§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many people, who have been subject to either(a) Benefit Integrity Project postal survey and (b) BIP interviews, have had their disability living allowance stopped; and how many of these have (i) had the decision reviewed, (ii) on review had their disability living allowance restored, (iii) on review had their disability living allowance restored to the previous rate, (iv) had their disability living allowance restored at a higher rate and (v) had their disability living allowance restored at a lower rate; [30003]
- (2)what plans she has to institute a programme of sampling decisions taken as part of the Benefit Integrity Project; [30004]
- (3)if she will take steps to encourage claimants of disability living allowance who are about to be included within the Benefit Integrity Project to gain access to their initial disability living allowance claim forms. [30002]
§ Mr. DenhamOne of our key aims is to rebuild integrity in, and public support for, the Social Security system and the way in which public money is spent. Benefits should go to those who are properly entitled to benefit. This is why we have continued with the Benefit Integrity Project.
The administration of this programme is a matter for Peter Mathison, Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write shortly to the hon. Member with further details.
Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Paul Burstow, dated 18 February 1998:
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions regarding the Benefit Integrity Project (BIP).The BIP is looking again at some awards of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to collect up to date information about the care and mobility needs of some disabled people and to make sure that the correct amount of benefit is being paid.The total number of enquiries carried out to date by post and interview is contained in the attached tables.Entitlement to DLA is determined by independent Adjudication Officers (AOs). A statistically valid sample of AO decisions is checked by an independent discrete team who report their findings 125W to Benefits Agency managers and to the Chief Adjudication Officer. This is part of an ongoing process designed to maintain adjudication standards.Measures are in place for this team to check a statistically valid sample of decisions made by AOs working on BIP cases.If customers wish to have sight of evidence used to decide entitlement in their current or previous claims they can have copies of this on request. Information about BIP has been publicised through disability organisations, the media and by appearances in the media by Ministers.I hope you find the reply helpful.
Total number of postal and interviews enquiries carried out by the Benefit Integrity Project to date Number Postal cases as at 31 December 1997 Total number of Postal cases looked at = 25,638 Number of cases disallowed 1,274 Number of cases reviewed 281 Review decision maintained 220 Restored to a higher rate on review1 1 Restored to a lower rate on review1 28 Restored to original award on review 32 Total number of cases restored on review 61 Visit Cases as at 31 December 1997 Total number of BIP interviews =7,515 Number of cases disallowed 153 Number of cases reviewed 6 Review decision maintained 6 Restored to a higher rate on review1 0 Restored to a lower rate on review1 0 Restored to original award on review 0 Total number of cases restored on review 0 1These figures include all combinations of increased awards resulting from a disallowance.