The Rt. Hon. Sir John Major KG CH

Tag: Benefits

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Departmental Expenditure – 21 October 1985

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Departmental Expenditure on 21st October 1985.

    Mr. Tony Banks Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how much his Department has spent on office furniture, curtains and carpets and office decorating in each of the last five years.

    Mr. Major Information in the form requested is not available. Under the property repayment services arrangements introduced in 1983-84, decorations remain the responsibility of the Property Services Agency, which includes a levy for minor works, including decorations, in the accommodation charge to departments. Before 1983-84, supplies, which include furniture, furnishings, cleaning materials, removal costs and similar expenditure were provided by the Property Services Agency as a common service. Expenditure on supplies by the Department for its HQ, central offices and local offices since then was:

    Year | £ million

    1983-84 | 7,349

    1984-85 | 8,448

    It is not possible to estimate separately the cost of office furniture, curtains and carpets and office decorating in these years.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on War Pensions (Staff) – 21 October 1985

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on War Pensions (Staff) on 21st October 1985.

    Mr. Wigley Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he is satisfied that the medical branch of the war pensions department of his Department has an adequate number of doctors on its staff to undertake its work effectively; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr. Major Recent delays in processing war pensions claims and appeals have been caused partly by difficulties in recruiting medical officers. In the last few months a number have been recruited and by mid November we expect that all of the 15 posts at the war pensions branch will be filled. The number of claimants to war pensions awaiting medical decisions has already been reduced to less than half the number six months ago. Provided that successful medical recruitment continues, we are satisfied that the number of doctors will be sufficient to eliminate the delays.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Rhodesian Service Pensions – 21 October 1985

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Rhodesian Service Pensions on 21st October 1985.

    Viscount Cranborne Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether, in the light of the decline in the value of the Zimbabwe dollar against the pound sterling, he will bring forward proposals for increasing the value of pensions awarded to war widows of Rhodesian service men who are British citizens having re-settled in the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr. Major The United Kingdom Government may supplement a war widow’s pension payable to a British citizen resident in this country by the government of a former colony. The supplement is set at a level sufficient to raise the pension to the amount which would be payable under the United Kingdom war widows’ pension scheme and is usually recalculated annually. If my hon. Friend has a particular case in mind which he would like me to look into, I should be happy to do so.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Supplementary Benefit – 21 October 1985

    The text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Supplementary Benefit on 21st October 1985.

    Mrs. Beckett Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will place in the Library tables showing for each supplementary benefit office (a) the numbers of live cases in each of the three categories, pensioners, unemployed and others, for the most recent year for which information is available and (b) the number of single payments made to claimants in each of these categories by each office in the same year.

    Mr. Major Tables showing the latest available figures of claimants, in the categories of pensioners, unemployed and others, receiving supplementary benefit from each of the Department’s offices were placed in the Library on 25 March in response to the hon. Member’s earlier request of 5 March at column 504. Tables showing the number of single payments made in the year ending April 1985, broken down on the same basis, were placed in the Library on 7 October.

    Ms. Harman Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many supplementary benefit claimants there were in the London borough of Southwark in each of the years 1979 to 1985; and what was the number of children dependent on these claimants in each of those years.

    Mr. Major I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to her by my hon. Friend the Member for Wycombe (Mr. Whitney) on 1 May at columns 169–70. This reply gave the number of people claiming supplementary benefit at the nine local social security offices which serve the London borough of Southwark. The areas served by these offices are not coterminous with the borough so that some claimants living in surrounding boroughs were included in the figures given. Comparable figures for the number of dependent children are not available centrally.

    The following table shows the estimated number of people claiming supplementary benefit in 1981, 1982 and 1983, and the estimated number of children dependent on them. Comparable figures for 1979, 1980, 1984 and 1985 are not available centrally.

    London Borough of Southwark

    Year | Estimated number of Supplementary Benefit claimants | Estimated number of children dependent on these claimants

    1981 | 24,000 | 11,000
    1982 | 29,000 | 14,000
    1983 | 30,000 | 14,000

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Invalidity Benefit – 21 October 1985

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Invalidity Benefit on 21st October 1985.

    Mr. Ron Davies Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give the number and percentage of cases won by appellants appealing against refusal or stoppage of invalidity benefit claims in the past year in England and Wales and the number and percentage of such cases which were supported by (a) the claimant’s own general practitioner, (b) an independent medical consultant and (c) other evidence.

    Mr. Major I regret that information relating to appellants in invalidity benefit cases is not available in the form requested. The latest available information for Great Britain which relates to all types of appeal in invalidity benefit cases for the year ending 31 December 1983 is that 3,280 appeals were made to local tribunals of which 947 were successful. A further 164 appeals were made to the commissioner of which 46 were upheld. Of 3,280 appellants 993 (30 per cent) were therefore successful.

    I regret that no information is available regarding the number of appeal cases supported by (a) the claimant’s own general practitioner, (b) an independent medical consultant and (c) other evidence.

    Mr. Ron Davies Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give the number of occasions in the past year on which payments of invalidity benefit to claimants have been stopped in England and Wales, respectively; and if he will give these figures as percentages of total invalidity benefit claimants.

    Mr. Major I regret that the information is not available in the form requested. In the 12 months ending 2 April 1983, the latest period for which figures are available, about 250,000 spells of invalidity benefit ended in Great Britain. Spells can terminate for various reasons but the great majority will be because the claimant submitted a final doctor’s statement certifying he was no longer incapable of work. As claimants may have had more than one spell of incapacity in a year it is not possible to express this figure as a percentage of the total number of invalidity benefit claimants. But in the same period some 930,000 beneficiaries received invalidity pension.

    Mr. Ron Davies Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give the number of cases where the findings of the regional medical officer conflict with those of a claimant’s own general practitioner and where the findings of the adjudication officer subsequently confirm the opinion of the regional medical officer in cases where claims for invalidity benefit have been refused or stopped in England and Wales for the past year; and if he will express both numbers as percentages of the total number of claims for invalidity benefit.

    Mr. Major I regret that the requested information is not available.

    Mr. Ron Davies Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list, for each office of his Department in mid-Glamorgan, the number of occasions in the past year on which payments of invalidity benefit to claimants have been stopped.

    Mr. Major I regret that the information is not available. If the hon. Member has a particular case in mind, perhaps he would write to me.

    Mr. Ron Davies Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give the number of invalidity benefit claimants at each office of his Department in mid-Glamorgan at the latest available date.

    Mr. Major Information about claimants to invalidity benefit is obtained by periodical analysis of a small sample of cases. From this analysis we estimate that on 2 April 1983 (the latest date for which figures are available), there are approximately 28,700 people receiving invalidity benefit at the Department’s eight offices in mid-Glamorgan. The sample is too small to permit reliable estimates to be made of the number of claimants at any particular office.

  • Mr Major’s Written Question on Benefits – 6 December 1982

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s Parliamentary written question on Benefits, published on 6th December 1982.

    Mr. Major Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will take steps to end the situation whereby benefit paid for the first 12 weeks of unemployment may be deducted from any sums subsequently paid from the redundancy fund whilst still counting against the maximum number of weeks’ entitlement to unemployment benefit.

    Mr. Rossi Unemployment benefit is not payable for any period for which a person receives a payment in lieu of notice, whether that payment is made by the employer or comes from the redundancy fund because the employer is insolvent. Where unemployment benefit has already been paid for the period in question, the payment from the Bell fund is reduced by the amount of the benefit. However, this procedure does not lead to reimbursement of the national insurance fund and the benefit already paid must therefore count against the person’s cumulative entitlement to benefit. I appreciate that this situation causes some confusion for claimants and we are studying the relevant regulations to look for solutions to this and other problems that have arisen in this connection.

  • Mr Major’s Written Question on Benefits Fraud – 13 February 1980

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s Parliamentary written question on Benefits Fraud, published on 13th February 1980.

    Mr. Major Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what further action he is taking against social security fraud and abuse.

    Mr. Prentice: Efforts to control fraud and abuse have been inadequate for several years. Excellent work has been done by the staff working on these problems, but their numbers are insufficient. The main problems are people who work but purport to be unemployed, people who avoid taking work or mis-state their assets, income or family circumstances, and people who evade their responsibilities for maintaining their wives and children. We have insisted that the prevention and detection of fraud and abuse should be given higher priority, and despite our general policy of reducing staff numbers we are providing the extra staff needed to boost prevention and detection efforts. Another 1,050 – 450 this financial year and 600 next – are being deployed on this work. They will include a further 470 staff, doubling the existing number, to work on unemployment review in relation to supplementary benefit claims, and a further 60 who will work on unemployment benefit claims in co-operation with the Department of Employment. There will be an extra 170 liable relative officers and a further 270 fraud specialists. Special arrangements have been made to monitor the results of this extra effort. We estimate that the savings from it in 1980–81 may total £50 million.

  • Mr Major’s Written Question on Benefits – 18 January 1980

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s Parliamentary written question on Benefits, published on 18th January 1980.

    Mr. Major Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he intends changing the arrangements for paying social security benefits; and if so, whether he has taken account of the effect on post offices of any changes.

    Mrs. Chalker The Government are fully aware of the importance which local communities, particularly those in rural areas, attach to the availability of post offices and the services which they provide. At the same time, however, the Government are concerned to cut out waste and improve efficiency. As part of this campaign a small team of officials in consultation with Sir Derek Rayner has been examining arrangements for paying social security benefits. This examination has included the frequency of payments and whether the public should be able to choose payment of their benefits direct into a bank account. Changing the arrangements for paying benefits offers scope for saving taxpayers’ money by reducing administrative costs, but the Government will not lose sight of the social consequences of any changes in benefit payment arrangements. I am considering the study team’s report and I shall be discussing it with Sir Derek Rayner shortly. Any changes emerging from this study will be made only after the most careful consideration and proper consultation.