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Mr. Hague : The information requested is in the table.
Percentage of pensioners with income from
occupational pensions
|1979 |1990-91
--------------------------------------------
Pensioner couples |65 |70
Single pensioners |32 |56
All pensioner units |43 |61
Source:
Family expenditure survey and GAD survey of
occupational pension schemes.
Notes:
1. Pensioners units are defined as single
people above state pension age and couples
in which the husband is above state pension
age.
2. 1990-91 denotes estimates from a
combined sample of the 1990 and 1991 family
expenditure surveys (FES). One quarter of
the 1991 FES sample has been omitted
because of inadequate data on community
charge benefit receipt following the
delayed issue of community charge bills in
April 1991. As a result the sample size in
that year is too small to provide reliable
estimates of pensioners' incomes. For this
reason the remaining data for 1991 have
been combined with that for 1990.
Column 168
Pension Age
25. Mr. Brandreth : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what the cost to public funds would be of equalisation of the state pension at 60 years.
Mr. Hague : Equalising the state pension at 60 would cost, at today's prices, over £4.5 billion by 2025.
Income Support
26. Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many recipients of income support there are in the Cunninghame, North constituency.
Mr. Burt : Information of this kind is not collected for individual parliamentary constituencies. However, I understand from the Benefits Agency that there are 65,441 income support recipients recorded by offices located within Cunninghame, North.
Mr. Bowden : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many men aged between 60 and 65 years were claiming income support in the latest year for which figures are available.
Mr. Burt : The latest available figures show that there were 176, 000 men aged between 60 and 65 years successfully claiming income support.
Notes :
1. Source : Income Support Statistics Quarterly Inquiry, November 1992.
2. The figure has been rounded to the nearest thousand. 3. The figure includes men aged 60 but excludes those aged 65 and does not include men receiving income support as partners.
Housing Benefit
27. Mr. Raynsford : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what consideration he has given to reducing the taper for housing benefit assessment.
Mr. Burt : I have no plans, at this time, to cut the housing benefit taper.
Invalidity Benefit
28. Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the latest estimate of the number of people currently in receipt of invalidity benefit.
Mr. Scott : The estimated average number of people who will be receiving invalidity benefit at any one time during the year 1993-94 is 1,585,000.
Source : The departmental report, 1993.
Mr. Bowden : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many men aged between 60 and 65 years were claiming invalidity benefit in the last year for which figures are available.
Mr. Scott : On 4 April 1992, the latest date for which figures are available, there were 285,000 men aged between 60 and 65 receiving invalidity benefit.
Notes : Based on a 1 per cent. sample of claimants, rounded to the nearest thousand.
Pensioners (Shares)
29. Mr. Dunn : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has as to the number of pensioners who own shares.
Column 169
Mr. Hague : We estimate that in 1990-91, the latest year for which figures are available, 1.5 million pensioner units received income from stocks and shares.
Expenditure, North Yorkshire
Mr. Robert Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what were his Department's capital and total expenditures in North Yorkshire for the last financial year and for each of the previous three years.
Mr. Burt : Information is not available in the form requested. Such information as is available is in the table. The figures are for administrative spending in the North Yorkshire district by the Benefits Agency and the Contributions Agency since they were established in 1991.
|1991-92 |1992-93
|£ |£
---------------------------------------------------------------
Capital spending |30,953 |47,128
Total administrative expenditure |4,427,095|5,029,952
Child Benefit
Mr. John Marshall : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what information he has as to the level of child benefit or equivalent paid to the mother of one child in each other EC country.
Mr. Burt : The information is in the table.
Comparison of weekly rate of child
benefit in EC Member States-
For first child at age
£
|4 |11 |16
------------------------------------
Belgium |9.39 |12.66|14.65
Denmark |10.53|7.93 |7.93
France<1> |Nil |Nil |Nil
Germany |4.94 |4.94 |4.94
Greece<2> |0.76 |0.76 |0.76
Ireland |3.54 |3.54 |3.54
Italy<3> |- |- |-
Luxembourg |7.69 |9.57 |13.32
Netherlands |6.75 |9.42 |12.10
Portugal |2.78 |2.78 |2.78
Spain<4> |3.92 |3.92 |3.92
UK |9.65 |9.65 |9.65
Source: MISSOC 1992.
The conversion to sterling has been
calculated using the OECD averages
of purchasing power parities during
1992.
<1> Child benefit paid only for
second and subsequent children.
<2> Progressively reduced to £0.52
per week if gross family income is
more than £6,796 per annum.
<3> No specific amount; child
benefit is means-tested.
<4> No benefit if family income is
more than £5,661 per annum.
Family Resources Survey
Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security for what purposes his Department has commissioned a family resources survey ; by whom the questions were devised ; by whom the data gathered will be analysed ; and how and when it will be published.
Mr. Burt : The new family resources survey (FRS) has been commissioned to provide better information about the characteristics and finances of households. The improved data will enable better monitoring of the social security
Column 170
programme and expenditure forecasting. In particular, it will be better geared to provide information on low-income households as the basis for households below average income statistics than the family expenditure survey which is currently used.The questionnaire content was agreed in consultation with DSS analysts and other interested Departments and finalised with the survey's field contractors after pilot studies.
The field contractors began collecting data for the new FRS last October. After the removal of information identifying individual respondents by the contractors, the data are passed to the analytical services division of DSS.
It is envisaged that a summary statistical bulletin with provisional data will be published, as a publication of the Government Statistical Service, in the second half of 1994.
Absent Fathers
Mr. Chisholm : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many women have been asked to name an absent father at benefit offices in (a) Edinburgh and (b) Scotland as a whole ; how many have demurred ; and how many have had income support deducted as a penalty.
Mr. Burt : The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Mrs. Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive, who has written further to the hon. Member.
Letter from R. Hepplewhite to Mr. Malcolm Chisholm, dated 16 August 1993 :
As Chief Executive of the Child Support Agency I wrote to you on 26 July in response to your Parliamentary Question about the number of women in Edinburgh who had been asked to name an absent father and how many had demurred.
My letter said that between 5 April and 30 June 1993, 37 parents with care of children had been interviewed in Edinburgh in connection with their applications for child maintenance. I also said that, of these, 24 had declined without good cause to co-operate in providing details of the absent parent. However, I have subsequently established that of the 37 interviewed, 12 named the absent parent and only one parent declined without good cause to co-operate. The other figures given are unchanged.
I am sorry for any confusion my earlier reply may have caused.
National Insurance Contributions
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many successful prosecutions have taken place of self-employed individuals found to be evading national insurance contribution payments ; and what has been the value of the revenue recovered in each year since 1984-85 (a) in each region and (b) nationally.
Mr. Hague : The administration of national insurance is a matter for Miss Ann Chant, the chief executive of the Contributions Agency. She will write to the hon. Member and a copy will be placed in the Library.
Letter from A. Chant to Mr. Alan Milburn, dated 27 July 1993 : As Chief Executive of the Contributions Agency I am responsible for answering questions about relevant operational matters. I have been asked to reply to your question about how many self-employed individuals have been successfully prosecuted for the evasion of National Insurance contributions (NICs), and the value of the revenue recovered in each year since 1984-85.
Column 171
When arrears of self-employed (Class 2) contributions are discovered it is the aim of the Agency to obtain current compliance and payment of the arrears at the smallest cost to public funds. If necessary, the Agency will pursue unpaid Class 2 NICs by either civil or criminal prosecution. In my answer to your other separate question about the self-employed I have supplied, in annexes which will be tabled in the Library, details of the number of proceedings undertaken by the Agency and the amounts involved.We do not keep separate figures for the number of successful prosecutions nor for amounts of money collected in relation to these proceedings, because some cases are resolved before litigation has run its full course or alternatively the money may be collected by instalments. These cases are regarded as an effective part of the litigation process.
I regret that I have been unable to give you the precise information that you requested in your question but I hope that my reply has proved helpful.
Public Bodies
Mr. George Howarth : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the names, occupations and current employers of those who currently hold positions in each public body to which he makes appointments ; if he will make a statement on the considerations taken into account when making such appointments and if he will list details of the posts and salaries or allowances payable which have changed since the publication of "Public Bodies 1992."
Mr. Burt [pursuant to his reply, 25 June 1993, c. 322-23] : The earlier reply contained incorrect information. The correct information is in the table.
|Chair |Members
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disability Appeal Tribunals |325 male |908 male
|79 female |677 female
Social Security Appeals Tribunals |479 male |2,269 male
|122 female |1,252 female
Medical Appeal Tribunals |88 male |464 male
|8 female |9 female
Disability
Ms Corston : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will provide statistics on the basis of the latest analysis of households below average income, for the long-term sick and those on disability benefit to correspond with statistical data for pensioners, recipients of income support and unemployment given in tables A4 and A5 in the latest households below average income report.
Mr. Burt [pursuant to his reply, 19 July 1993, c. 71-72] : I am advised that the reply contained incomplete information. The correct information is as follows :
The households below average income (HBAI) dataset, the family expenditure survey (FES), does not identify all long-term sick or disabled people, and its identification of receipt of disability benefits is imperfect. The estimates are susceptible to these imperfections as well as sampling errors. The results reported in the tables may, therefore, reflect changes in the categories of long-term sick or disabled people identified in the FES, as well as changes in the incomes of such people.
Where figures are particularly uncertain due to sampling error and where the confidence intervals exceed pre-determined limits the estimates are bracketed or omitted. Further information about the effects of sampling errors can be found in appendix 5 of HBAI, a copy of which is in the Library.
The figures in the tables are presented in line with tablesA4 and A5 in Households Below Average Income 1979 to 1990-91.
Column 172
Changes in real income for long-term sick and
those on disability benefits
Real changes in median incomes 1979 to 1990-91 (Percentage)
Income before housing costs
|Bottom quintile |Second quintile |Third quintile |Whole group (mean)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Before housing costs
Long-term sick or
receiving
disability benefits |(4) |(14) |(*)<2> |26
Income after housing costs
Long-term sick or
receiving
disability benefits |(*)<3> |(14) |(*)<4> |30
Notes:
<1> People who reported receipt of invalidity benefit, severe disablement allowance, attendance allowance or
mobility allowance or people not in work who reported long-term sickness or disability.
<2>. 95 per cent. confidence interval is +9 to +30.
<3>. 95 per cent. confidence interval is -7 to +15.
<4>. 95 per cent. confidence interval is +12 to +36.
Money values of quintile medians for long-term sick and those on
disability benefits in April 1993 prices (£ per week equivalised)
|Bottom quintile |Second quintile |Third quintile |Whole group (mean)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1979
Before housing costs
Long-term sick or
receiving
disability benefits |92 |113 |135 |148
1990-91
Long-term sick or
receiving
disability benefits |96 |129 |162 |186
1979
After housing costs
Long-term sick or
receiving
disability benefits |76 |96 |117 |128
1990-91
Long-term sick or
receiving
disability benefits |79 |109 |144 |166
Note:
1. All estimates are subject to sampling error-see table on income growth.
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Wheat
Sir Ralph Howell : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the average ex-farm price of wheat received by farmers in (a) the United Kingdom, (b) France and (c) Germany in pounds sterling in 1979 and each year since 1984.
Mr. Jack : Information for Great Britain, France and Germany is set out in the following table. Comparable information for the United Kingdom is not available.
Column 173
Ex-farm price of wheat
£ per tonne
|Great Britain<1>|France<2> |Germany<2>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1979-80 |98.13 |91.51 |117.70
1983-84 |124.33 |98.48 |123.90
1984-85 |111.26 |96.06 |111.25
1985-86 |112.20 |114.74 |129.24
1986-87 |112.67 |113.82 |134.74
1987-88 |111.20 |100.32 |116.40
1988-89 |114.19 |105.57 |113.67
1989-90 |112.23 |106.28 |116.26
1990-91 |119.56 |107.19 |112.50
1991-92 |122.31 |107.53 |122.66
<1> Source: Home Grown Cereals Authority-Actual prices (Years are from July-June).
<2> Source: Eurostat-by calendar year-1979 and 1984-92.
Blind and Partially Sighted People
Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what arrangements her Department makes to ensure that blind and partially sighted people have access to information produced by her Department where it has not been published in alternative media such as Braille, large print or tape.
Mr. Jack : MAFF aims to respond positively and helpfully to all requests for information from blind and partially sighted people. The Department has recently set up a telephone helpline to offer callers unfamiliar with MAFF a clear route into the Department and the information it can provide. Helpline staff would welcome enquiries from visually impaired people at any time. As well as providing a new focal point for information from the Department, the helpline is an additional means of putting callers rapidly in touch with officials who can deal with enquiries on specialist issues. The Department has an equal opportunities unit which provides central advice on meeting special needs.
Computer Consultancies
Mr. McAllion : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if she will list all the computer consultancies employed by her Department and agencies, since November 1991, the tasks for which they were engaged, and the total cost to her Department.
Mr. Jack : There follows a list giving details of the computer consultancies employed by the Department since November 1991 and the tasks on which they were engaged.
I am unable to provide precisely the total cost of consultancies in that period, since that would involve the officials in considerable effort. However, in recent years the annual budget for computer consultancies has varied between £5 million and £7 million. Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food list of computer consultants employed since November 1991.
Consultant and task--
Admiral--Development of computer systems for CAP Reform schemes. AIMS Systems--Technical advice on Structured Design Methodology. Ampersand-- Development of computer systems for CAP Reform schemes. Amtec--Advice on quality management.
Amtec--Support to market testing programme for IT Services. Asterisk Systems--Development of computer systems for CAP reform schemes.
Column 174
BIS--Technical advice on Strucutred Design Methodology at the Central Veterinary laboratory.Brandt Computers--Development of Resource Management Strategy. Bristol University--Development of computer system for National Food Survey.
Brook Systems--Project Management of Sample Mangement System. Capita-- Support to market testing programme for IT Services. CCTA--Development of IT Strategy for National Institute of Agricultural Botany and National Meat Hygiene Service.
CCTA--Support to IT procurements.
Chris Cole Associates--Advice on strategy for structured cabling. Cooper and Lybrand--Support to market testing programme for IT Services.
Cooper and Lybrand--Development of computer systems for CAP Reform schemes.
Corporate Computers--Advice on computer systems for National Food Survey.
CSS Trident--Implementation of Resource Management Strategy. Digital Equipment Corp.--Advice on configuration management. D M Shaw Associates-- Advice on management of change.
D M Shaw Associates--Development of standards for post implementation review of computer projects.
D M Shaw Associates--Advice on quality managemegn--Audit of Sample Management System project.
Electronic Facilities Design--Development of IT training strategy. Ernst and Young--Development of Resource Management Strategy. Exclusive Software- -Conversion of programs to Ingres.
Exeter University--Development of computer systems for ADAS. FI Group-- Quality assurance of development of computer system for National Food Survey.
FI Group--Data conversion for Agricultural Census.
FI Group--Facilities management of Agricultural Census computer system.
Forvus Ltd.--Development of National Food Survey system. Gateway Systems-- Advice on data communications cabling.
Harwell Computers--Advice on IT system for licence identifications and management.
Hayes-Davies--Advice on quality management, customer satisfaction surveys.
Hoskyns--Development of computer system for Farm Woodlands Scheme. Hoskyns- -Assistance with Ingres database conversion project. Hoskyns--Advice on project management tools.
Inference Ltd.--Implementation of computer system for relocation expenses.
Intersect Ltd.--Development of IT maintenance strategy.
ISM Consultants--Assistance with data communications strategy. John Guest Ltd.--Advice on data management in the Fisheries Group. Kermon Associates-- Technical assurance on implementation of office systems.
Kermon Associates--IT security reviews.
LBMS--Development of computer system for CAP reform schemes. LBMS--Business analysis/feasibility studies/system design. LBMS--Advice on standards.
Logica--Development of knowledge based system in the Animal Health Group.
Midsummer Computing--Advice on geographical information systems. MMT Ltd.-- Development of computer system for Licensed Veterinary Inspections, Horticultural Inspection Recording.
MMT Ltd..--Advice on relational database management systems.
Column 175
MMT Ltd--Project management for National Food Survey system. Mouncey & Partners--Development of computer systems for emergencies planning, meat plant monitoring.Mouncey & Partners--Development of IT sub-strategy for Fisheries Group.
Mouncey & Partners--Assistance with market testing programme of IT Services.
Mouncey & Partners--Technical assurance on accommodation planning IT project.
Mouncey and Partners--Feasibility study on milk quotas system. Mouncey and Partners--Development of Grants and Subsidies Management System.
OFICE--Assistance with building cabling projects.
Opal Ltd.--Conversion of office systems.
Oracle--Development and implementation of Resource Management Strategy.
PA Consulting--IT sub-strategy studies.
PA Consulting--Advice on project costing and management for ADAS. PA Consulting--Development of Animal Tracking Project for the Animal Health Group.
PA Consulting--ADAS Accounting Project.
PA Consulting--Development of Food Related Database Shells Project. PACTUM Ltd.--Ingres program development for the Horticulture Inspection Recording System.
Perspective--Advice on quality audit.
Premier Computing--Implementation of Office Systems.
Price Waterhouse--Development of Resource Management Strategy. Price Waterhouse--Development of IT strategy for Central Science Laboratories.
Prime Computer Systems--Advice on capacity planning.
Quanta Learning Systems--Development of IT training guides. Reading University--Advice on relation of statistical software. Ricardo Ltd.-- Advice on end user support documentation.
SAC Ltd.--Advice on end user support methods.
Sapphire Ltd.--Support for IT systems in the Veterinary Medicines Directorate.
Sema Group--Development of Farm Survey System.
Sequent Computer Systems--Capacity planning.
Sherwoods Ltd.--Development of computer system for CAP reform schemes.
Shreeveport--Development of IT strategy for National Meat Hygiene Service.
Siemens Nixdorf--Implementation of office systems (Project Maiden). South- West Health Authority--Implementation of Resource Management Strategy.
Touche Ross--IT security reviews.
Touche Ross--Project management for development of IT accounting system in National Institute of Agricultural Botany.
Touche Ross--Development of IT strategy for personnel management. Triad Ltd.--Development of computer systems for CAP reform schemes. Triad Ltd.-- Development of computer system for Import Licence Identification and Management.
Triad Ltd.--Development of computer system for administration of pesticide approval applications.
Triad Ltd.--Implementation of Resource Management Strategy. Zergo Ltd.-- Security review of data communications network.
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