HC Deb 13 January 1997 vol 288 cc151-2W
Mr. Flynn

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many social security appeal tribunal sessions were held in each month of 1996 for which information is available; and to what extent changes in the number of sessions were affected by the financial situation of the Independent Tribunal Service. [10428]

Mr. Roger Evans

The information is set out in the table:

Month Number of sessions
January 2,200
February 2,294
March 2,437
April 2,781
May 3,125
June 3,100
July 3,779
August 3,594
September 3,589
October 3,649
November 3,349
December 1—
1 Not yet available.

The running of sessions is a matter for the president of the Independent Tribunal Service (ITS), Judge Bassingthwaighte. However, the ITS has informed me that sessional activity is determined, and regularly reviewed, in the light of a number of factors including caseload, expected and actual intake of new appeals, the readiness of cases to proceed to hearing, the need to clear appeals expeditiously and value for money considerations.