§ Mr. RowlandsTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Havant (Mr. Willetts) of 13 December 1999,Official Report, column 40W, on spending revisions, if he will estimate the number of recipients of each of the allowances and benefits listed in the table (a) in Wales and (b) in Merthyr Tydfil (i) currently and (ii) in 2000–01 and 2001–02. [103372]
§ Mr. DarlingThe information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is as follows.
The numbers of recipients of the relevant benefits in Merthyr Tydfil and Wales for the current year derived from administrative data held Thousand Wales Merthyr Tydfil Incapacity Benefit 145.3 6.0 Severe Disablement Allowance 25.2 0.5 Attendance Allowance 94.8 2.2 Disability Living Allowance 172.4 5.9 Note:
Forecasts of numbers of claimants for each social security benefit by country and/or local authority area is not available.
Sources:
1. The figures for Incapacity Benefit and Severe Disablement Allowance are taken from a 5 per cent. scan of the benefit computer system in Great Britain at 31 May 1999 and are subject to a rating factor to account for missing postcodes.
2. The figures for Attendance Allowance and Disability Living Allowance are taken from 100 per cent. data at 31 May 1999.