To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the current backlog of claims for additional payments at each of the offices of his Department in the London Borough of Newham; what is the estimated time needed to clear them given the present level of staffing resources; and if he will make a statement.

There are three local offices in the London borough of Newham. The numbers of claims for single payments of supplementary benefit which were uncleared at 20 May 1988 are given in the table.

	Claims Outstanding
Plaistow	998
Woodgrange Park	425
Canning Town	249

All claims were examined on receipt and priority has been given to urgent cases. Each of the offices concerned has its full complement of staff. At the current rate of clearance it is anticipated that the majority of outstanding claims will have been cleared by the end of July.