§ Mr. BradleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if he will provide a breakdown by number and percentage of the total number of(a) initial and (b) renewal claims for disability working allowance received by his Department that were refused on the grounds that (i) the claimant was not in remunerative work, (ii) the claimant's income was above the limit, (iii) the claimant was not in receipt of a qualifying benefit, (iv) the claimant was receiving family credit, (v) the joint income of the claimant and his or her partner exceeded the limit, (vi) the claimant was working less than 16 hours a week and (vii) for other reasons;
(2) how many people are currently getting the disability working allowance; and if he will break this total down by (a) average age, (b) sex, (c) marital status, (d) average hourly earnings, (e) average hours worked, (f) householder status and (g) qualifying benefit.
§ Mr. ScottThe administration of disability working 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 Michael Bichard to Mr. Keith Bradley, dated 11 June 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 Questions to the Secretary of State for Social Security asking (1) if he will provide a breakdown by number and percentage of the total number of (a) initial and (b) renewal claims for disability working allowance received by his Department that were refused on the grounds that (i) the claimant was not in remunerative work, (ii) the claimant's income was above the limit, (iii) the claimant was not in receipt of a qualifying benefit, (iv) the claimant was receiving family credit, (v) the joint income of the claimant and his or her partner exceeded the limit, (vi) the claimant was working less than 16 hours a week and (vii) for other reasons; and (2) how many people are currently getting the disability working allowance; and if he 351W will break this total down by (a) average age, (b) sex, (c) marital status, (d) average hourly earnings, (e) average hours worked, (f) householder status and (g) qualifying benefit.In answer to your first question the majority of the information is routinely placed in the Library with the exception of that relating to persons receiving Family Credit (FC) which is detailed below.
Total of disallowed applications to Disability Working Allowance (DWA) Number disallowed because customer receiving Family Credit (FC) expressed as percentage of total New claims 21,375 583 (2.7) Renewals 325 0 Others 938 11 (1.2) All figures are as at 26 March 1993. In answer to your second question the information is as follows with the exception of householder status which is not routinely recorded.
- * Average age = 37
- * Sex (i) Male =1,557, (ii) Female = 1,150
- * Marital Status (i) Couples = 1,048, (ii) Single = 1,659
- * Average hourly earnings =£2–84
- * Average hours worked = 29
- * Qualifying Benefit:
- Higher Rate Disability Living Allowance (DLA)/ Analogous Benefits = 1,508
- Lower Rate DLA = 359
- Invalidity Benefit =446
- Severe Disablement Allowance= 146
- Disability Premium in Income Support = 196
- Disability Premium in Housing Benefit = 13
- Disability Premium in Community Charge Benefit = 39 All cases = 2,707
All figures are as at 30 April 1993.
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.
§ Mr. BradleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many staff have been allocated to the home visiting service; and how many home visits have been made to date by Benefits Agency staff in connection with claims for disability living allowance or attendance allowance received on or after 3 February 1992 by each disability benefit centre and in total;
(2) how many people who claimed disability living allowance or attendance allowance on or after 3 February 1992 had still not heard the outcome of their claim by 1 April.
§ 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 Michael Bichard to Mr. Keith Bradley, dated 11 June 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 Questions to the Secretary of State for Social Security asking (i) how many staff have been allocated to the Home Visiting Service; and how many visits have been made to date by Benefits Agency staff in connection with claims for disability living allowance or attendance allowance received on or after 3 February 1992 by each disability benefit centre and in total, and (ii) how many people who claimed disability living allowance or attendance allowance on or after the 3 February had still not heard the outcome of their claim by 1 April.352WFirstly, I should explain that the staff on the Customer Service Sections in the Disability Benefit Centres (DBCs) are involved in general duties to help customers, including forms completion work for both benefits. This may involve telephoning the customer to help in completing a claim form or it may involve a visit. Currently there are around 170 staff working on the Customer Service sections in the DBCs. Since February 1992 to date 5,085 home visits have been made to assist in the completion of claim forms. We are unable to provide a breakdown between DLA and AA65 +. The breakdown between DBCs is shown in Annex 1.The number of DLA and AA claims outstanding at 31 March 1993 is shown below. This information also includes special Rules claims. I have also included the number of DLA and AA claims outstanding at 31 May 1993, which you may find helpful.
31 March 31 May DLA New Claims 32,662 28,050 DLA Top Up Claims 9,615 1,869 AA New Claims 38,725 29,657 Total 181,002 59,576 1This figure represents approximately 4 weeks intake of DLA and AA claims I hope you will find this reply helpful. A copy of this letter will appear in the Official Report. A copy will also be placed in the Library.
DBC Number of visit Edinburgh and Glasgow 215 Newcastle 429 Leeds 817 Manchester 144 Bootle 1,375 Birmingham 940 Bristol 165 Cardiff 37 Wembley 344 Sutton 619 Total 5,085 Figures supplied by Edinburgh DBC include visits carried out by Glasgow DBC which was established at the end of January 1993.