To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what action he will take to ensure that social security appeal tribunals which have to be re-listed are not delayed because of the non-availability of panel members; and if he will make a statement. [116838]

The Appeals Service (NI) is required to re-list all adjourned appeals before the same Tribunal panel following a Direction from the President of Appeal Tribunals. As a result of additional resources being allocated to The Appeals Service (NI) and the appointment of 25 additional Tribunal members the average clearance time for all appeal types has reduced from 22 weeks during April 2002 to 16 weeks during March 2003. The Appeals Service (NI) is currently reviewing the procedures for the re-listing of appeals that have previously been adjourned to further reduce the time taken to reach a final determination and to prioritise appeals that have to be re-listed before the same Tribunal.