§ Mr. RedmondTo asked the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement about the work load of the out-of-hours emergency payments service of the Benefits Agency area directorate covering(a) the Yorkshire and Humberside area (b) Doncaster and (c) Mexborough for the financial years (i) 1995–96 and (ii) 1996–97 to date. [2718]
§ Mr. Roger EvansThe administration of income support is a matter for Peter Mathison, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 11 November 1996:
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking if he will make a statement about the workload of the out of hours emergency 206W payments service of the Benefits Agency Area Directorate covering (a) the Yorkshire and Humberside Area (b) Doncaster and (c) Mexborough for financial years (i) 1995–96 and (ii) 1996–97 to date.Information is not available in the format requested. Statistics are collated at Area Directorate level and not by office. From April 1996, the two area Directorates of "South Yorkshire and Humberside" (which included Doncaster and Mexborough) and "North and West Yorkshire" merged to form Yorkshire Area Directorate (AD).I have provided the number of referrals to the Out of Hours Service (OOHS) for the year April 1995 to March 1996 and the latest collated figures for Yorkshire AD for the period 1 April 1996 and 13 October 1996.It should be noted that a referral means any contact by a customer or third party. Approximately 50% of the referrals require a visit by Benefits Agency staff.
Referrals to OOHS 1995–96 South Yorkshire and Humberside 1.878 North and West Yorkshire 2,533 1 April 1996 to 13 October 1996 Yorkshire 2,183 These figures are provisional and subject to change. I hope you find this reply helpful.