The Rt. Hon. Sir John Major KG CH

Category: 1983-1987 Parliament

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on War Pensioners (Housing Benefit) – 29 April 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on War Pensioners (Housing Benefit) on 29th April 1986.

    Mr. Haynes Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many local authorities go beyond the £4 disregard for war pensioners when applying for housing benefit; and if he will list them in the Official Report;

    (2) how many local authorities act on the guidelines to implement the £4 disregard for war pensioners when applying for housing benefit; and if he will list them in the Official Report.

    Mr. Major All 489 authorities administering housing benefit are required by law to apply a £4 disregard to war disablement and war widows’ pensions. (Regulation 16 of the Housing Benefits Regulations 1985).

    Information on the number of authorities applying a discretionary disregard higher than the statutory amount is not held centrally.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Occupational Pensions – 29 April 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Occupational Pensions on 29th April 1986.

    Mr. Clay Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services when he expects to publish regulations on disclosure of information on occupational pensions; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr. Major The consultative proposals for these regulations produced a very large and detailed response from a wide variety of organisations and individuals and we have tried to take full account of the many different views expressed in that response. In preparing the regulations, we have continued to consult regularly with representatives of the relevant professional bodies as well as representatives of and advisers to occupational pension schemes and we expect to be in a position to publish them very soon.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Computerisation – 29 April 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Computerisation on 29th April 1986.

    Mr. Ashdown Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement on progress on computerisation within his Department.

    Mr. Major An outline of the Department’s plans for computerising social security benefits work was published in September 1982 with the issue of “Social Security Operational Strategy – A framework for the future” (copies of the publication are held in the Library). We envisage the progressive installation over the coming years of a network of mainframe computers linked to visual display terminals in every local office. Existing mainframes will be replaced as they approach the end of their natural life cycle, or built on where it is sensible and economic to do so. New systems will be built for benefits where no computer support exists at the moment.

    The computerisation strategy is comprised of a series of separate projects, some of which have already reached the implementation stage. For example, in local unemployment benefit offices the teletype terminals linking them to the ICL 2966 mainframe computers at the Reading and Livingston national unemployment benefit computer centres are being replaced. The new system provides for Honeywell visual display units to be installed which will be linked to the computer centres by British Telecom Packet Switchstream Service. Two hundred and sixty-eight terminals have been delivered, out of an eventual national total of 844. Seventy-nine offices are now converted, and approximately 10 offices a week will be added on a rolling programme which is scheduled for completion in October 1987.

    In local social security offices assistance in the short term is being provided by the wide-scale introduction of microcomputers for some of the most difficult and laborious supplementary benefit tasks. British Telecom microcomputers have already been installed in the majority of the 450 offices scheduled, with the full agreement of the departmental trade union side. Completion and full running of the three separate micro applications in all offices is expected by the summer.

    In the longer term the local office project (LOP) will link social security offices into a national network and provide mainframe computer support for the assessment and payment of supplementary benefit income support and incapacity benefits. Approval has been given for a prototype to be established at a development centre at Lytham in 1988. If successful, three new area computer centres will be constructed and national implementation of the project will begin in 1989.

    Approval has also been given for the establishment of a departmental central index which will begin to provide indexing and tracing facilities for local office staff in 1988. Other projects, providing on-line access via visual display units for local office staff to existing mainframes dealing with child benefit, retirement pensions and contributions, are at the planning stage.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Free School Meals – 29 April 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Free School Meals on 29th April 1986.

    Mr. Allen McKay Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what representations he has received in support of the Government’s proposals to restrict the availability of free school meals.

    Mr. Major Representations have not been generally in a form which can sensibly be used to provide a simple breakdown between those in support of or against the Government’s proposals, but some endorsed the general principle of higher cash payments rather than payments in kind.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Housing Benefit – 29 April 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Housing Benefit on 29th April 1986.

    Mr. David Atkinson Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many representations he has received on the new method of assessment of housing benefit.

    Mr. Major Over 2,000 submissions were made by individuals and organisations in response to the housing benefit proposals contained in our Green Paper “Reform of Social Security.” Further comments have been received on our subsequent White Paper. Virtually every submission commented – favourably – on the proposed new method of assessing housing benefit on the same basis as income support.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Claimant Statistics – 29 April 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Claimant Statistics on 29th April 1986.

    Mr. Wallace Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the expenditure in single payments, both in total and per capita, to social security claimants in 1978-79 and 1984-85.

    Mr. Major Expenditure was £37 million in 1978-79 and £241 million in 1984-85. On a per capita basis this is equivalent to slightly over 20p per week to each claimant on benefit in 1978-79, and about £1 in 1984-85.

  • Mr Major’s Parliamentary Answer on One-Parent Benefit – 29 April 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s Parliamentary Answer on One-Parent Benefit on 29th April 1986.

    Mr. Knox Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the percentage take-up of one-parent benefit.

    The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Security (Mr. John Major) The percentage take-up has steadily improved over recent years, and the latest available estimate shows that about 75 per cent. of those who stand to gain by claiming one-parent benefit are receiving it.

    Mr. Knox I accept that there has been a great improvement during the last few years, but does my hon. Friend not think that the figure is still disappointing? Does he have any plans to try to improve the percentage take-up?

    Mr. Major I share my hon. Friend’s wish that the take-up should be improved. We shall continue with the brief television fillers, which have proved to be particularly successful in encouraging people to claim this benefit, as well as with the traditional advertisements, which appear in child benefit books and on leaflets and posters in a variety of places, notably surgeries, health centres, post offices, law centres and elsewhere. I hope that in this fashion we will increase the take-up.

    Mr. John Mark Taylor Would my hon. Friend care to speculate upon how many people do not take up the one-parent benefit, although they are entitled to it, and upon what the cost would be if they did?

    Mr. Major I do not have the most recently available figures, but, broadly, about 100,000 families who could have claimed one-parent benefit did not take it up. According to the latest figures, the cost would have been about £18 million a year. I hope that in about three months’ time we will be able to update those figures.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Supplementary Benefit – 28 April 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Supplementary Benefit on 28th April 1986.

    Mr. Frank Field Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many extra young people aged (a) 16 years, (b) 17 years and (c) 18 years he estimates were eligible for supplementary benefit in 1985 and are eligible in 1986 following the decision of the Tribunal of Commissioners R(F) 2/85.

    Mr. Major A total of approximately 52,000 young people left school at Easter 1985 but the number who had exams to take and who might have been eligible to claim supplementary benefit following Commissioners’ decision R(F) 2/85 is unknown. However, 24,859 young people successfully claimed benefit and 8,164 of these still had exams to take. No breakdown by age is available. There are no figures yet available for 1986.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Judicial Reviews – 28 April 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Judicial Reviews on 28th April 1986.

    Sir Geoffrey Finsberg Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give the number of judicial reviews in which his Department has been involved since 1 March 1974; and on how many occasions the court of final recourse has found against him.

    Mr. Major I shall let my hon. Friend have a reply as soon as possible.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Departmental Staff – 25 April 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Departmental Staff on 25th April 1986.

    Mr. Frank Field Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give a breakdown on the geographical deployment of the additional 5,000 staff which he recently announced.

    Mr. Major [pursuant to his reply, 21 April 1986, c. 85]: The increased allocation of local office staff for the 1 April 1987 manpower target announced by my right hon. Friend on 7 March at column 322 will be distributed as follows:

    Region | Number
    North East | 559
    Midlands | 847
    London North | 858
    London South | 1,004
    Wales/South West | 442
    North West | 661
    Scotland | 804
    Total | 5,175