(2) how much was spent in the form of direct payments to disabled people in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority.
[holding answer 5 February 2007]: The direct payments scheme is run by the Department of Health. Cash payments are made in lieu of social service provisions to individuals who have been assessed as needing services.
The Department for Work and Pensions operates the direct payment system, which is the branding for paying benefits and pensions directly into bank accounts. More than 98 per cent. of all DWP customers are paid this way.
The table shows the number of DWP customers in Great Britain paid by direct payment in each of the last five years.
The information relating to disabled people is not available in the requested format. But we do know that in December 2006 around 97 per cent. of customers (just over 3 million people) who have their benefits paid by the Disability and Carers Service were paid into an account.
Customers with all of their benefits paid by direct payment Customers with some of their benefits paid by direct payment Total paid by direct payment 2002 6,133,660 631,640 6,765,300 2003 7,191,850 786,630 7,978,480 2004 12,282,820 804,700 13,087,520 2005 15,595,720 112,640 15,708,360 2006 15,843,310 96,640 15,939,950 Notes: 1. Figures have been provided by DWP Information Directorate from a scan run in November of each of the five years. 2. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 3. Child benefit is now administered by HMRC and War Pensions is now administered by MOD. These benefits have therefore been excluded. 4. Figures for 2003-06 include Post Office card accounts. The Post Office card account was introduced in April 2003. 5. The numbers paid via direct payment increase significantly from 2003 onwards because the Government migrated customers from order books to direct payment between 2003 and 2005.