Dr O’Hagan asked the Minister for Social Development to detail (a) how the £2 million "bridging funding" was allocated, (b) the criteria for receipt of bridging assistance, (c) the organisations that received financial assistance, (d) the number of organisations that were successful in their application that came from West Belfast and (e) the number of unsuccessful applicants that came from West Belfast.

(AQW 1190/00)

The Minister for Social Development (Mr Morrow): The funding was allocated on a pro-rata basis across funders, based on the amount of funding requested and then prioritised using agreed scoring criteria.

The criteria were:

1. extent of the adverse impact on the community were the project to end at this time;

2. the track record of the organisation in meeting the aims and objectives of the project and its financial and management responsibilities;

3. whether the project has a strategic support role in relation to other voluntary and community groups;

4. the existence of any similar project or services in the same geographic area;

5. evidence of insufficient financial reserves to continue funding in the interim;

6. evidence of a strategy for sustainability beyond April 2001.

Details of the successful applications are appended. Repeat entries on the list indicate assistance from separate funding sources in respect of different projects.

Thirty-one projects from West Belfast were funded, while 78 were unsuccessful.

(AQW 1263/00)

Mr Morrow: Administrative data sets are held by the Department for Social Development as detailed in the attached list. However, the data available is in quantitative form only. The Department does not hold data on a qualitative basis.

The Department, including the Social Security and Child Support Agencies, also maintains a range of records on its staff for the purposes of carrying out its functions as an employer. Many of the records for individual members of staff are held on computerised systems, which are managed by the Department of Finance and Personnel. These records include personnel, payroll and training records. Such records are not managed in a way which routinely provides data sets by enumeration district, electoral ward, district council or parliamentary constituency.

(AQW 1300/00)

Mr Morrow: There are no cases outstanding an initial review by the Independent Case Examiner of the Child Support Agency in Northern Ireland.

When the Independent Case Examiner’s office receives a complaint, the initial review by the agency must be completed within three working days. The agency has achieved this target in all cases to date.

(AQW 1305/00)

Mr Morrow: My Department’s fraud policy statement provides a high-level framework for the development, throughout the Department and its agencies, of policies and measures to counter fraud.

Within this framework, the following measures have been implemented at operational level:

The Social Security Agency has a comprehensive fraud strategy designed to secure the gateway to benefits and to detect and eliminate fraud. The agency has agreed to reduce the level of fraud and error within benefit expenditure by 5% per year for each of the next three years. Steps taken to reduce fraud include:

• working with the Inland Revenue and Housing Executive for closer co-operation and sharing of information to improve joint effectiveness;
• an improved training package for all staff; and
• discussions with the press office to improve media coverage.

The Housing Executive, which administers housing benefit on behalf of the Department, has in place a security strategy aimed at preventing fraudulent claims from entering the benefit system, and for ensuring that when fraud is detected, it is rigorously investigated. Extensive use is made of data matching facilities to identify discrepancies in the information provided for benefit purposes, and fraud awareness is being promoted throughout the Housing Executive to increase the number of cases referred for investigation. The Housing Executive and Social Security Agency work together closely in the investigation of fraudulent claims.

The Child Support Agency has introduced a fraud strategy to address fraud in both Northern Ireland and the Eastern Business Unit. A fraud team has been established, and an early objective will be to introduce effective risk management aimed at preventing fraud from entering the system. Legislative changes and the introduction of new sanctions from 31 January 2001 will strengthen the agency’s powers in relation to future counter-fraud activity.

Core Department. Systems of financial control are an integral part of all of the programmes administered by the core Department. Procedures currently in place to counter fraud include:

• letters of offer forming the basis of a contract between the Department and funded bodies;
• 5% post-payment check of all European funded projects;
• independent visits of randomly selected projects;
• a rolling audit programme of funded housing schemes; and
• performance standards verification visits to housing associations.

(AQW 1306/00)

Mr Morrow: The information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost. Incapacity benefit is an income replacement benefit, entitlement to which depends on the satisfaction of contribution conditions and I can confirm that there are no plans to introduce means-testing.

From April this year, incapacity benefit recipients who are also receiving an occupational or personal pension will have the amount of their incapacity benefit reduced by 50 pence for every £1 by which their pension exceeds £85. Those in receipt of incapacity benefit at 5 April 2001, and people with the most severe disabilities who receive the highest rate of the care component of disability living allowance, will not be affected by these changes.

(AQW 1322/00)

Mr Morrow: The agency does not maintain records on the average cost in administration of reviewing life awards for disability living allowance. Compiling and maintaining such information would require a major work programme at disproportionate costs.

The average direct cost of processing a disability living allowance appeal is approximately £275 per case, based on the number of cases cleared in the 1999-2000 year. The cost of obtaining the indirect costs would be disproportionately high.

(AQW 1348/00)

Mr Morrow: Legahory Court and Burnside in Craigavon were built by the former Craigavon Development Commission in the early 1970s. Since the Housing Executive took on responsibility for both areas, in Legahory, approximately £560,000 has been invested on pre-paint repairs, painting and the removal of town gas. No maintenance details are available prior to 1994. However, approximately £58,000 has been spent on routine maintenance since then.

In the Burnside estate, approximately £1·68 million has been invested in pre-paint repairs, painting, external cyclic maintenance, electrical work, kitchen improvements, provision of porches and the removal of town gas. As with Legahory, no maintenance details are available prior to 1994. However, approximately £417,000 has been spent on routine maintenance since then.

(AQW 1349/00)

Mr Morrow: In 1998-99, 358 people over 75 years of age received overpayments of benefit. In 1999-2000, the volume increased to 1,334.

Mr Shannon asked the Minister for Social Development if he will make it his policy not to seek reimbursement of benefits inadvertently overpaid to elderly persons over 75 years of age.

(AQW 1350/00)

Mr Morrow: My Department’s policy in relation to overpayments of benefit is that, where an overpayment occurs as a result of an official error and it is considered that the benefit recipient would have been aware of the overpayment, recovery of the amount overpaid is requested from the recipient but if he does not reply or refuses to repay, further recovery action is not pursued.

In those cases where a request for repayment is made to a person over 70 in respect of an amount inadvertently overpaid, it is standard practice to do so by way of explanation at a personal interview, rather than by letter, to avoid causing undue distress. Once again, if no response to a request for repayment is received or it is met with a refusal, no further action is taken.

Where benefit is overpaid as a result of official error to a person aged over 70 whose capital does not exceed £500, no request for repayment of the amount overpaid is made.

(AQW 1353/00)

Mr Morrow: The spend per head of population by the Social Security Agency in each of the last 10 years is detailed in the table attached.

* The population estimates are produced on a calendar year basis and relate to the mid-year position ie June of the year in question.

(AQW 1354/00)

Mr Morrow: The Social Security Agency does not maintain records on the number of reviews of indefinite awards (formerly life awards) for disability living allowance. Compiling and maintaining such information would be at disproportionate costs.

However, the agency does record the total number of all reviews carried out for disability living allowance and the figures for the last five years are shown in the table attached.

(AQW 1371/00)

Mr Morrow: This is a matter for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, whose chief executive has advised me that individual houses, groups of houses, or blocks of flats may be sold at market value to private sector developers. This has occurred in circumstances where it would not be cost effective to undertake substantial repairs and where there are flats that have been hard to let.

The Housing Executive has no evidence of developers selling properties at inflated prices after modest repair expenditure.

(AQW 1375/00)

Mr Morrow: The funding for the first year of the new Domestic Energy Efficiency Scheme has been set at £4 million. If additional funding is required because of a higher level of uptake than anticipated, and if work can be undertaken by installers, a bid for extra funds will be made during the financial year.

(AQW 1376/00)

Mr Morrow: I am introducing a new Domestic Energy Efficiency Scheme (DEES), which will cover all of Northern Ireland. It will provide a comprehensive package of insulation measures for vulnerable private sector householders in receipt of an income or disability-based benefit. The new programme will also include, for over 60s private householders on income-based benefits, improvements in both insulation and heating standards. Following the appointment of a scheme manager, new DEES will start on 1 April 2001, commencing a lead-in period covering scheme marketing, tendering and client registration, for the installation of physical measures from 1 July 2001.

Fuel poverty in public housing is not as highly concentrated as the private housing sector. Therefore responsibility for addressing the issue will rest with the social landlord. My Department will be liaising with the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and housing associations to ensure that mechanisms are in place to address fuel poverty in the public sector.

(AQW 1380/00)

Mr Morrow: The Social Security Agency’s accommodation in Strabane is maintained and improved on an ongoing basis and the agency is satisfied that it meets current needs. In the longer term, under the welfare reforms and modernisation programme, needs will change and accommodation will be improved on that basis. Plans are currently being pursued by the Department of Finance & Personnel.

(AQW 1381/00)

Mr Morrow: The draft Programme for Government states that "from 2001, we will help householders suffering from fuel poverty by introducing a new energy efficiency grants scheme designed to improve the insulation and heating standards of their dwellings".

Given the numbers involved, and the fact that some householders will continue to move into fuel poverty, it would be unrealistic to set a target date of five years to eradicate the problem.

(AQW 1382/00)

Mr Morrow: Based on information provided by the scheme manager for the Domestic Energy Efficiency Scheme, over £250,000 has been spent in Foyle. However, my Department does not fund DEES on a constituency basis, as the scheme is demand led. It would be wrong, therefore, to assume that Foyle has a higher need for energy efficiency measures in comparison with other constituencies. The level of expenditure under the current Domestic Energy Efficiency Scheme is not a barometer of fuel poverty. DEES provides basic energy efficiency measures and is not targeted specifically at the fuel poor.

The new scheme, to be introduced later this year, will on the other hand provide a much more comprehensive range of energy efficiency measures and will target the most vulnerable groups in our society.

(AQW 1383/00)

Mr Morrow: In the three years to 31 December 2000, a total of £126,486 was spent on the Domestic Energy Efficiency Scheme in the Lagan Valley constituency. Over the stated period, this does not represent the lowest in Northern Ireland.

(AQW 1400/00)

Mr Morrow: Funding for the Domestic Energy Efficiency Scheme is not allocated on a constituency basis. The existing DEES is very much demand led. Funding is provided to the scheme manager who responds to requests from individual clients for the installation of energy efficiency measures in their properties.

Based on information provided by the scheme manager, the level of spend on DEES in East Belfast in the past three years (to 31 December 2000) was £546,789.

(AQW 1401/00)

Mr Morrow: I am introducing a new Domestic Energy Efficiency Scheme (DEES), which will cover all of Northern Ireland. It will provide a comprehensive package of insulation measures for vulnerable private sector householders in receipt of an income or disability-based benefit. The new programme will also include, for over 60s private householders on income-based benefits, improvements in both insulation and heating standards. Following the appointment of a scheme manager, new DEES will start on 1 April 2001, commencing a lead-in period covering scheme marketing, tendering and client registration, for the installation of physical measures from 1 July 2001.

In addition, my Department, in partnership with a number of organisations, has been operating fuel poverty pilot schemes in various parts of Northern Ireland, including the Willowfield/Bloomfield area of East Belfast where there is severe social and economic deprivation. Whilst reducing fuel poverty in these areas, the schemes have enabled the Department to pilot the introduction of the proposed new statutory DEES scheme.

Fuel poverty in public housing is not as highly concentrated as the private housing sector. Therefore responsibility for addressing the issue will rest with the social landlord. My Department will be liaising with the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and housing associations to ensure that mechanisms are in place to address fuel poverty in the public sector.

(AQW 1402/00)

Mr Morrow: The Social Security Agency does not maintain records of the number of indefinite awards (formerly life awards) that were discontinued or downgraded following reviews. However, Table 1 attached provides details of all disability living allowance cases that have been discontinued or downgraded following review. It also shows comparison with the rest of the United Kingdom.

In relation to the number of cases reinstated following appeal, again the Agency does not hold records on indefinite awards. However Table 2 attached shows the number of all disability living allowance cases reinstated, the number increased on appeal and how these compare to the United Kingdom.

(AQO 635/00)

Mr Morrow: Although these figures are not available by council area, they are available by Social Security Office area. The total number of referrals for single mothers to the New Deal programme, as at 31 December 2000, was 1,207.

There were 666 referrals in the Antrim area, 164 agreed to join the programme, and 73 people have since found work.

Table (1) of the number of Reviews of Disability Living Allowance cases and the number of these which were discontinued and downgraded, and how these compare with the United Kingdom, in each of the last 5 years.

* NI figures for 200/01 cover up to and including December 2000 & GB figures cover up to and including September 2000

There were 541 referrals in the Newtownabbey area, 135 agreed to join the programme and 49 of these people have since found work.

Table (2) of the number of Appeals of Disability Living Allowance cases and the number of these which were awarded and increased, and how these compare with the United Kingdom for each of the last 5 years.

* NI figures for 200/01 cover up to and including December 2000 & GB figures cover up to and including September 2000

(AQW 1435/00)

Mr Morrow: None.

(AQO 649/00)

Mr Morrow: A recent review of housing need in the Cookstown and Magherafelt District Council areas, undertaken by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, indicates that, in general terms, the supply of social housing through re-lets is broadly sufficient to meet most housing needs in the Mid-Ulster area.

Several small schemes have been programmed to augment supply in areas where re-lets are considered insufficient to meet general or supported housing requirement.

(AQO 601/00)

Mr Morrow: This is a matter for Northern Ireland Housing Executive whose chief executive has advised me that his organisation uses both ‘in house’ and external technical consultants. Following competitive tendering, design services are currently provided ‘in house’ to the level which the staffing complement can support. This is augmented by a framework of external consultants under contracts gained through competitive tendering. Those contracts come to an end during this year, and the Housing Executive is evaluating future arrangements through a best value review.

Pending the outcome of the review, preliminary findings suggest that a mixed provision of internal staff and external consultants is likely to continue.

(AQO 599/00)

Mr Morrow: Information on benefit take-up is not available for Northern Ireland.

Detailed information on income levels, resources and financial circumstances of individuals and households is required to calculate benefit take-up. This information is obtained in Great Britain through the family resources survey (FRS). While the FRS is not currently undertaken in Northern Ireland, my Department is seeking to introduce the FRS to Northern Ireland in April 2002. I will, however, write to Mr McGrady with details of the numbers of Income Support and income-based jobseeker’s allowance claimants.

Nevertheless, my Department is concerned to ensure take-up of benefit, and the Social Security Agency has introduced a number of initiatives in order to maximise take-up of benefits, including income support.

A major publicity campaign aimed at elderly people, drawing attention to the minimum income guarantee, was launched in March 2000. As a direct result of this campaign, an extra 3,300 pensioners now receive it. This has resulted in an extra payment of £2 million in the hands of elderly people, with an average extra payment of £25 a week.

In addition to the national publicity campaign, the agency has:

• launched the take-up campaign locally in Social Security Offices in conjunction with local branches of Age Concern
• produced and distributed poster/leaflets regarding the campaign to Social Security Offices, Post Offices, libraries, et cetera; and
• held a joint conference with voluntary groups representing elderly people to discuss benefit take-up.

(AQO 645/00)

Mr Morrow: When the Northern Ireland Housing Executive receives an application for an adaptation, either from its tenants or through private sector grant applicants, it refers the matter to the occupational therapy service of the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSS&PS), for assessment. The chief executive of the Housing Executive has advised that it measures the waiting time for adaptations for its tenants from the date of receipt of the occupational therapist’s recommendation until the work commences. The average waiting time for the public sector tenant in the 30 months to the end of September 2000 for the Derry City Council area is approximately 35 weeks. In the case of the private sector, the average waiting time is 16 weeks.

For Housing Executive tenants the period measured is to the date the contractor takes possession of the property (starting work) and for private sector grant applicants, to the issue of a schedule of works for tendering purposes. The times stated under public and private sector are therefore not comparable.

The length of time people are having to wait for adaptations is a matter for concern. DHSS&PS and Housing Executive officials undertook a joint and fundamental review in autumn 2000. The preliminary report was approved by the Housing Executive’s board in December 2000 and is due to be presented to the Northern Ireland Housing Council this month. Work will start on the implementation of a number of recommendations at the same time as the report is circulated for consultation and prior to the publication of a final report, which is planned for March 2001.

(AQO 638/00)

Mr Morrow: The Housing Executive can consider replacement grant for any isolated, unfit dwelling in a rural area, where the dwelling is not capable of being renovated on technical grounds, or where replacement is considered to be the cost effective solution. A decision on a replacement grant is informed by an investment appraisal and a consideration of the possibility of meeting an individual’s housing need through social housing. The investment appraisal takes account of the longer term benefits to the public purse that result from a new house compared to one that is renovated.

The grant is available to owner-occupier applicants who have lived in the house for two years prior to the date of application. It is also available for applicants who propose to acquire an unfit house, so long as they can satisfy statutory conditions, which are, that they meet the Housing Executive’s urgent housing need criteria and have strong social and economic ties to the area.

Demolition of the old dwelling is a condition of replacement grant.

(AQO 597/00)

Mr Morrow: I can confirm that means-tested grant aid is available, through the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, for homeowners who need help in adapting their homes to meet the needs of a disabled occupant.

(AQO 632/00)

Mr Morrow: My Department does not collect or analyse this type of information. I am advised by the Northern Ireland Court Service that it collects information on writs and originating summonses issued in respect of mortgages in Chancery Division of the Northern Ireland High Court. This covers mortgages from private lenders and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and relates to domestic and commercial properties. I am further advised that information is collected on a Province-wide basis and it is not possible to provide a more detailed geographical breakdown of the data.

(AQO 607/00)

Mr Morrow: I with to make it clear that the Domestic Energy Efficiency Scheme is not funded on a constituency basis, because it is demand led. However, the scheme manager has produced a table setting out expenditure on the constituency basis over the last three years, and I have placed a copy of this in the Assembly Library.

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