HL Deb 28 July 1999 vol 604 cc207-8WA
Lord Rix

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What assessment has been made of the possible impact of compulsory work-focused interviews on future take-up of Invalid Care Allowance. [HL3713]

Baroness Hollis of Heigham

No data exist at present on which to base an estimate of the impact of the ONE service and compulsory work-focused interviews on future take-up of Invalid Care Allowance. We plan to pilot the ONE service in 12 areas from next April until 2002 and will conduct a full evaluation. In-depth interviews with carers as part of that evaluation may shed some light on the impact of compulsory work-focused interviews for those claiming Invalid Care Allowance. Initial results from these interviews will be available in winter 2000–01, with further findings in summer 2001.

Lord Rix

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many Invalid Care Allowance recipients have been on the benefit for (a) less than one year; (b) between one and two years; (c) between two and five years; (d) between five and ten years; and (e) for ten or more years; and whether they will express these figures as a percentage of the number of recipients. [HL3712]

Baroness Hollis of Heigham

The information is in the table.

The Number of Invalid Care Allowance (ICA) Recipients as at 21 July 1999
Number of carers Percentage of total recipients
Less than 1 year 64,486 17.2
1 to 2 years 61,302 16.4
2 to 5 years 127,403 34.1
5 to 10 years 88,234 23.6
Over 10 years 32,594 8.7
Total 374,019 100