§ Mr. McGradyTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people have made applications in respect of(a) disability living allowance and (b) invalidity benefit from 1 April 1988 to 31 March 1993; of these how many were successful; and what financial amounts were made payable.
§ Mr. AncramResponsibility for the subject in question has been delegated to the Social Security Agency under its chief executive, Mr. Alec Wylie. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from A. Wylie to Mr. Eddie McGrady, dated 27 October 1993:
As Chief Executive of the Social Security Agency I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question on the number of applications received in respect of Disability Living Allowance and Invalidity Benefit from 1 April 1988 to 31 March 1993.During the period 3 February 1992 to 31 March 1993, 31,981 claims to Disability Living Allowance were received, of these 21,627 were successful. In addition 7,958 claims were received from existing Attendance Allowance/Mobility Allowance beneficiaries and of these 6,923 were also successful. The actual expenditure for 1992–93 is not yet available but the estimated expenditure is £57 million.Information on the number of applications received in respect of Invalidity Benefit during the period 1 April 1988 to 31 March 1993 and the number who were successful is not available in the form requested. However the number of persons receiving the benefit at April each year from 1988 to 1993 and the yearly benefit expenditure are as follows:
Year Number of persons Receiving invalidity benefit Benefit expenditure £ million 1988 45,318 130.1 1989 47,735 141.2 1990 50,890 157.3 1991 54,122 182.0 1992 58,197 215.0 1993 62,823 1238.4 1 Estimated.
I hope you will find this reply helpful. Further information on social security claims and expenditure is published in "Expenditure, Plans and Priorities (Northern Ireland)". A copy of this reply will appear in the Official Report and copies will be placed in the Library.
§ Mr. McGradyTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps are taken to ensure that adequate resources are allocated to the disability section of the Department of Health and Social Services in order that staff can deliver a full and effective service.
791W
§ Mr. AncramResponsibility for the subject in question has been delegated to the Social Security Agency under its chief executive Mr. Alec Wylie. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from A. Wylie to Mr. Eddie McCrady, dated 27 October 1993:
As Chief Executive of the Social Security Agency I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about resources for Disability Living Allowance Branch.Since Disability Living Allowance was introduced in April 1992, we have been keeping the resource position under close review. Overall the staffing level has risen by around 100 posts in the past 18 months with the complement now standing at 241 posts.The target of clearing 65% of claims within 30 days has been met from June 1993 and I am satisfied that the Branch is adequately resourced to handle the current intake of claims. I would however assure you that workloads and staffing levels will continue to be closely monitored to ensure that claims from our customers are processed as quickly as possible.I hope this helps explain the position for you. A copy of this reply will appear in the Offical Report and copies will be placed in the Library.