§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the current number of recipients of(a) income support, (b) invalidity benefit and (c) retirement pension in the Doncaster and Mexborough areas; and what were the figures (i) 12 months and (ii) 24 months ago.
§ Mr. BurtThis 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.
Letter from Michael Bichard to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 23 June 1994:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about benefit recipients in the Doncaster and Mexborough areas.344WThe information is not available in the format requested. This is because Benefit Agency (BA) District boundaries do not correspond with county or borough boundaries.Income Support (IS) recipients in the Doncaster area are dealt with by the Doncaster District of BA. This District comprises Doncaster West District Office (DO) and Doncaster East Branch Office (BO). IS recipients in the Mexborough area are dealt with by the Wath-on-Dearne Branch Office (BO) of the Rother and Dearne District. This office, however, also deals with areas other than Mexborough. Identifying the number of IS recipients resident in the Mexborough area and dealt with by Wath-on-Dearne BO would incur disproportionate cost.In Appendix 1, I have provided information relating to numbers of IS recipients in the area dealt with by the Doncaster District, and by Wath-on-Dearne BO.Although the Doncaster District of BA deals with Invalidity Benefit (IVB) and Retirement Pension (RP) for most of the Doncaster area, a small part is dealt with by the Mexborough BO of the BA Rother and Dearne District. Mexborough BO also covers IVB and RP for the Mexborough area, but from May 1994 also assumed responsibility for the Swinton and Wath-on-Dearne areas. Identifying the number of IVB or RP recipients resident in either the Mexborough or Doncaster areas and dealt with by Mexborough BO would also incur disproportionate cost.However, in Appendices 2 and 3, I have provided information relating to IVB and RP recipients in the areas dealt with by the Doncaster District, and by Mexborough BO.The figures provided for RP recipients include a small number of Widows Benefit recipients and an estimated number of RP recipients paid by direct credit transfer. The latest information available does not fully reflect the additional numbers appropriate to Mexborough BO following that office assuming responsibility for additional geographical areas in May 1994.I hope you find this reply helpful.
Appendix 1 IS Recipients Doncaster District Wath-on-Dearne Branch Office 30 May 1992 27,416 8,736 31 May 1993 28,848 9,556 31 May 1994 30,090 11,703
Appendix 2 IVB Recipients Doncaster District Mexborough Branch Office 30 May 1992 11,933 2,319 31 May 1993 13,026 2,435 31 May 1994 13,973 3,943
Appendix 3 RP Recipients Doncaster District Mexborough Branch Office 30 May 1992 49,657 6,310 31 May 1993 49,166 6,280 31 May 1994 48,477 6,426