Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people applying for child Disability Living Allowance waited longer than 20 weeks in Bournemouth East constituency in the last 12 months for which data is available; and what proportion of benefit decisions for applicants from residents of Bournemouth East constituency were not made within the target timeframe set by her Department in each of the last 12 months for which data is available.

The information requested on waiting times for a child disability living allowance decision is not readily available. To provide this would incur a disproportionate cost.

The current waiting period at national level for child DLA claims, under normal rules, is 86 days on average. Whilst we do not have a target timeframe, we aim to make decisions as quickly as possible to ensure that families of disabled children receive the support to which they are entitled and are always working towards reducing waiting times.