(2) what was the average clearance time for claims and for review requests, at each of the regional disability benefit centres; and if he will list the various outcomes of disability living allowance reviews;

(3) how many claims for disability living allowance have been made at each regional disability benefit centre to date; how many of these have resulted in an award, a refusal, or have still to be adjudicated on; and if he will break down the figures for awards according to the component and rate awarded.

Letter from Michael Bichard to Mr. Nigel Griffiths, dated 29 April 1993:

As Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency, it is my responsibility to answer questions about relevant operational matters. I am therefore replying to the points raised in your recent Parliamentary Questions to the Secretary of State for Social Security asking (i) how many requests for reviews of Disability Living Allowance have been received in each region to date; how many have been cleared and how many are outstanding. (ii) What was the average clearance time for claims and review requests at each of the Regional Disability Benefit Centres and if he will list the various outcomes of Disability Living Allowance reviews and (iii) how many Disability Living allowance claims have been made at each of the Regional Disability Living Allowance centres, how many of these resulted in an award, refusal or to be adjudicated on; and if he will break down the figures for awards according to the component and rate awarded.

Claims

New Disability Living Allowance claims are dealt with by the 11 Regional Disability Benefit Centres.

The number of new claims (including special rules) received, awarded, refused and on hand to month end March 1993, per Regional Disability Benefit Centre are shown in Table 1.

Total number of decisions does not equal the total number of clearances due to the fact that decisons does not take account of claims withdrawn or defective.

The outstanding figure includes claims that have been to an adjudication officer who has asked for further evidence before a decision can be made and also includes claims where the adjudication officer has made a decision but the decision has not as yet been recorded on the DLA computer system.

A breakdown of awards by rate is in Table 2.

Reviews

Disability Living Allowance reviews are dealt with by the Disability Living Allowance Unit at Blackpool.

It is only possible to provide the number of review requests received picking up the Disability Benefit Centre where the 1st tier decision was taken at disproportionate cost. This information is available once a decision is given on the request for a review.

Reviews can be made within three months of the decision on the claim on any grounds, these are shown at (a).

Reviews made outwith the three month period can only be accepted where there are particular grounds for review, these are shown at (b).

As at Month end March 1993 the total number, of requests for review of a Disability Living Allowance 1st tier decisions, cleared and outstanding were as follows:

List of various outcomes of DLA reviews, relating to 1st tier decision made at each of the DBCs are shown in Table 3.

Performance for month of March 1993

Performance on DLA is measured in terms of x per cent. of cases cleared in y days and it is therefore not possible to state an average processing time for claims and reviews on the new Benefit.

The majority (71 per cent.) of New DLA claims were cleared in 30 days (against a Secretary of State target of 60 per cent. in 30 days).

The majority (85 per cent.) of Special Rules claims were cleared in 10 days.

29 per cent. of reviews (within 3 months) were cleared in 75 days.

51 per cent. of reviews (outwith 3 months) were cleared in 75 days.

Reviews are being actively targeted with additional resources being deployed and clearing rates are increasing.

I hope you find this reply helpful. A copy of this reply will appear in the Official Report. Copies are also being placed in the Library.