HC Deb 24 July 1996 vol 282 cc570-5W
Mr. Cousins

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish the performance targets for each social security office and area in the county of Tyne and Wear for(a)1995–96 and (b) 1996–97; how many of those targets were achieved in 1995–96, in each case indicating how those targets and achievements relate to those set nationally. [37563]

Mr. Roger Evans

The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the tables:

Benefit Agency: Districts and offices within Tyne Tees Area Directorate
District Offices
Newcastle Newcastle St JamesNewcastle East
North Durham Durham Chester le Street Peterlee Seaham Stanley
Northumberland Ashington Berwick Blyth Hexham
North Tees Stockton Hartlepool
North Tyneside North Shields Wallsend
South Durham Bishop Auckland Darlington
South Tees Middlesbrough Eston Redcar
South Tyneside Gateshead Jarrow South Shields
Wearside Houghton le Spring Sunderland North Sunderland South

Benefits Agency: Secretary of State targets—1995–96 achievement
Percentage
Target National Tyne Tees area Newcastle North Durham Northumberland North Tees North Tyne South Durham South Tees South Tyne Wearside
Income support claims
Primary 67.1 70.7 74.4 70.1 72.4 70.5 71.5 69.4 65.7 71.9 70.7
Secondary 88.2 90.9 92.5 90.7 92.2 91.4 91.6 90.0 88.3 90.4 90.9
Incapacity benefit claims
Primary 78.9 80.1 76.1 79.8 83.3 83.5 78.3 80.2 81.3 78.9 80.2
Secondary 96.0 97.0 96.4 97.4 97.7 97.5 95.9 96.4 96.8 96.4 97.7
Social fund crisis loans 97.4 98.2 98.4 99.4 98.6 98.0 98.8 98.5 96.5 98.3 98.1
Income support accuracy 78.1 80.6 83.3 78.0 84.5 85.0 66.7 78.3 81.0 86.7 81.7
Short term benefit (STB) accuracy1 90.7 91.8 93.2 90.6
1 Only North Durham and South Tees districts within Tyne Tees area visited by the STB accuracy checking team in 1995–96.

Benefits Agency: Secretary of State financial targets—1995–96 and 1996–97 and achievements 1995–96
Targets/ achievements National Tyne Tees area Newcastle North Durham Northumberland North Tees North Tyne South Durham South Tees South Tyne Wearside
Social fund recovery
1995–96 target £273m £16.46m £2.20m £1.90m £1.10m £1.70m £0.92m £1.54m £2.36m £2.37m £2.35m
1995–96 achievement £263.5m £15.62m £1.97m £1.81m £1.04m £1.58m £0.98m £1.41m £2.28m £2.30m £2.23m
1996–97 target £278m £16.26m £2.16m £1.85m £1.08m £1.68m £1.01m £1.47m £2.33m £2.38m £2.30m
Social fund expenditure1
1995–96 target £406m £24.01m £3.21m £2.74m £1.61m £2.5lm £1.54m £2.13m £3.48m £3.47m £3.31m
1995–96 achievement £40lm £23.77m £3.2lm £2.67m £1.57m £2.47m £1.51m £2.12m £3.48m £3.45m £3.29m
1996–97 target £419.5m £24.72m £3.38m £2.87m £1.70m £2.64m £1.55m £2.15m £3.50m £3.60m £3.33m
Benefit savings (fraud)
1995–96 target £680m £43.05m 3
1995–96 achievement £715.6m £44.7lm
1996–97 target2

Benefits agency—Secretary of State targets
Target area 1995–96 target:National, area and district 1996–97 target:National, area and district
Income support claims
Primary 63 per cent. in 5 days 63 per cent. in 5 days
Secondary 87 per cent. in 13 days 87 per cent. in 13 days
Incapacity benefit claims
Primary 65 per cent. in 10 days 65 per cent. in 10 days
Secondary 85 per cent. in 30 days 85 per cent. in 30 days
Social fund crisis loans1 On the day the need arises On the day the need arises
Income support accuracy 87 per cent. 87 per cent.
Short term benefit accuracy 94 per cent. 94 per cent.
1 Target considered met if 95 per cent. of claims are cleared within one day.

Benefits Agency: Secretary of State financial targets—1995–96 and 1996–97 and achievements 1995–96
Targets/ achievements National Tyne Tees area Newcastle North Durham Northumberland North Tees North Tyne South Durham South Tees South Tyne Wearside
Overpayments
1995–96 target £110m £4.03m 4
1995–96 achievement £112m £4.58m
1996–97 target £91.5m £3.3lm £428k £429k £270k £338k £212k £305k £416k £490k £418k
1 The social fund expenditure target is "to keep to the cash limit agreement with Treasury for the discretionary social fund budget approved by Parliament."
2 From 1996–97 benefit savings (fraud) are included in the new security target.
3 No 1995–96 or 1996–97 target or performance data available at district level.
4 No overpayment recovery target or performance data available at district level in 1995–96.

Contributions Agency—1995/96 Secretary of State targets and achievements
SOS target National target National performance Divisional1 target Division/regional performance
Class 1 survey 93,200 94,166 3,320 7,233
Educational survey 23,300 29,113 664 2,325
Class 1 arrears identified £133,000,000 £151,761,233 £3,312,576 £10,153,268
Collectable new class 2 40,000 39,791 1,265 3,685
Customer enquiries 95 per cent. 98.6 per cent. 95 per cent. 98.17 per cent.
All targets were achieved except for the collectable new class 2.
1 Northumberland, Durham and Teeside Division includes all locations in the county of Tyne and Wear.

Contributions Agency—1996–97 Secretary of State targets
SOS target National target Northern regional1 target
Collection of contribution arrears £65 million Not distributed to regions
Identification of class 1 arrears £150 million £9.612 million
New class 2 identified 40,000 3,436
Customer enquiries 95 per cent. 95 per cent.
1 Northern Region includes the current locations in Tyne and Wear.

Child Support Agency—1995–96 and 1996–97 Secretary of State targets and 1995–96 achievement
Maintenance assessment clearance times
Secretary of State target National performance Falkirk CSAC1 performance
1995–96
60 per cent. of new maintenance applications to be cleared within 26 weeks and as at 31 March 1996 no more than 10 per cent. of all maintenance applications received by the Agency to be over 52 weeks old.As at 31 March 1996, 48 per cent. of maintenance applications had been cleared within 26 weeks and 15 per cent. of maintenance applications received were over 52 weeks old. As at 31 March 1996, 51 per cent. of maintenance applications had been cleared within 26 weeks and 19 per cent. of maintenance applications received were over 52 weeks old.
1996–97
60 per cent. of new maintenance applications to be cleared within 26 weeks and as at 31 March 1997, no more than 10 per cent. of all maintenance applications received by the Agency to be over 52 weeks old. n/a n/a
1 Work initially processed in offices in the county of Tyne and Wear is sent to the Agency's centre in Falkirk for continued action.
n/a = not available.