Adult Disability Payment data for South Lanarkshire and Scotland: FOI release

Information requested

I am seeking two pieces of information on Adult Disability Payment data for South Lanarkshire and Scotland.

Request for information 1: A month count of claimants claiming Psychiatric Disorders and Neurological diseases from February 2022 to February 2025 for:

a. South Lanarkshire and
b. Scotland

Request for information 2: A breakdown of Adult Disability Payment claimants for February each year from Feb 2022 for both:

a. South Lanarkshire and
b. Scotland

By detailed medical situation (as listed in the attached response document).​​​​​​​

Response

Request for information 1:

We have interpreted your question as monthly figures for clients on the Adult Disability Payment (ADP) caseload where:

• Primary Disability Condition is in category “Mental and Behavioural Disorders” (*ICD10 codes F00-F99)
• Primary Disability Condition is in category “Diseases of the Nervous System” (*ICD10 codes G00- G99)

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Social Security Scotland does not have some the information you have requested.

This is because we only produce and hold quarterly counts of the Adult Disability Payment caseload at Scotland level from April 2023 onwards, we do not produce data on detailed disability conditions by specific local authority.

Earlier data, monthly data and data for South Lanarkshire is not available without specialist staff members designing specific coding to undertake the required complex analysis, something which we are not required to do under FOISA.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Social Security Scotland does not have the information you have requested.

Please find attached quarterly figures from 30 April 2023 for Scotland for those with a stated Primary Disability condition of Mental and Behavioural Disorders and Diseases of the Nervous System.

*Note: The Disability Condition data is based on the Primary Disability Condition which is recorded in the application information data extracts. This Primary Disability condition is recorded during the application decision process and is determined based on the supporting information that has been provided. The data is recorded using codes which were developed based on the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10 (ICD10) standard, published by the World Health Organisation.

Request for information 2:

This question is interpreted as requesting clients on the ADP caseload at February each year with specific recorded Primary Disability Conditions.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Social Security Scotland does not have some the information you have requested.

This is because quarterly data by detailed condition is only available from April 2024 onwards.

Specific data for the month of February each year from 2022 and data for South Lanarkshire is not available without specialist system coding and complex analysis, something which we are not required to do under FOISA.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Social Security Scotland does not have the information you have requested.

Please find attached data at April 2024 and April 2025 which is the closest available information that we hold.

The provided condition list has been matched to ICD10 condition codes ( ICD-10 Version:2019 ) by Analysis and Insights statisticians; where there is not a direct match for the provided condition name the best possible code(s) has been chosen. It was not possible to identify ICD10 code(s) for the condition “Peripheral Nerve Injury”.

Please note that the ICD10 system uses categories and subcategories of conditions. In the list provided, there are instances where both a condition and its larger category is requested, meaning that a single client will be included in the count for both the condition and the larger condition group. For example, a client with Mixed Anxiety and Depressive Disorders (F41.2) recorded as their primary disability condition will also be included in the larger condition group Anxiety Disorders (F40-41).

Similarly, a client with Multiple Sclerosis (G35) as their primary disability condition will also be included in the larger group Neurological Diseases (G00 – 99).

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to a small amount of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, i.e. given the low numbers of applicants with specific conditions, we are satisfied that there is a realistic prospect that releasing the information risks releasing personal information, and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.