PENDLE Council's performance in handling housing benefit and council tax claims was praised during a ministerial visit yesterday.

Malcolm Wicks, minister with responsibility for housing benefit and fraud at the Department of Works and Pensions, met staff from the benefits section, senior management and local councillors.

His visit coincided with a new government strategy to publish statistics to show how quickly councils process housing benefit and council tax benefit claims.

Mr Wicks praised the council, which on average administered new claims in 34 days. He told staff that the council was a good example of how personal support and commitment from the chief executive could drive improvements in the service.

Statistics for the first two quarters of 2003/2003 were published today and the average time nationally taken to process new claims has improved by around four days to an average of eight weeks.

Pendle Council was one of the best performing councils. The worst performing were taking up to 162 days.

Derek Thomas, financial manager (revenues), said: "Mr Wicks was very positive and we were very pleased he chose to visit us. The Department of Work and Pensions has about six performances indicators which judge councils' performance in various categories. During the last quarter of last year Pendle's performance was in the top 25 per cent in all the indicators.

"I think he chose to see us because we had improved so much during the last couple of years.

"He wanted to praise the staff at Elliott House."

The minister chatted with staff before meeting senior management to discuss government reforms, followed by a question and answer session.