§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what have been the administrative costs of the Disability Living Allowance in each of the last five years.[124710]
§ Mr. BayleyThe administration of Disability Living Allowance is a matter for Alexis Cleveland, the Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. She will write to my hon. Friend.
Letter from Alexis Cleveland to Mr. Brian Donohoe, dated 15 June 2000:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what have been the administrative costs of the Disability Living Allowance in each of the last five years.For the years 1995/1996 through to 1999/2000 the cost of administering the benefit was £104.78 million, £130.99 million, £125.47 million, £125.67 million and £142.5 million respectively. The figures are inclusive of Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance costs. The totals cannot be apportioned into DLA and AA separately.As you may be aware we have recently introduced new procedures for assessing claims for DLA/AA to try and improve the accuracy of decision-making. We want to get decisions right first time so that fewer cases go to reconsideration or appeal. Inevitably this has led to some delays in processing cases and the Benefits Agency have been taking action to reduce the backlog as soon as possible. This is the reason for the increase in costs for 1999/2000.I hope this is helpful.
§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what measurements of the time taken to process an application for Disability Living Allowance have been made in each of the last five years.[124709]
§ Mr. BayleyThe administration of Disability Living Allowance is a matter for Alexis Cleveland, the Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. She will write to my hon. Friend.
Letter from Alexis Cleveland to Mr. Brian Donohoe, dated 15 June 2000:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what measurements of the time taken to process an application for Disability Living Allowance (DLA) have been made in each of the last five years.For the years 1996/97 through to 1999/2000 the average number of days taken to clear an application for DLA has been 31, 34, 35 and 43 respectively.As you may be aware we have recently introduced new procedures for assessing claims for DLA/AA to try and improve the accuracy of decision-making. We want to get decisions right first time so that fewer cases go to reconsideration or appeal. Inevitably this has led to some delays in processing cases. These delays will hopefully reduce as staff become accustomed to the new procedures and we are taking action to achieve this as soon as possible.I hope this is helpful.