To ask the Secretary of State for Justice

(1) what the average length of time was for the Tribunals Service to administer a First-tier Tribunal social security and child support appeal in respect of employment and support allowance in each hearing venue in the west midlands in (a) 2010-11 and (b) the latest period for which figures are available;

(2) what proportion of appeals to the Tribunals Service concerning (a) Disability Living Allowance, (b) employment and support allowance, (c) income support, (d) jobseeker's allowance and (e) tax credits were successful in each hearing venue in the west midlands in (i) 2010-11 and (ii) the latest period for which figures are available;

Appeals against decisions made by the Department for Work and Pensions on an individual's entitlement to social security and child support are heard by the First-tier Tribunal—Social Security and Child Support, administered by Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS).

The following table shows the average time taken from receipt of an employment and support allowance (ESA) appeal to disposal by the tribunal in 2010-11 and 2011-12 (the latest period for which figures are available) at the hearing venues in the west midlands.

HMCTS has continued to respond strongly to the significant increase in appeal cases received by the SSCS tribunal. Two additional hearing rooms in Leamington Spa and Nuneaton will be used from November 2012 to hear certain appeals which would currently be heard at the Coventry venue. This will reduce the number of appeals listed at Coventry and, therefore, help bring down the average waiting time for an appeal hearing. Other work to increase the tribunal's capacity in the west midlands includes the identification of additional venues in Birmingham (two additional hearing rooms from November 2012), Hereford and Worcester (increased use of existing rooms from December 2012), Wolverhampton (two additional hearing rooms from January 2013), Solihull (two additional hearing rooms from September 2012), Kidderminster (increasing use of venue to five days per week from Autumn 2012), Walsall (additional two hearing rooms in use from January and June 2012). It also includes recruitment of additional fee-paid judges and medical members and increased administrative resource, and administrative work to reallocate hearing to alternative nearby venues to ensure appeals are dealt with as quickly as possible.

HMCTS is also working hard at a national level to increase the capacity of the SSCS tribunal and reduce waiting times. It has implemented a range of measures which include recruiting more judges and medical panel members; increasing administrative resources and streamlining processes; securing additional hearing venues across the country; increasing the number of cases listed in each tribunal session; running double shifts in its largest processing centre; running Saturday sittings in some of the busiest venues; and establishing a customer contact centre to deal with telephone inquiries.

All of this is having a positive effect. The total number of disposals has increased significantly from 279,000 in 2009-10 to 380,000 in 2010-11, and 433,600 appeals in 2011-12, with the capacity for half a million disposals in 2012-13. Perhaps, most notably, the tribunal disposed of more appeals than it received in every month between January 2011 and February 2012 (14 consecutive months) and the outstanding caseload within the tribunals fell by 25% in 2011-12 to reach 145,000 on 31 March 2012. The average waiting time has stabilised nationally, and is beginning to fall across many venues.

The following tables show the proportion of appeals regarding (a) Disability Living Allowance, (b) employment and support allowance, (c) income support, (d) jobseeker's allowance and (e) tax credits which were decided in favour of the appellant in each hearing venue in the west midlands in (i) 2010/11 and (ii) 2011/12 (the latest period for which figures are available).