Benefits (Hansard, 2 November 1994)

§ Miss Widdecombe

I have been asked to reply.

Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from M.E.G. Fogden to Mr. Donald Dewar, dated 2 November 1994: The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about the number of claimants deprived of benefit and the percentage this represents of the total number receiving benefit. I have assumed that the claimants to which you refer are those in receipt of benefits being paid to unemployed people. Unfortunately the statistics you asked for are not available in the form you have requested. Information on the number of adjudication 1138W officers' decisions and disallowance rates (in respect of unemployment benefit (UB) and opinions (in respect of Income Support (IS) is contained in a published document entitled "Analysis of Adjudication Officers' Decisions". This provides information on all the main entitlement questions arising on claims, including those which might be regarded as sanctions. Copies of this document are held in the Library of the House. The latest available information relates to the quarter ending June. I am also unable to provide information on the total number of claimants receiving UB or IS during any particular period. The number of people receiving benefit during a period is constantly changing, and a simple count would include those who received benefit for only one day as well as those who received it for the whole period. It is possible therefore that a person would be included in such a count more than once. For these reasons statistics relating to the number of people who are claiming benefit at a given time are more meaningful. These are, as you know, regularly compiled and placed in the Library on a monthly basis.