The Rt. Hon. Sir John Major KG CH

Tag: Benefits

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Benefits Claimants – 1 July 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Benefits Claimants on 1st July 1986.

    Mr. Nicholls Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he is satisfied with the operation of section 5(1) (a) and (b) of the Supplementary Benefits Act 1976 concerning availability of benefit claimants for work; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr. Major The term “available for employment” contained in section 5 of the Supplementary Benefits Act 1976 has the same meaning as for unemployment benefit purposes. It is the responsibility of Department of Employment to test the availability of unemployed claimants for both benefits when new claims are made. In addition, those drawing benefits sign a declaration regularly that they remain available for work. The present availability test has been the subject of criticism by the Public Accounts Committee and other evidence which casts doubt on its adequacy comes from the labour force survey. As a result, the Department of Employment in conjunction with the DHSS has reviewed the arrangements and a pilot exercise of a strengthened availability test started on 16 June in 12 unemployment benefit offices.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on YTS (Benefits) – 30 June 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on YTS (Benefits) on 30th June 1986.

    Mr. Nellist Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many young people in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) nationally, have had their benefit cut as a result of coming off the YTS prematurely or because they refused a place when offered one.

    Mr. Major Department of Employment statistics show that for the year ending April 1986, altogether 17,804 young people were disqualified from benefit for premature termination of a youth training scheme. I regret that reliable information is not available for Coventry and the West Midlands.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Benefit Statistics – 30 June 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Benefit Statistics on 30th June 1986.

    Mr. MacKenzie Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the total sum of money paid, in the form of unemployment benefit to male, female and young claimants in the last 12 months for which figures are available in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland, respectively.

    Mr. Major The total estimated expenditure on unemployment benefit in Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the financial year 1985-86 was £1,640 million.

    A breakdown of this figure is available as follows:

    Country | £ million

    Scotland | 189
    England | 1,314
    Wales | 88
    Northern Ireland | 49

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Housing Benefit – 25 June 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Housing Benefit on 25th June 1986.

    Mr. Nellist Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what changes the Government plan to make to the system of rebates presently paid to local authorities for cash paid out in housing benefit.

    Mr. Major Changes are proposed in the arrangements for subsidising local authorities’ housing benefit expenditure as part of the proposals for the reform of the housing benefits scheme. Our objectives for the revised subsidy arrangements are to provide more incentives than now for local authorities to monitor and control costs whilst providing a fair level of support for expenditure which they properly incur.

    For benefit costs we originally proposed that 20 per cent. of benefit expenditure should he included in the rate support grant system with the remaining costs attracting a direct subsidy. Preliminary work on the effects of this proposal has indicated that it would not meet our objectives. We are therefore considering alternative ways of achieving the desired results and will be putting further proposals to the local authority interests.

    Mr. Irving Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he has any plans to reduce the housing benefit claimed by those who are unemployed and living in rented accommodation.

    Mr. Major We have no plans to reduce housing benefit specifically for unemployed people living in rented accommodation, although we intend to reduce overall expenditure on the scheme in 1988 as part of the social security reforms.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Unemployment Benefit – 20 June 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Unemployment Benefit on 20th June 1986.

    Mr. Hancock Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services, what is the cost over the most recent period of 12 months for which figures are available of unemployment and other benefits related to unemployment in Portsmouth.

    Mr. Major I regret that this information is not available.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Supplementary Benefit – 19 June 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Supplementary Benefit on 19th June 1986.

    Mr. Clay Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people were in receipt of supplementary benefit in (a) Cleveland and (b) Langbaurgh parliamentary constituency for each year since 1979.

    Mr. Major The county of Cleveland is covered by five of the Department’s local offices – Eston, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Stockton. The boundaries of these offices are conterminous with the boundary of Cleveland. Two of these offices, Eston and Redcar, deal with the parliamentary constituency of Langbaurgh and the boundaries are conterminous.

    Figures of people receiving supplementary benefit from the five offices covering the county of Cleveland in May 1986, and at comparable dates for the previous seven years, are as follows:

    Year | Number
    1979 | 39,637
    1980 | 41,690
    1981 | 49,623
    1982 | 59,850
    1983 | 65,286
    1984 | 72,212
    1985 | 77,657
    1986 | 78,241

    Figures of people receiving supplementary benefit at the two offices covering the parliamentary constituency of Langbaurgh for the same dates are as follows:

    Year | Number
    1979 | 9,403
    1980 | 9,584
    1981 | 11,459
    1982 | 13,759
    1983 | 15,771
    1984 | 17,493
    1985 | 18,926
    1986 | 18,603

    Source: 100 per cent. count of cases in action in each local office.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Benefit Fraud – 19 June 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Benefit Fraud on 19th June 1986.

    Mr. Meadowcroft Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what were the number of fraudulent benefit claims in Leeds in the years 1979 to 1985; and what was the average amount of money involved in each claim;
    (2) if he will state the number of fraudulent benefit claims as a proportion of total numbers of benefit claims, in the years 1979 to 1985;
    (3) if he will publish the average amount involved in (a) fraudulent benefit claims in the years 1979 to 1985 and (b) recovered from fraudulent claimants; and what is the average period of time over which repayments are made.

    Mr. Major The information requested is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

    Mr. Meadowcroft Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the number of his Department’s staff based in Leeds – and what proportion of these are assigned to investigating fraudulent benefit claims.

    Mr. Major On 1 June 1986 875.5 staff were employed at the six Leeds offices. The number of posts allocated to fraud work in these offices at that date was 27. The proportion of posts allocated to the investigation of fraudulent benefit claims as a percentage of total staff employed is just over 3 per cent.

    In addition, the specialist claims control teams based in the north-east region of the Department’s local office network will on occasion be involved in the investigation of fraudulent benefit claims in Leeds. These staff are not included in local office complements.

    Mr. Meadowcroft Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will state how many fraudulent benefit claims resulted in prosecution in 1985; and what was the number of prosecutions as a proportion of the total number of cases discovered.

    Mr. Major Six thousand, six hundred and seventy-six claimants were prosecuted by this Department for social security benefit fraud during 1985–86; this represents approximately 7 per cent. of those cases considered for legal proceedings.

    Mr. Meadowcroft Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the number of staff employed by his Department to investigate fraudulent benefit claims, in the years 1979 to 1986.

    Mr. Major I regret the information requested is not available for 1979. The following table sets out the number of staff allocated by the Department’s complementing system to fraud work for the years 1980 to 1986, and also includes specialist claims control staff not included in local office complements.

    Year | Number
    1980-81 | 2,044
    1981-82 | 1,945
    1982-83 | 2,284
    1983-84 | 2,216
    1984-85 | 2,488
    1985-86 | 2,804
    1986-87 | *3,673
    * Proposed

    Mr. Meadowcroft Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the estimated cost of fraudulent benefit claims in the years 1979 to 1986.

    Mr. Major No reliable estimate is available of the cost of social security benefit fraud.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Benefits – 18 June 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Benefits on 18th June 1986.

    Mr. Allen Adams Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if there are any sources of information that officials from his Department may not take into account when assessing a claimant’s benefit; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr. Major Decisions on claims for social security benefits are made by independent adjudication officers using information put to them by officials acting for the Secretary of State. Officials may gather from any source readily available information which they consider relevant but it is the adjudication officer’s function to assess the relevance and reliability of any information or evidence in making his decision. If the hon. Member has a particular case in mind he may care to write to me.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Housing Benefit – 18 June 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Housing Benefit on 18th June 1986.

    Mr. Heddle Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the Official Report the percentage of domestic ratepayers in each local authority who receive housing benefit.

    Mr. Major Information is not available in the precise form requested. However, a table giving estimates of the average number of rate rebate recipients (based on local and regional authorities’ subsidy claims for 1985-86) as a proportion of the number of domestic hereditaments (subjects in Scotland) at April 1985 has been placed in the Library.

    Mr. Andrew Bowden Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the most recent annual estimate of take-up of standard housing benefit, housing benefit supplement and supplementary benefit among retirement pensioners; and what is the estimated total amount remaining unclaimed in each of these three categories.

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

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Benefits (Fraud) – 17 June 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Benefits (Fraud) on 17th June 1986.

    Mr. Ashdown Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will describe the circumstances in which information from the National Health Service central register may be made available to regional office staff or to local office staff in the course of investigating actual or suspected fraud by social security claimants; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr. Major On request from a DHSS regional controller, National Health Service central register will supply the name and date of birth appropriate to a NHS number shown on a medical card that has been used as a means of identification when cashing a social security giro cheque which subsequently has been found to he fraudulent.

    NHSCR assistance is provided on the grounds that a person who voluntarily produces a medical card as evidence of identity should be willing to accept a check on that identity by the authorities concerned; and if the card used does not relate to the person who produced it the proper holder has apparently lost it and the current holder has no title to it.