§ Dr. GibsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what estimate he has made of the numbers of226W (a) widows and (b) pensioners awaiting payment of arrears of pensions in the Norwich, North constituency; [104519]
(2) what steps he is taking to rectify the problems associated with payment through the National Insurance Computer System; [104518]
(3) what estimate he has made of the number of staff hours of work necessary to distribute back-payments of pensions to (a) pensioners and (b) widows in the Norwich, North constituency. [104517]
§ Mr. RookerThe information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is as follows.
I refer my hon. Friend to the answers given on 2 December 1999, Official Report, columns 294–95W, to the hon. Members for Northavon (Mr. Webb) and for Havant (Mr. Willetts).
Ministers have taken a personal interest in addressing the system problems and have been actively involved in NIRS2 development, stabilisation and recovery.
The system problems affecting payments are our top priority. These payments relate to individuals who claim contributory benefits (Retirement Pension, Widows Benefits, Incapacity Benefit and Jobseeker's Allowance); and individuals who have contracted-out of the State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme and rebate payments are made to the Personal and Occupational Pension Provider who maintain their pension scheme.
The Inland Revenue, Benefits Agency and Andersen Consulting, through joint working, have made significant progress in clearing these problems. The vast majority of problems have been resolved and most of the functionality is in place and working. A plan has been agreed with Andersen Consulting for the delivery of the remaining functionality by 31 March 2000.
For the Norwich offices, of the outputs received relating to Widows, 79 remain to be cleared. For Retirement Pension, of the outputs received, 746 remain to be processed. However, until all claims have been reviewed it is not known in how many cases arrears will have been due.
The Benefits Agency has put in place contingency procedures to deal with back-payments to Pensioners and Widows utilising existing staff, which includes overtime working where appropriate. Up to 31 December 1999, the Norwich offices have worked 313 hours in dealing with claims to Widows Benefits and 2,823 hours on Retirement Pensions. Not all the cases dealt with have had arrears of benefits due.