The Rt. Hon. Sir John Major KG CH

Category: 1983-1987 Parliament

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Benefits – 5 December 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Benefits on 5th December 1986.

    Mr. Frank Cook Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services on how many occasions since November 1980 a period of exceptionally severe weather has been recognised for the purpose of the Supplementary Benefits (Single Payments) Regulations for each of the Department of Health and Social Security local offices of Stockton, Middlesbrough, Hartlepool, Eston and Redcar.

    Mr. Major Single payments of supplementary benefit were available under the exceptionally severe weather provision in this area in the winter of 1981-82 and the winter of 1985-86.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on the Invalid Care Allowance – 4 December 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on the Invalid Care Allowance on 4th December 1986.

    Mr. Frank Field Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will consider lifting the 31 December bar for those eligible for invalid care allowance following the European Court ruling.

    Mr. Major No.

    Mr. Frank Field Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what new steps he intends to take to advertise the eligibility for invalid care allowance following the ruling of the European Court.

    Mr. Major We have issued a new edition of leaflet NI 212 which includes full details of the extension of ICA to married women. We have written individually to 400,000 attendance allowance beneficiaries asking them to alert their carers to the extension of ICA. We have advertised the extension in the national press and journals, including women’s magazines.

    Up to 21 November, we had received some 85,000 claims from married women and new claims arrive at about 2,000 a week. We have no plans for any further publicity.

    Mr. Frank Field Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give the number of claims he expects to be lodged for the invalid care allowance following the ruling of the European Court; and if he will estimate the number of those claimants drawing supplementary benefit.

    Mr. Major The number of claims received to 21 November from married and co-habiting women is 85,000. We continue to receive claims at the rate of around 2,000 a week. We expect, therefore, to have received about 97,000 claims by the end of the year. It is not known how many of these claimants are in receipt of supplementary benefit.

    Mr. Wareing Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what factors have led to recent delays in the processing of awarded claims for invalid care allowance to married women; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr. Major Once invalid care allowance is awarded by the adjudicating authorities, payment is usually processed the following week. There are no substantial delays in processing awarded claims.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Disabled People – 4 December 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Disabled People on 4th December 1986.

    Mr. Tom Clarke Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what consultations he intends to undertake with voluntary organisations of and for disabled people before bringing the various sections of the Disabled Persons (Services, Consultation and Representation) Act 1986 into force or issuing guidance to local authorities and health authorities; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr. Major Appropriate voluntary organisations will be consulted before regulations are made under section 1 of the Act. We will consider separately whether or not it is necessary or appropriate to consult voluntary organisations on the implementation of other sections of the Act in each particular case.

    Mr. Tom Clarke Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services when he intends to lay commencement orders for sections 5 and 6 of the Disabled Persons (Services, Consultation and Representation) Act 1986.

    Mr. Major It was originally thought, on the basis of discussions with the local authority associations during the passage of the Disabled Persons (Services, Consultation and Representation) Bill through Parliament that sections 5 and 6 would not carry significant resource implications for local authorities. We had therefore hoped that these sections could be included amongst those parts of the Act which could be implemented quickly.

    The associations have however, in the light of further inquiries now produced some figures which suggest that implementation of these sections will indeed have significant resource implications. We have asked for urgent discussions with the associations to clarify this matter and these are now being arranged. Until this issue is resolved, I am unable to say when commencement orders might be laid to bring sections 5 and 6 into effect.

    Mr. Tom Clarke Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) when he intends to lay a commencement order for section 11 of the Disabled Persons (Services, Consultation and Representation) Act 1986;
    (2) when he intends to lay commencement orders for sections 4, 8, 9 and 10 of the Disabled Persons (Services, Consultation and Representation) Act 1986.

    Mr. Major As I said in reply to the hon. Members for Roxburgh and Berwickshire (Mr. Kirkwood) and for Caernarfon (Mr. Wigley) on 26 November at column 289, we hope it will be possible to implement sections 4, 8, 9, 10 and 11 of the Disabled Persons (Services, Consultation and Representation) Act 1986 by 1 April 1987.

    Mr. Wareing Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what representations he has received seeking implementation of the Disabled Persons (Services, Consultation and Representation) Act 1986; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr. Major I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Members for Roxburgh and Berwickshire (Mr. Kirkwood) and for Caernarfon (Mr. Wigley) on 26 November at column 289.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Benefits – 3 December 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Benefits on 3rd December 1986.

    Mr. Hirst Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish the latest take-up estimates for supplementary benefit and one-parent benefit.

    Mr. Major The latest estimates by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys of the number of one parent families in Great Britain for each year from 1979 to 1984, suggest that the take-up rate of one parent benefit over that period is as follows:

    Year | Per cent.
    1979 | 70
    1980 | 77
    1981 | 78
    1982 | 83
    1983 | 89
    1984 | 93

    Notes:

    (1) The take-up rate is of those families who stand to gain. Not all families can gain because one parent benefit is taken into account as income for supplementary benefit purposes.
    (2) The increase in child benefit (one parent benefit) for a single parent family was introduced in 1977.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Supplementary Benefit – 2 December 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Supplementary Benefit on 2nd December 1986.

    Mr. Wigley Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services, using the 1983 “Family Expenditure Survey”, how many people fell below supplementary benefit level, were on supplementary benefit and were on incomes up to 140 per cent. of supplementary benefit level in 1983, broken down by family type and economic status; what proportion each group was of the population of Wales; and how this compares with 1979 and 1981.

    Mr. Major I refer the hon. Member to my replies to my hon. Friend the Member for Derbyshire, South (Mrs. Currie) on 25 July at columns 711-12 and to the hon. Member for Dunfermline, East (Mr. Brown) on 6 November at column 584.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Service Pensions – 1 December 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Service Pensions on 1st December 1986.

    Mr. Ashley Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many service veterans of the nuclear tests have applied for a service invalidity pension; how many applications have been accepted; and what percentage this represents of the total applications.

    Mr. Major Since mid-1983 it is known that about 110 claims to war disablement pension have been made on the grounds that disablement was caused by exposure to radiation from atomic bomb tests. None has been accepted on those grounds. In one case only however, a pension was awarded on appeal by the independent pensions appeal tribunal on the grounds of reasonable doubt.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Pensioners (Earnings) – 1 December 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Pensioners (Earnings) on 1st December 1986.

    Mr. Stern Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list, for each year since 1978, the maximum weekly permitted earnings of a married pensioner aged between 65 and 70 years before commencement of clawback of the pension.

    Mr. Major The earnings limit applying to all male pensioners between 65 and 69 in the uprating month in each year is given in the table.

    Date | £

    November 1978 | 45
    November 1979 | 52
    November 1980 | 52
    November 1981 | 52
    November 1982 | 57
    November 1983 | 65
    November 1984 | 70
    November 1985 | 75
    July 1986 | 75

    Female pensioners are subject to these earnings limits between ages 60 and 64, but no earnings limit applies to pensioners of either sex from five years after minimum pension age.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Supplementary Benefit – 1 December 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Supplementary Benefit on 1st December 1986.

    Mr. J. Enoch Powell Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if, pending legislation, he will authorise the extra-statutory concession, corresponding with Northern Ireland circular 522/86 and providing continuity of supplementary benefit at the long-term rate for beneficiaries who have removed from Northern Ireland to Great Britain.

    Mr. Major My right hon. Friend has already authorised extra-statutory payments. I refer the right hon. Member to circular S22/86, a copy of which is in the Library.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on National Insurance – 1 December 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on National Insurance on 1st December 1986.

    Mr. Ashdown Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give the latest available figures for those class 2 national insurance contributors who are also class 1 secondary national insurance contributors; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr. Major I regret that the information requested by the hon. Member cannot be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Severe Weather Payments – 1 December 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Severe Weather Payments on 1st December 1986.

    Mr. Blair Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will list those areas in the north-east and Cumbria which have experienced weekly average temperatures below -1.5°C. in 1985–86; if he will list the number of weeks such temperatures were experienced; and what estimate he has made of the amount of money involved in severe weather payments to these areas: (a) under his present system of exceptionally severe weather payments and (b) under his proposed system;
    (2) if he will list those areas in Scotland which have experienced weekly average temperatures below -1.5°C. in 1985-86; if he will list the number of weeks such temperatures were experienced; and what is his estimate of the amount of money involved in severe weather payments to these areas (a) under the present system of exceptionally severe weather payments and (b) under his proposed system.

    Mr. Major Details of the areas in which exceptionally cold weather payments would have been made under the proposed new criteria last winter are contained in annex C to the report published by the Social Security Advisory Committee on these proposals (Cm. 18), and annex B to the Secretary of State’s statement published with that report.

    Payments actually made by the Department’s local offices in the north-east of England and Cumbria last winter totalled approximately £2 million. Final figures are awaited from some local offices in Scotland, but the provisional total for local offices for which returns have so far been received is approximately £1.9 million. It is not possible to make a reliable estimate of what expenditure would have been under the proposed new rules last winter since this would depend on claimants’ capital holdings and take-up in the areas concerned.

    Mr. Meacher Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will estimate the average annual expenditure over a five-year period on the proposed cold weather payments.

    Mr. Major It is not sensible to make projections for the future since the crucial factor – the weather – cannot be predicted. Nor is it possible to make valid retrospective assessment, since amounts paid would depend on claimants’ capital holdings and take-up in the attached areas. However, our intention and expectation is that, over the years, the new system implies help on broadly the same scale as has operated in the years since 1980.