HC Deb 23 January 1995 vol 253 c86W
Mrs. Roche

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the annual cost to the public purse of administration of the habitual residence rules.

Mr. Roger Evans

Since the habitual residence test was introduced in August 1994, we have been involved in evaluating and refining the operational procedures and we are not in a position to give the full annual cost of applying the test. These figures should become available by the end of this year.

Mrs. Roche

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the(a) average, (b) shortest and (c) longest time taken to process appeals against the adjudication officer's decision on habitual residence rules since the rules were introduced (i) in the Greater London area and (ii) in the United Kingdom as a whole.

Mr. Roger Evans

The information is not collected' centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.