§ Mr. PicklesTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many women claimed incapacity
Average durations of claims for incapacity benefit current at 31 March 20O0 Diagnosis Average duration (days) All Diagnoses 2,280 Recipients without any diagnosis code on the system 1,308 Certain Infectious and Parasitic Diseases (A00—B99) 1,782 Neoplasms (C00—D48) 1,194 Diseases of the Blood and Blood forming organs and certain diseases involving the immune mechanism (D50—D89) 2,290 Endocrine, Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases (E00—E90) 2,627 Mental and Behavioural Disorders (F00—F99) 2,415 Diseases of the Nervous System (G00—G99) 3,038 Diseases of the Eye and Adnexa (H00—H59) 2,851 Diseases of the Ear and Mastoid Process (H60—H95) 2,213 Diseases of the Circulatory System (I00—I99) 2,308 Diseases of the Respiratory System (J00—J99) 2,533 Diseases of the Digestive System (K00—K93) 2,245 Diseases of the Skin and Subcutaneous System (L00—L99) 1,913 Diseases of the Musculoskeletal system and Connective Tissue (M00—M99) 2,183 Diseases of the Genitourinary System (N00—N99) 1,985 Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Puerperium (Q00—Q99) 467 Certain Conditions Originating in the Perinatal Period (P00—P96) 0 Congenital Malformations, Deformations and Chromasomal Abnormalities (Q00—Q99) 4,586 Symptoms, Signs and Abnormal Clinical and Laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified (R00—R99) 2,322 Injury, Poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes (S00—U22) 1,701 Factors influencing Health Status and Contact with Health Services (Z00—Z99) 2,088 Notes:
1. These figures are based on a 1 per cent. sample of claims to benefit on 31 March 2000.
2. These figures represent the average duration of a claim to Incapacity Benefit current at 31 March 2000.
3. All diagnoses are coded using the International Classification of Diseases, 10 Edition (1CD10), published by a World Health Organisation. The codes in brackets following each description refer to the ICD codes within that group.
§ Mr. Frank FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the 20 parliamentary constituencies with the(a) highest economic inactivity rate, (b) highest unemployment rate, (c) highest proportion of people of working age claiming incapacity benefit and (d) lowest employment rate, indicating the rates in each case. [5215]
§ Malcolm Wicks[holding answer 19 July 2001]: The information is not available in the format requested.
684Wbenefit in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and what percentage this represents of the total claims. [1475]
§ Malcolm WicksInformation on the number of claims for incapacity benefit is not available by gender.
§ Lynne JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what is the average time to complete a review of incapacity benefit; and if he will make a statement on the factors underlying delays and the availability of clinicians to conduct reviews [3620]
§ Malcolm WicksThe medical assessment procedure involves several stages including gathering information from the claimant and their GP or other health care professional and arranging and carrying out examinations.
The most recent study of a sample of cases found that on average the whole process took 11.4 weeks where entitlement was confirmed and 17.5 weeks where benefit was withdrawn.
§ Mr. Frank FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the(a)duration of claim and (b)type of incapacitation, of those receiving incapacity benefit; and if he will place the results in the Library. [4810]
§ Malcolm WicksThe information is in the table.