To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average waiting time was for the Veterans Agency to settle claims to personnel entitled to payments in each year since 1997. (131713)

Average clearance times for all claims made under the war pensions scheme since financial year 2000-01 were as follows:

Prior to 2000-01 performance data was gathered on a different basis and average clearance times were not recorded. Performance was measured against a target of 145 working days, and the percentage of claims cleared within this target was as follows:

The Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) was introduced in 2005-06. In the introductory year of the scheme, no overall average clearance time figure was produced. In 2006-07 the average clearance time under the AFCS was 34 days.