Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications for carer's allowance his Department has received since 2010; and how many of those applications were (a) accepted and (b) declined.

From January 2010 to October 2016 the Department received 1,772,422 applications for Carer’s Allowance.

However, we are unable to provide the volumes of applications accepted or declined because the data is not routinely held. The outcome of claims was initially recorded by clerical means. Following the move to a digital process, 75% of applicants are advised of probable disallowance at the point of claim and will not therefore appear on the system as a claim.