HC Deb 04 February 1998 vol 305 cc694-5W
Mr. Swinney

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many income support claimants there were in the last available quarter in(a) the Tayside Benefits Agency District Office area, (b) the Perth and Kinross Council local authority area, (c) the Dundee City Council local authority area and (d) Tayside North parliamentary constituency, in the client groups (i) disabled, (ii) lone parent and (iii) pensioner. [26087]

Mr. Keith Bradley

The administration of Income Support is a matter for Peter Mathison, Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. John Swinney, dated 3 February 1998: The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many Income Support (IS) claimants there were in the last available quarter in (a) the Tayside Benefits Agency District Office area, (b) the Perth and Kinross Council local authority area, (c) the Dundee City Council local authority area and (d) Tayside North parliamentary constituency, in the client groups (i) disabled, (ii) lone parent and (iii) pensioner. The information is not available in the format requested. The Benefits agency (BA) collates IS statistics by BA District Offices. These Districts do not correspond to constituency boundaries, local authorities or specific geographical areas. The information that is available is shown in the attached table. I hope you find this reply helpful.

Number of income support (IS) customers in receipt benefit by

client group for the Benefits Agency's Tayside District as at

30 November 1997
Premium Number of IS customers in receipt of certain benefit premiums as at 30 November 1997
Disability 5,914
Family (lone parent) 6,842
Pensioner 14,005
The BA's Tayside District includes the offices of Arbroath, Dundee and Perth. From April 1997 the IS lone parent premium was replaced by the higher rate of family premium for lone parents. The figure provided for the family premium (lone parent) does not include those lone parent customers who are pensioners nor those registered sick who qualify for a higher rate premium such as a pensioner or disability premium. The figure provided relating to the number of customers who are over pensionable age and in receipt of a pensioner premium may include customers who are also disabled. This information is the latest available, is provisional and maybe subject to change.