§ Mr. Quentin DaviesTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what the annual savings are to date, including administrative costs, arising from the replacement of invalidity benefit by incapacity benefit; and what estimate he made of the savings which would arise from the change. [63955]
§ Mr. TimmsThe information is not available in the form requested. Such information as is available is set out in the table.
The original estimates for benefit savings from the introduction of Incapacity Benefit and revised estimates produced in 1996 £ million 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 Initial savings estimates (September 1993) 415 1,185 1,720 — Latest available savings estimates (November 1996) 280 790 1,350 1,830 Notes:
1. No further estimates have been made and it is not possible to quantify the effects on administrative costs.
2. Actual savings figures arising from the replacement of Invalidity Benefit by Incapacity Benefit are not available as it is not possible to say whether an individual found capable of work following application of the all work test would have been found capable under the old Invalidity Benefit medical controls.
Source:
DSS. All figures cash prices.
§ Mr. Quentin DaviesTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people between the ages of 20 and 25 years do not have the required national insurance contribution record to qualify for incapacity 493W benefit (a) under the current system and (b) under the changes proposed in Support for Disabled People (Cm 4103). [63949]
§ Mr. TimmsThe main change proposed is that people should be required to have paid National Insurance contributions on earnings equivalent to 25 times the lower earnings limit in one of the two tax years preceding their claim, rather than in any tax year.
The latest available figures show that there are about 2,470,000 people aged 20 to 25 who have not paid the contributions in any tax year necessary for entitlement to Incapacity Benefit under the current system and about 2,530,000 who have not paid the contributions in the two most recent tax years for entitlement under the proposed system. It is not known how many of these would actually claim Incapacity Benefit.
Notes:
1. The information refers to the number of people without the required National Insurance contributions in 1997 (the most recent information available). The qualifying tax years for the new condition are therefore tax years 1994–95 and 1995–96.
2. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10,000.
Source:
DSS: Lifetime Labour Market Database which contains a 1 per cent. sample from the National Insurance Recording System (NIRS) taken at February 1997.