To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the frequency and nature of errors on the computer system used to calculate benefits at his Department's offices in the Doncaster area; and if he will make a statement.

The Department's strategy for the computerisation of the social security payment system, which includes local offices in the Doncaster area, will be completed on time in July 1991. One of the aims of the strategy is to reduce the level of payment errors. Although information on specific types of errors are not currently available either locally or nationally, the majority relate to human error, rather than computer faults. The latest available information indicates that the national error rate for all types of income support payments stands at around 5·3 per cent. compared with 7·4 per cent. prior to computerisation. The error rate for payments of retirement pension averages 2 per cent.