HC Deb 30 June 2003 vol 408 cc79-80W
Andy King

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many unemployed single adults received disability living allowance owing to mental illness in each year from 1992 to 2002. [121214]

Maria Eagle

Not all of the information requested is available. Such information as is available is in the table.

Numbers of people aged between 16 and 64 for men and 16 and 60 for women receiving disability living allowance (DLA) and other key benefits for sick and disabled people1, whose family status is single2, not employed for 16 or more hours a week in remunerative work3, and whose main disabling condition is psychosis4, psychoneurosis, personality disorder, or alcohol abuse, in each of the years from 199555 to 2002. 1 The figures are for recipients of certain key benefits, in addition to DLA, which are used for client group analysis. These are Income Support with disability premiums, Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance and Jobseeker's Allowance with disability premiums. It is not possible to quote figures for DLA alone. 2 There are a number of DLA recipients whose family status is unknown and who are not included in the figures 3 A person doing 16 or more hours of remunerative work would be treated as in full-time employment and hence ineligible for any of the four key benefits, but the figures do include a small number of DLA only recipients who may also be in full-time employment. 4 Medical advice is that, of the range of disabling mental conditions recorded for the purposes of DLA, these four are clearly forms of "illness", as opposed to developmental abnormality. 5 The use of medical codes in recording data on DLA records started from 1995.

Thousand
1995 35.0
1996 46.4
1997 59.5
1998 70.3
1999 79.2
2000 87.6
2001 99.7
2002 113.4

Notes:

  1. 1. Figures given are for average of quarters available in that year.
  2. 2. Figures are based on a 5 per cent. sample.
  3. 3. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.