To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answers of 6 June to the hon. Member for Sunderland, South on severe disablement allowance, what information is maintained at (a) national and (b) sub-national level on numbers in receipt of the severe disablement allowance.
Information on severe disablement allowance is maintained as follows:A return is made every calendar month by each local office producing a figure comprising the number of claimants to the benefit and including those cases where final action is still outstanding although benefit has ceased. These figures are collated regionally and nationally.
Additional statistics based on a 1 per cent. sample of cases, are produced once a year for Great Britain and for standard statistical regions. Reliable figures cannot be produced for any smaller geographical area.
For completeness, pursuant to my reply on 6 June, I would add that information on recipients of the income support severe disability premium is maintained at a national and regional level.