To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list in the Official Report the performance targets for the family credit office at Blackpool indicating which are not yet being achieved.

The information is in the table:

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the average time taken to process a family credit claim by the DSS office at Blackpool.

I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Oldham, West (Mr. Meacher) on 16 January at col. 531.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what facilities are made available for telephone contact to be made by members of the public wishing to expedite family credit claims at Blackpool.

All claims for family credit are acknowledged by a letter which provides the number of a dedicated telephone inquiry section. This service provides direct contact via 40 telephone lines to a section staffed by experienced assessment clerks with on-line access to the family credit computer system. Claimants are provided with answers to their inquiries from information held on the database. Urgent messages are relayed to the operational sections to expedite claims and call-back arrangements operate to callers who require more detailed information from the assessment officers.Additional facilities operate for members of the public who visit the local offices of the Department by way of a local office helpdesk service which provides direct contact to an urgent information facility in cases of financial hardship.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the official staff complement necessary for undertaking family credit work at Blackpool; and how many employees are currently employed.

The current staffing complement at North Fylde central office to deal with family credit claims is 776. The number of staff employed as at 30 January 1991 was 779.