§ Mr. McAllionTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many claimants were in receipt of invalidity benefit in(a) Dundee, (b) Scotland and (c) the United Kingdom in each of the past five years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. ScottThe administration of invalidity benefit is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member with such information as is available and a copy will be placed in the Library.
Letter from Michael Bichard to Mr. John McAllion, dated 20 July 1993:
As Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency it is my responsibility to answer questions about relevant operational matters. I am therefore replying to your recent Parliamentary 279W Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security asking how many claimants were in receipt of Invalidity Benefit in (a) Dundee, (b) Scotland and (c) the United Kingdom in each of the past five yers for which figures are available.
The information is not available in the exact format requested. This is because the statistics provided are for Great Britain rather than the United Kingdom (the United Kingdom includes Northern Ireland). The national statistics provided which are obtained from a 1 per cent. sample of claimants reflect the number of recipients of Invalidity Benefit at a point in time. The statistics maintained by District/Benefit Offices relate to the number of claimants to Invalidity Benefit.
The statistics for the Dundee District Office are only available from year ending March 1992. This is because the Benefits Agency was not formed until April 1991 and Districts were created at the same time.
There were 11,910 people claiming Invalidity Benefit at Dundee District Office at the last working day of March 1992, and 12,995 at the last working day of March 1993. These figures were obtained from a 100 per cent. clerical count of cases in the Office, and include a small number of people who have claimed but are not receiving Invalidity Benefit, eg. because there is underlying entitlement which has been extinguished by the payment of a higher overlapping benefit or where termination action has not been completed. The Dundee District Office deals with areas other than Dundee therefore the figures shown include a small number of people who do not live in Dundee.
The table shows the number of customers in receipt of Invalidity Benefit in Scotland and Great Britain at a point in time for the last five years for which the figures are available. The statistics are based on a I per cent. sample of claimants.
Date1 Scotland Great Britain 4 April 1987 135,000 968,000 2 April 1988 147,000 1,047,000 1 April 1989 158,000 1,126,000 31 March 1990 169,000 1,209,000 30 March 1991 181,000 1,306,000 1 The table figures are rounded to the nearest thousand. I hope you find this reply helpful. A copy will appear in the Official Report and a copy will also be placed in the Library.