§ Mr. DewarTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what he expects will be the time between the lodging of an appeal against the refusal of incapacity benefit and the subsequent tribunal hearing; and what plans he has to lay down performance standards in this respect; [17722]
(2) what is the average period between the lodging of an appeal against the refusal of invalidity benefit and the subsequent tribunal hearing; and what are the performance standards set down by him. [17718]
§ Mr. HagueThe administration of appeals is the responsibility of the President of the Independent Tribunal Service, His Honour Judge Bassingthwaighte. For 1994–95 he set an average clearance time of 28 weeks for invalidity benefit and other appeals heard by the social security appeal tribunals. This covered the time from lodgement of appeal to the date of tribunal hearing. The same target will apply to incapacity benefit and other social security appeal tribunal appeals in 1995–96. The latest performance figures for invalidity benefit appeals are for the quarter ending June 1994, when they were cleared on average in 26.6 weeks.