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Column 439
It is expected that this work will be completed within the next three years. Plans are also being made for the refurbishment of the Pirbright laboratory.NORTHERN IRELAND
Chlorofluorocarbons
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what is his best estimate of the amount of chlorofluorocarbon refrigerants under the control of his Department ;
(2) what plans there are to minimise the risk of leaks of chlorofluorocarbons from refrigeration and air conditioning systems under his Department's control.
Mr. Ian Stewart : I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister to the hon. Member for Merionnydd Nant Conwy (Dr. Thomas) today.
Discrimination
Rev. Martin Smyth : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether, in his consideration of legislative proposals to deal with discrimination in Northern Ireland, attention was given to problems of discrimination on grounds of age, disability or ethnicity ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Viggers [holding answer 3 March 1989] : The Government's consultative paper on equality of opportunity in employment in Northern Ireland considered whether combined legislative and other measures should be taken on discrimination on grounds of religion, sex and disability. In the light of responses received, however, the Government decided that legislative action should concentrate on religious equality of opportunity.
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DNA Profiling
Mr. McNamara : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what information he has on published research on the possibility of obtaining sufficient DNA for DNA profiling by mouth swabs by rubbing the area between lip and gum with a bud of cotton wool without recourse to taking scrapes from the inside of the buccal cavity, or using the polymcrase chain reaction test.
Mr. Ian Stewart [holding answer 21 February 1989] : I am not aware of any published research which specifically addresses the point raised by the hon. Member, although I understand that the application of the technique of DNA profiling to mouth swabs generally has been mentioned in a number of publications.
Mr. McNamara : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when the research by scientists from the Northern Ireland forensic science laboratory on DNA profiling by mouth swabs will be published ; in which scientific journal it is expected to appear ; and if he will make it his policy to subject the papers to peer review prior to publication.
Mr. Ian Stewart [holding answer 21 February 1989] : I understand that it is at present too early to say when a report of the results of work done by the laboratory on DNA profiling of material from mouth swabs will be available for publication. Nor has any decision been taken as to the scientific journal to which this report may be offered. Whether or not the report is subject to peer review will be for decision in the light of the policy of the particular journal in which it is published.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Mr. McCusker : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy have been confirmed in cattle in Northern Ireland.
Mr. Viggers : Ten cases to 28 February 1989.
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SOCIAL SECURITY
Transitional Protection
8. Dr. Moonie : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people have lost transitional protection at the most recent date.
9. Mr. McFall : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people have lost transitional protection at the most recent date.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I refer the hon. Members to my reply to the hon. Member for Glasgow, Rutherglen (Mr. McAvoy) earlier today.
Mrs. Beckett : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many claimants were awarded a transitional addition in April 1988 and how many of these as a result will receive this April (a) reduced uprating, and (b) no uprating.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Precise information is not available. An estimated 1.4 million claimants were awarded transitional additions in April 1988. It is further estimated that 3 million claimants will receive their full increase at this year's uprating ; approximately 610,000 will receive a partial uprating and 570,000 no increase.
Mrs. Beckett : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security in respect of each Department of Social Security region how many claimants were awarded a transitional addition in April 1988, and how many of these as a result will receive this April (a) reduced uprating, and (b) no uprating.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The information is not available.
Pensions
18. Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many pensioners receive less than the full pension unprating in April 1989 due to having current protected transitional income support payments.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Precise information is not available, but we estimate that of the 1.7 million pensioners on income support 1.2 million will receive the full increase and 0.3 million a partial increase.
24. Mr. Eastham : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security at what level the basic old-age pension would now stand if it had been uprated in line with earnings since 1979.
Mr. Scott : Based on annual upratings in line with earnings, the current weekly value of the basic retirement pension would be £48.80 for a single pensioner and £78.15 for a pensioner couple. The key indicator of the priority that this Government give to pensioners' income is the 23 per cent. real-terms increase in pensioners' average total net income during our first seven years in office.
31. Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what would be the level of basic pensions in April 1989 for single persons and couples had they been uprated in line with earnings since 1980.
Mr. Scott : Based on annual upratings in line with earnings since 1980, the level of basic retirement pension in April 1989 would be £53.20 for a single pensioner, and £85.20 for a pensioner couple.
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42. Mrs. Clwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security at what level the basic old-age pension would now stand if it had been uprated in line with earnings since 1979.
Mr. Scott : The information requested is as follows :
|c|Value of retirement pension if increased in line with average earnings|c| |c|since 1979|c| Uprating dates |Single £ |Couple £ ------------------------------------------------------------ November 1979 |23.20 |37.15 November 1980 |27.35 |43.80 November 1981 |30.50 |48.85 November 1982 |33.05 |52.90 November 1983 |35.95 |57.50 November 1984 |37.75 |60.40 November 1985 |41.05 |65.70 July 1986 |43.35 |69.40 April 1987 |45.25 |72.45 April 1988 |48.80 |78.15 April 1989 |53.00 |84.85
Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish a table showing the current level of retirement pension for a single pensioner and a pensioner couple if uprated by prices or earnings, whichever was the higher, each year since 1980.
Mr. Scott [pursuant to his reply, 22 February 1989, c. 682] : I regret that the figures provided have been found to contain an error. The figures assume that the upratings which took effect from November 1983 and November 1984 were based on the increase in prices or average earnings over the periods November 1982 to November 1983, and November 1983 to November 1984.. The increases should have been measured over the 12 months to May in each case.
The amended figures are as follows :
Up-rating DatesValue of Retirement
Pension if increased
line with the higher
prices or average
earnings
|Single|Couple
|£ |£
-----------------------------------
November 1980 |27.45 |44.00
November 1981 |30.75 |49.30
November 1982 |33.30 |53.40
November 1983 |36.20 |58.05
November 1984 |38.05 |61.00
November 1985 |41.40 |66.35
July 1986 |43.70 |70.05
April 1987 |45.60 |73.15
April 1988 |49.20 |78.95
Mr. Winnick : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security at what level the basic old-age pension would now stand if it had been uprated in line with earnings since 1979.
Mr. Scott [pursuant to his reply, 23 February 1989, c. 758] : I regret that the figures provided have been found to contain an error. The figures assume that the upratings which took effect from November 1983 and November 1984 were based on the increase in average earnings over the periods November 1982 to November 1983, and November 1983 to November 1984. The increase should have been measured over the 12 months to May in each case.
The information requested, with the amended figures, is as follows :
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Based on annual upratings in line with earnings since 1979, the current weekly value of basic retirement pension would be £48.80 for a single pensioner, and £78.15 for a pensioner couple.Elderly People
14. Mr. Nicholas Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what percentage of the social security budget is spent on the elderly.
Mr. Moore : I refer my hon. Friend to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Beverley (Mr. Cran) earlier today.
19. Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on his Department's spending plans on support for the elderly as outlined in "The Government's Expenditure Plans 1989-92" White Paper Cm 615.
Mr. Scott : Spending on benefits for the elderly continues to increase, and is planned to rise to nearly £28 billion in 1991-92.
30. Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much of the social security budget is spent on the elderly.
43. Mr. Favell : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what the level of public expenditure on the elderly is now ; and what it was in 1978-79.
Mr. Scott : I refer my hon. Friends to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Lancashire, West (Mr. Hind) on 2 March at column 323 .
Computerisation
20. Mr. Kirkhope : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when computerisation of the social security system will start to provide savings in administration costs.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The operational strategy--the Department's programme to computerise social security administration--is already producing some small savings in administration. These are expected to rise to £150 million per annum by 1995.
33. Mr. Wyn Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what are the latest figures on the anticipated cost and savings of his Department's computerisation programme.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Members for Roxburgh and Berwickshire (Mr. Kirkwood and for Livingston (Mr. Cook) on 5 December 1988 at column 61.
Public Expenditure
21. Mr. Riddick : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what percentage of public expenditure is taken up by his Department.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I refer my hon. Friend to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Maidstone (Miss Widdecombe) earlier today.
Social Fund
22. Mr. Yeo : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security why applications for loans from the social fund are being turned down.
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Mr. Peter Lloyd : To the end of January 1989, 61 per cent. of applications for budgeting loans and 90 per cent. for crisis loans were successful.
My hon. Friend will no doubt be pleased to note that over 6,000 loan applications were refused because social fund officers awarded non- repayable grants instead. This is further evidence that social fund officers are properly considering whether individual needs can instead be met by a community care grant. This presents a rather different picture from that which opponents of the social fund would have us believe.
I have set out in the table details of the full reasons for refusal.
|c|Reason for refusal as percentage of total applications processed|c|
|c|(11 April 1988-31 January 1989)|c|
Reasons for Refusal |Budgeting loans |Crisis loans
|Per cent. |Per cent.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Savings over £500 sufficient to
meet cost |0.10 |0.01
Not in receipt of IS |4.29 |-
Not in receipt of IS for 26 weeks |11.71 |-
Excluded items |3.33 |0.35
Excluded persons |0.08 |0.08
Amount less than £30, not
travelling expenses |1.06 |-
Adjusted amount less than £30, not
travelling expenses |0.36 |-
Total debt of £1,000 |0.02 |-
Previous application and SFO
decision for this item |1.63 |0.36
No serious damage or risk to
health or safety |- |5.95
Inability to repay |1.32 |0.76
Help available from another
source |0.30 |1.34
Insufficient priority |11.88 |0.22
Suitable alternative available |0.26 |0.43
Loan refused-CCG awarded |1.02 |0.03
Other |2.30 |1.50
Notes:
IS-Income Support
SFO-Social Fund Officer
SF-Social Fund
CCG-Community Care Grant
26. Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what has been the cost of loans from the social fund in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Questions of expenditure from the social fund in respect of Northern Ireland are a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
Social fund gross expenditure to the end of January 1989 in respect of loans for offices in Great Britain is as follows :
|£ million
------------------------------
Scotland |19.0
England |70.0
Wales |8.5
37. Mr. Kennedy : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment he has made of the correlation between the level of applications for support from the social fund and the percentage disposal of social fund total budgets from his Department's offices ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Peter Lloyd : We are closely monitoring the operation of the social fund. Information for each local office relating to the numbers and financial values of applications processed and awards made and the budgets remaining at the end of each month is placed in the Library at monthly intervals. A note explaining the basis on which the 1988-89 allocations were made is also in the Library.
Spending Plans
23. Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on his Department's spending plans as outlined in "The Government's Expenditure Plans 1989-92", Cm. 615.
Mr. Scott : We plan to increase spending on social security from £47.6 billion in 1988-89 to £51 billion in 1989-90, rising to almost £60 billion in 1991-92. This programme is by far the largest in Government, accounting for over 30 per cent. of the total. The plans imply a growth rate in spending on benefits of over 2 per cent. each year above the assumed increase in prices. This is on top of the 33 per cent. real terms increase in expenditure on social security which has taken place since 1978-79. The plans also take account of the continuing fall in unemployment, which more than accounts for the £900 million fall in expenditure this year, compared with previous plans, and which saves over £1.5 billion in each of the next three years. This has enabled us to keep the planning total for 1988-89 much the same as in previous plans despite plans to spend more on other parts of the programme, in particular on benefits for the long-term sick and disabled, where spending has already increased by over 90 per cent. in real terms since we took office in 1979. The extra package of help for poorer pensioners which we announced on 24 November last year is additional to the programme described in the White Paper. This adds almost £100 million to the totals in 1989-90 and £200 million a year thereafter.
It is thanks to the growth in the economy and to the success of our economic policies that the country is able to afford the massive resources devoted to social security spending which are detailed in the White Paper.
Family Support
25. Mr. Wilshire : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security by how much expenditure on support for the family has increased since 1978-79.
38. Mr. Dunn : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the level of public expenditure on support for the family now ; and what it was in 1978-79.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : From 1974-75 to 1978-79, support for families, excluding extra help needed because unemployment was rising, fell by 7 per cent. in real terms. Under this Government, family support has risen by 27.3 per cent.--again in real terms. Expressed in 1988-89 values this means that between 1974-75 and 1978-79, family support fell by £500 million from £7,250 million to £6,740 million and then rose by £1,840 million to £8,580 million in 1988-89.
34. Mr. Burns : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what support is provided in the United Kingdom and in other European Community countries for families with children.
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Mr. Peter Lloyd : I refer my hon. Friend to the Department's publication "Tables of Social Benefit Systems in the European Communities (Position at 1 January 1988)", a copy of which is in the Library.
Income Support
27. Mr. Allen McKay : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security in how many cases, of which he has knowledge, those aged 16 and 17 years have ceased to receive income support without taking up a job or employment training at the most recent date.
Mr. Scott : I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Members for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Mr. McKelvey) and for Paisley, North (Mr. Adams) earlier today.
41. Mr. Dykes : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he has any plans to seek to improve the level of public comprehension of the income support system.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : There are already a number of indications that the public are finding the new income support scheme much simpler to understand. However, we are continuing to monitor and we will seek to take action to improve comprehension should it become necessary.
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give the number of income support recipients among (a) pensioners, (b) unemployed (c) long-term sick or people with disabilities and (d) single parents who will receive no increase in their benefits, due to still getting transitional addition payments, in each year from 1989-90 to 1999- 2000, and beyond.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Precise information is not available. Estimated numbers derived from the technical annex to the White Paper "Reform of Social Security" (Cmnd. 9691) for 1989-90 and 1990-91 are in the table. No estimates are available beyond these dates ; the numbers involved are expected to be tiny.
|1989-90|1990-91
---------------------------------------------------
Pensioners |200,000|50,000
Unemployed |210,000|70,000
Long-term sick or disabled |10,000 |10,000
Lone Parents |40,000 |10,000
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give the latest figures for the number of income support recipients awarded transitional additions for 1988-89 and the number who will still be receiving transitional additions in 1989-90.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Precise information is not available. It is estimated that around 1.4 million claimants were awarded income support transitional additions in April 1988, and that some 600,000 will continue to receive them following the April 1989 uprating.
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will provide a breakdown of the number of transitional addition payments for 1989-90 by Department of Social Security region, and for Greater London.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Statistics on income support transitional protection are obtained through the annual statistical inquiries which follow uprating exercises and are
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based on an examination of 1 per cent. of cases in receipt of benefit. The 1989 inquiry will be held in May and the information from this is necessarily not yet available.Information on housing benefit transitional payments will become available later this year, but this will be on the basis of local authority areas and not social security regions.
Mr. Darling : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will indicate the number of claimants in receipt of income support for each of the following categories (1) unemployed claimants, (2) claimants not required to register for work, (3) pensioners and (4) young people aged 16 to 18 years ; and if he will indicate the number of claimants in receipt of each premium within each of the above categories.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The latest available information is as follows : 1. 1,559,000
2. 1,186,000
3. 1,671,000
4. 137,000 (estimated figures for age 16 to 18 inclusive).
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I regret that information about the number of claimants in receipt of each premium within specified categories is not yet available.Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his latest figure for the full annual amount paid in income support to residents of private residential homes within the Wakefield metropolitan district.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I regret that the information requested is not routinely collected and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, Central, Official Report, 1 February, column 293, he will (a) rework the data for 1979, 1980, 1981 in terms of 1982 regions, (b) present a table showing claimants in each 1982 social security region from 1979 to 1988, provisional taking 1982 as the base year.
Mr Peter Lloyd [holding answer 14 February 1989] : The information is as follows :
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|c|Number of claimants receiving Supplementary Benefit or Income Support: 1979 to 1988|c|
Thousands
Social Security Region |<1>1979 |1980 |1981 |1982 |1983 |1984 |1985 |1986 |1987 |<2>1988
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
North Eastern |475 |530 |636 |717 |735 |780 |789 |809 |793 |694
London North |466 |520 |627 |706 |734 |779 |791 |812 |803 |655
London South |432 |471 |548 |623 |645 |683 |699 |722 |703 |574
Wales and South
Western |395 |427 |500 |560 |574 |617 |625 |637 |618 |532
Midlands |457 |520 |648 |747 |777 |819 |825 |848 |826 |694
North Western |450 |496 |594 |674 |697 |735 |744 |765 |753 |671
Scotland |294 |320 |385 |439 |461 |492 |501 |549 |548 |498
|------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |-------
Total |2,969 |3,284 |3,938 |4,466 |4,623 |4,905 |4,974 |5,142 |5,044 |4,318
Index (using 1982 as the
base year) |66 |73 |88 |100 |103 |110 |111 |115 |113 |97
<1> Figures quoted for 1979 to 1981 are reworked data.
<2> Figures for 1988 are provisional and subject to amendment.
Sources: November/December Quarterly Count of cases in action, which include a number of cases where benefit payment has ceased but other action is continuing. The data from the Annual Statistical Inquiry used in the reply on 1 February cannot be reworked in the way requested.
Families (Policies)
29. Mr. Butler : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether he intends to bring forward policies of social security designed to strengthen the family unit ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : One of the major objectives of the social security reforms introduced last April has been to focus additional help on families with children. We are continually looking at the social security system to ensure that benefits meet the genuine needs of families and do not harm the people they are trying to help by creating disincentives to independence.
Single Parent Families
32. Mr. Frank Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, if he will make a statement on the disregard rules for single- parent families.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : To help those lone parents who choose to work, £15 of a lone parent's net weekly earnings is disregarded in calculating their entitlement to income support and housing benefit. Under family credit lone parents are entitled to the same credit as couples and their
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one-parent benefit is wholly disregarded. We shall continue to monitor the benefit system and the incentives and disincentives to independence that it provides.Residential Homes
35. Mr. Anthony Coombs : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he plans to review his Department's proposal for residents of those homes for the elderly, presently not requiring registration under the Registered Homes Act 1984.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : We have no plans to change benefit rules for elderly people in such residential care and nursing homes.
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