---

Dept for Work and Pensions

Answer

Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the standard of decision-making on community care grant applications. [85164] Malcolm Wicks: We announced in the PBR that we will be working with the Treasury to improve Social Fund administration and delivery. We already have procedures in place which aim to drive though a continuous programme of improvement in all benefit decision making. As part of the Department's national Decision Making and Appeals quality checking programme, a specialist Social Fund team monitors the quality of decision making on all elements of the Social Fund. The programme is complemented by local quality checks. The primary function of these procedures is to identify trends in decision making which require remedial action and inform staff training and guidance needs. The Independent Review Service for the Social Fund (IRS) provides an impartial review for customers who are dissatisfied with the outcome of their application to the discretionary Social Fund, following an internal review by a DWP reviewing officer. Around 1 per cent. of decisions are referred to the IRS for review. In November 2001, the IRS published a report "Grants Budgets and Decision Making" which sought to explain the relatively high number of community care grant decisions which it was substituting. In response to the report, the Department has made further improvements to the Social Fund guidance for decision makers on prioritisation and budgetary control. The IRS also provides valuable feedback to local offices on the standard of decision making in every case it sees.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

85164; 396 c1004-5W;396 c1002-3W

Session

2002-03

Subjects

Assessments Applications Community care grants Grants Low incomes Social Fund Standards

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk