (iii) six to 12 months and (iv) more than 12 months for a decision on (1) claims and (2) appeals for disability living allowance.
§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give(a) the number of applications for disability living allowance and attendance allowances referred to the ministerial hotline since it was opened and (b) the number of those which have been cleared, together with the average waiting time.
§ Mr. ScottThe administration of disability living allowance and attendance 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 M. Bichard to Mr. Jim Cousins, dated 17 January 1993:
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 the number of applications for Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Attendance Allowance (AA) referred to the ministerial hotline since it began and the number of those which have been cleared, together with the average waiting time.As you are aware an unprecedented number of letters had been received from MPs as a consequence of the large number of claims following the successful launch of DLA. The DLA hotline was set up to alleviate problems experienced when 292W MPs were unable to contact the DLA Unit via the main switchboard and to provide up to date information about a specific claim with the minimum of delay.Up to 8 January 1993, 4,607 calls have been received. All the cases have had some action taken and an update provided to the enquirer. The aim is to provide an update to the enquirer within 48 hours of the initial call and this target has been met on average in 97 per cent. of cases. Of the calls received 4,197 have been finally cleared and the remaining calls will be finally cleared when the operational areas have processed the cases. I can assure you that these cases are being monitored to ensure they are cleared as quickly as possible. These calls are not necessarily about new DLA claims, some refer to existing awards of AA and Mobility Allowance (MobA) transferred to the DLA Unit and DLA reviews and appeals. Statistics are not held in a format that enables me to provide an average clearance time.There is no dedicated hotline for AA but calls are treated in the same way and the DLA hotline liaise with the special correspondence section in the AA Unit who are then responsible for responding directly to the MP. Up to 8 January 1993, 483 of the 4,607 calls have been referred to the AA Unit and 13 have not yet been cleared. The target 48 hour update has been met in all cases by the AA Unit.I hope you find this reply helpful. A copy will appear in the Official Report. A copy will also be placed in the Library.
§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many claims to date for the disability living allowance have been completed(a) with the assistance of telephone calls and (b) with the assistance of visits made by the forms completion service staff in the disability benefits centres.
§ Mr. Scott[pursuant to his reply, 27 October 1992, Official Report, columns 751–52]: The chief executive has written further to the hon. Member.