Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 8 September 2016 to Question 44898, if he will make it his policy to collect the total administrative costs related to attendance allowance in 2015-16 (a) during the consultation and (b) after the consultation on the devolution of attendance allowance.

The consultation “Self-sufficient local government: 100% business rates retention” published by the Department for Communities and Local Government sought views on a range of options for devolving new responsibilities to local government including more responsibility for caring for older people.

The feedback from that consultation which closed on 26 September is currently being analysed and a response will be published in due course.

The Government would undertake a further consultation, accompanied by a relevant impact assessment, if any changes were to be proposed in relation to Attendance Allowance.

The information on administrative costs related to Attendance Allowance is collected by DWP but is not currently available for the financial year 2015-16.

The information requested on applications is not available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Information on claims awarded under the special rules for people with terminal illness is available from the DWP Tabulation Tool: http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/100pc/tabtool.html.