§ Mr. ColvinTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the level of savings in costs and time brought about by the computerisation within his Department.
§ Miss WiddecombeThe Department has achieved some £124 million savings from its computerisation programme operational strategy over the four years up to 1991–92, the latest date for which figures are available.
Over the same period, there have been corresponding improvements in claims clearance times for those benefits which changed from a clerical to a computerised system, as follows:
Clerical System 1987–88 Days Computerised System 1991–92 Days IS Claims 6.1 4.0 RP Claims 24.7 15.8