HC Deb 06 November 2000 vol 356 cc100-2W
Mr. Burstow

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people in(a) the Sutton and Cheam constituency and (b) the London borough of Sutton have been in receipt of (i) Income Support, (ii) Disability Living Allowance, (iii) Incapacity Benefit, (iv) Unemployment Benefit and (v) Housing Benefit in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [134890]

Angela Eagle

The administration of benefits is a matter for Alexis Cleveland, the Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. She will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Alexis Cleveland to Mr. Paul Burstow, dated 6 November 2000: The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to respond to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many people in (a) the Sutton and Cheam constituency and (b) the London Borough of Sutton have been in receipt of (i) income support, (ii) disability living allowance, (iii) incapacity benefit, (iv) unemployment benefit. and (v) housing benefit in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. The data is not available in the requested format, however the information that is available is supplied in the attached tables. I hope this is helpful.

(i) Income Support
Year Sutton and Cheam constituency London borough of Sutton
May
1990 8.1
1991 8.8
1992 8.9
1993 12.7
1994 12.8
1995 12.7

(i) Income Support
Year Sutton and Cheam constituency London borough of Sutton
1996 12.3
1997 8.6
1998 8.2
1999 2.8 8.0
2000 3.1 7.9

Notes:

1. Figures are based on a 5 per cent. sample and therefore subject to sampling error.

2. Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred and quoted in thousands.

3. Income Support for the unemployed was replaced by Income Based Jobseekers Allowance in October 1996. Figures up to and including May 1996 included the unemployed on Income Support.

Source:

Income Support Statistics Quarterly Enquiries, 1990–2000

(ii) Recipients of Disability Living Allowance
Year Sutton and Cheam constituency London borough of Sutton
May
1993 1,200 2,700
1994 1,400 2,600
1995 1,300 2,600
1996 1,400 2,900
1997 1,400 3,300
1998 1,329 3,414
1999 1.418 3,548
2000 1,505 3,707

Notes:

1. Figures up to 1997 are based on 5 per cent. data and are rounded to the nearest hundred. For later years the figures are based on 100 per cent. data and are unrounded.

2. Figures not available for 1992 owing to incomplete regional data.

3. Yearly figures are given at 31 May.

Source:

DSS Information Centre

(iii) Incapacity Benefit
Year Sutton and Cheam constituency London borough of Sutton
May
1995 2.6
1996 2.5
1997 2.5
1998 1.0 2.3
1999 1.0 2.2
2000 0.9 2.3

Notes:

1. Incapacity Benefit figures by Parliamentary Constituency are unavailable before 1998.

2. Figures taken from 5 per cent. samples of the benefit computer system, and exclude a small number of cases held clerically. A rating factor has been used on figures for the London borough of Sutton from May 1996 to May 1999, to account for missing postcodes.

3. Figures are expressed as thousands and are rounded to the nearest hundred.

4. Yearly figures are given at 31 May. (iv) Unemployment Benefit No figures are available for Unemployment Benefit by either parliamentary constituency or Local Authority however figures for Jobseekers Allowance are provided in the table below. Unemployment benefit ceased in 6th October 1996 and Jobseekers Allowance began from 7th October 1996.

Jobseeker's Allowance
Sutton and Cheam constituency London borough of Sutton
August 1997 2.5
May 1998 2.3
August 1998 0.9
May 1999 1.1 2.4
May 2000 1.7 1.7

Notes:

1. Claimant figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred and expressed in thousands.

2. Sample size 5 per cent., therefore subject to sampling error.

3. Jobseeker's Allowance replaced Income Support for the unemployed in october 1996.

4. Figures are for all claimants including those with nil benefit.

Source:

Jobseeker's Allowance Statistics Quarterly Enquiry, August 1997 to May 2000

(v) Housing Benefit
Year London borough of Sutton
May
1992 9,470
1993 10,170
1994 10,280
1995 10,610
1996 10,880
1997 10,690
1998 9,980
1999 9,650
2000 8,870

Notes:

1. The figures supplied are for May each year from 1992 to May 2000.

2. The figures have been rounded to the nearest ten cases.

3. If the Local Authority failed to return any data, this will have been estimated.

4. The data for the years prior to 1992 are unavailable. The data for the Sutton and Cheam constituency are unavailable as the lowest level that the data are collected for is by Local Authority.

Source:

Housing Benefit Management Information System, Quarterly 100 per cent. caseload inquiries taken in May 1992 to 2000.