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Press and Publicity
Mr. Grocott : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many press and publicity officers are currently employed in his Department ; and how many were employed in (a) 1985 and (b) 1979.
|Television|Radio |Press
|£ |£ |£
-------------------------------------------------------
1989-90 |4,911,000 |402,000 |1,486,000
1991-92 |4,396,000 |626,000 |772,000
1992-93 |1,792,000 |429,000 |2,296,000
Notes:
1. The total spend in 1990-91 was 4,360,000 but a
breakdown is not immediately available.
2. The Department did not exist independently prior to
August 1988.
Headquarters--22
Benefits Agency--21
Child Support Agency--3
Contributions Agency--1
Before 1988 the Department was part of DHSS and separate figures for Social Security are not available.
Social Fund
Mr. Bradley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many homeless people, who are living in hostels on a temporary basis, have applied for but have been refused a social fund community care grant or loan ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) how many refugees have, following an offer of permanent accommodation, applied for but been refused social fund start-up grants ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Scott : I understand from Michael Bichard, Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency, that the information is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Family Credit
Miss Lestor : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many lone parents currently receive family credit.
Mr. Burt : The number of lone parents in receipt of family credit was 206,000 at the latest available date.
Source : 5 per cent. sample of family credit recipients at 30 April 1993.
Mrs. Wise : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish figures showing the proposed family credit ceilings in 1994-95 for each of (a) a married couple with one child aged under five years, (b) a married couple with two children aged under 11 years, (c) a married couple with two children aged over 11 years, (d) a married couple with three children aged under 11 years, (e) a married couple with three children aged over 11 years and (f) a married couple with two children aged under 11 years and two children aged over 11 years.
Mr. Burt : At the new benefit levels proposed for April 1994, the family credit ceilings represented by the highest amount of net earnings and other relevant income a family can have and still qualify for family credit at the minimum payment of 50p will be as follows :
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|£
----------------------------------------------------------------
Married couple with one child under 5 years |150.27
Married couple with two children under 11 |166.27
Married couple with two children over 11
(but under 16) |187.27
Married couple with three children under 11 |182.27
Married couple with three children over 11
(but under 16) |213.77
Married couple with two children under 11 and two
children over 11 (but under 16) |219.27
Relevant income excludes child benefit, which is disregarded for family credit purposes. Therefore, in addition to the amounts above, a one-child family will have £10.25 child benefit, a two-child family £18.45, a three-child family £26.70 and a four-child family £34.95. Relevant income also excludes the first £15 of any maintenance payable.
From October 1994, up to £40 a week will be disregarded in the calculation of net earnings in respect of formal childcare costs incurred where there is a child under 11 in the family of a couple where both are working, or where one is working and the other is incapacitated, increasing the potential ceilings still further. The disregard will also apply to lone parent families.
Lone Parent Families
Miss Lestor : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many lone parent families, headed by a mother under the age of 21 years are currently in receipt of (a) family credit, (b) housing benefit and (c) disability working allowance.
Mr. Burt : The information is in the table :
Lone parent mothers under the age of 21 Type of benefit |Numbers |Date ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Family Credit |1,240 |30 April 1993 Housing Benefit |36,000 |May 1992<1> Disability Working Allowance |Nil |30 June 1993 <1>Sample taken May 1992.
Miss Lestor : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many lone parent families are currently headed by a mother in receipt of disability working allowance.
Mr. Scott : There are 266 such families.
Miss Lestor : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many lone parent families currently receive housing benefit.
Mr. Burt : The number of lone parents in receipt of housing benefit in Great Britain in May 1992--the latest date for which figures are available--was approximately 816,000.
Unemployment
Mr. Robert Ainsworth : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) at what level, in current prices, he intends to set the rates of the recently announced job seekers allowance for an unemployed person under 25 years of age who (a) would currently qualify for unemployment benefit and (b) would currently only qualify for income support ;
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(2) what is the current payment to a single, unemployed person under 25 years of age if he or she (a) qualifies for unemployment benefit and (b) is able to claim only income support.Mr. Burt : The rates for job seeker's allowance for those under 25 years of age will be announced at the appropriate time before April 1996. It is intended that these will be based upon income support levels. The current levels of benefit are given, with the rates that will apply from April 1994 shown in parentheses.
An unemployed person under 25 years who qualifies solely for unemployment benefit and has no overlapping social security benefit is paid £44.65 (£45.45) a week.
If entitled to income support, the rate of personal allowance would be £34.80 (£36.15) if aged between 18 and 24, or £26.45 (£27.50) if aged 16 or 17. The higher rate of £34.80 (£36.15) also applies to people aged 16 or 17 who are of necessity living independently.
Disability
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what are the number of people in receipt of disability living allowance, for each component and attendance allowance, for each component in (a) the London borough of Newham, (b) the Wembley disability benefits centre and (c) nationally.
Mr. Scott : The administration of disability living allowance and attendance allowance are matters for Mr. Michael Bichard, the Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member. Letter from Mr. M. Bichard to Mr. Tony Banks, dated 6 December 1993 :
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking what are the number of people in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA), for each component and Attendance Allowance (AA), for each component in (a) the London Borough of Newham, (b) the Wembley Disability Benefits Centre (DBC) and (c) nationally.
The information that you have requested for people in the London Borough of Newham and also for DLA payments in the area covered by Wembley DBC are not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, the information in the following table answers a part of your question. The latest available figures are for quarter ending 31 March 1993.
DLA
|National
-----------------------------------------
Care Component
Higher rate care |206,000
Middle rate care |293,000
Lower rate care |154,000
|-------
Total |653,000
Mobility Component
Higher rate mobility |887,000
Lower rate mobility |145,000
|-------
Total |1,032,000
For AA there is only one component which is care, although there are two rates for which I have provided details.
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|National |Wembley DBC
------------------------------------------------
Higher rate |368,000 |51,000
Lower rate |522,000 |78,000
|------- |-------
Total |890,000 |129,000
All figures are provisional and are rounded to
the nearest thousand.
I hope this reply is helpful.
Cold Weather Payments
Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has formed of the effect of the change in weather stations used for the calculation of the cold weather payments for Ayrshire during the recent cold spell.
Mr. Scott : The administration of cold weather payments is a matter for Michael Bichard, the Chief Executive to the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Mr. M. Bichard to Mr. George Foulkes, dated 6 December 1993 :
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your Parliamentary Question about the effect of the change in weather stations used for the calculation of Cold Weather Payments for Ayrshire.
The reason for the change of weather station for Ayrshire was the closure of the station at Prestwick. Prestwick station no longer provides any data to the Meteorological Office and it is therefore not possible to say if Prestwick would have triggered any Cold Weather Payments in the recent cold weather.
The replacement station for that part of the mainland affected by the change (Postcodes KA1-26 and KA28-30) is Glasgow Airport. This weather station has triggered cold weather payments for the period 19 November to 25 November, when the running seven-day mean temperature was 0.3 degrees Centigrade. These payments have now been issued. The only part of Prestwick's old area not covered by the Glasgow weather station is the Isle of Arran (Postcode KA27), which was reassigned to the weather station at Macrihanish. Macrihanish station has not triggered any payments yet this winter. The running seven-day mean temperature ending 25 November 1993, was 3.4 degrees Centigrade.
Information provided by the Meteorological Office is that the Glasgow station historically records lower temperatures than Prestwick and is, therefore, more likely to trigger payments. The Meteorological Office have also informed us that the weather station at Macrihanish best reflects the weather on the Isle of Arran. I hope that this reply has been helpful.
Quarterly" and "Challenge"
Mr. Fatchett : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will set out the annual cost of the publication of (a) "Quarterly" and (b) "Challenge" magazines.
Mr. Hague : The cost of "Quarterly" magazine for the last full financial year was : £125,528.75. The estimated cost in 1993-94 is : £119,783.60.
There has been only one issue of "Challenge" magazine, which was published at a cost of £9,500.
Child Support Agency
Mr. Wilshire : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when he expects to announce the outcome of his review of the workings of the Child Support Agency.
Mr. Burt : The Child Support Agency was set up to secure more maintenance, more reliably, for more children
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and that is what it is doing. We have been examining the comments and concerns being raised about some of the aspects of the scheme and will consider carefully the recommendations of the Social Security Select Committee, to which a response will be given in due course.Income Support
Mr. Corbett : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list by each parliamentary constituency in the city of Birmingham the number of persons without accommodation claiming income support at the latest convenient date and 12 and 24 months earlier.
Mr. Burt : I understand from Mr. Michael Bichard, the Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency that the information is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
Dr. Wright : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many industrial disablement claims for asbestos-related diseases referred to special medical boards, and the numbers in which the diseases were diagnosed in each year since 1991 in the same format as tables given in reply to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Northfield (Mr. Burden) of 28 January 1992, Official Report, columns 514-16.
Mr. Scott [pursuant to his reply, 25 November 1993, column 174] : The information given contained a typographical error. The figure in the 1992 table for Newcastle under "References" column D1 should read 285, not 205 as shown. This does not affect the totals.
EMPLOYMENT
Deregulation
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what response he has made to the report on deregulation, produced by the GMB trade union, a copy of which has been sent to him.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : I have seen and read the report, and have written to Mr. Edmonds, General Secretary of the General, Municipal and Boilermakers Union--GMB--in the following terms :
Your letter of 18 November to the Secretary of State enclosed a copy of your document "Freedom to Kill? The Case Against Deregulation". I understand that your colleague Mr. Nigel Bryson has already received comments on your document from Frank Davies, Chairman of the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) and Mr. John Rimington, Director-General of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
As you know, the review arises from an invitation from me to the HSC earlier this year, asking them to look at health and safety regulation with the aim of reducing any undue burdens which it may impose on business, especially small firms. As you said in your letter, the 1974 Health and Safety at Wo from the statute book. The review builds upon and continues that work.
I was therefore astounded to read your report's confused account of the HSC Review of Regulations. I find it surprising that the GMB should wish to mislead the public on such important work, the aim of which is to develop an even more effective health and safety legislative framework. More surprisingly still, the report makes a barely concealed attack upon the integrity of the HSC, an independent tripartite body .
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I should not need to remind you that the seven Sector Task Groups, which are helping the HSC take the work of the review forward, have trade union members (including one from the GMB) ; and the Steering Group for the Review, under the Chairmanship of Miss Jenny Bacon, one of the HSE's Deputy Directors General, contains representatives from the TUC. It says little for your confidence in your colleagues if you endorse the conclusions of the report that there is a "hidden agenda" or "predetermined outcome."There is certainly no intention of increasing "freedom for employers to go back to 19th century working conditions" now, or at any time in the future. Two Press Notices were issued recently, in response to garbled Press accounts of what was supposedly in the Deregulation Bill, which made this perfectly clear.
Indeed I believe that if people find it easier to understand their legal obligations as a result of the review of regulations currently being undertaken by HSC, they will be better able to comply--and that has to result in better health and safety standards for workers. Some employers have argued that section 1 (2) of the 1974 Act inhibits sensible legislative change. The HSC review is looking at this, and the Government will decide what if anything to do in the light of this and any other evidence. In the meantime, I await the advice of the HSC.
HSC has already emphasised that the review needs to look not only at the substance of individual regulations but at the broader aspects of the regulatory regime. This includes : how to reduce the burden of paperwork imposed on business by health and safety regulations ; the enforcement practices of HSE and local authority inspectors ; and the further consolidation of all health and safety legislation to produce a simpler legislative framework designed to maintain or improve the standards of health and safety.
Any proposals for legislative change arising from the review will themselves be subject to the usual consultation procedures. Good standards of health and safety save business money in terms of less lost production due to accidents and so on. They also prevent illness, death and injury which costs individuals and the community dear. In simplifying and clarifying the requirements of the law, a system of regulation will be created which is easier for everyone to understand and easier for employers in particular to comply with. I am disappointed that the GMB does not appear to be able to agree with that aim.
Workplace Nurseries
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many workplace nursery facilities have been financially assisted from Government resources ; and if he will list where each is located.
Miss Widdecombe : Since 1990 the Government have granted tax exemption to workplace nurseries as a benefit in kind. No figures are held as to the number of facilities thereby assisted.
The civil service runs 40 nurseries for its employers, several joint ventures with other employers, and over 120 holiday play schemes. They are listed in the Cabinet Office's Childcare Bulletin for October 1993 which is available in the Library.
Disabled People (Sheffield)
Mrs. Helen Jackson : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what has been spent on disabled individuals in the Sheffield area over the last five years on assistance towards (a) special aids to employment, (b) adaptations to premises, (c) fares to work and (d) the personal reader scheme ;
(2) how many disabled individuals in the Sheffield area have benefited from the Government's present provision of assistance towards (a) special aids to employment, (b) adaptions to premises (c) fares to work and (d) personal reader service over the last five years.
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Mr. Michael Forsyth : Responsibility for the subject of the questions has been delegated to the Employment Service Agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Mr. M. Fogden to Mrs. Helen Jackson, dated 7 December 1993 :
As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to write to you direct to respond to your Parliamentary Questions to him about what has been spent on disabled individuals in the Sheffield area, and how many disabled individuals in the Sheffield area have benefitted from the Government's present provision of assistance over the last five years on assistance towards (a) special aids to employment, (b) adaptations to premises, (c) fares to work and (d) the personal reader service.
The information you have asked for is not held centrally and I have asked my people to investigate the availability of the details you request. I will send details to you as soon as they are available. As decided by the Administration Committee of the House of Commons, Chief Executive replies to written Parliamentary Questions will now be published in the Official Report. I will also place a copy of this letter in the Library of the House.
Disabled People (Employment Symbol)
Mr. Robert Ainsworth : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what assessment his Department has carried out as to the degree to which companies who display the two-tick symbol denoting them as positive about disabled people are complying with the criteria required.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service Agency under its Chief Executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Mr. M. Fogden to Mr. Robert Ainsworth, dated 7 December 1993 :
As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to write to you direct to respond to your Parliamentary Question to him about what assessment his Department has carried out into the degree to which companies who display the disability symbol are meeting the commitments expected of symbol users. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.
Use of the disability symbol is a voluntary step taken by an organisation which considers that its employment practices are consistent with the commitments required of symbol users, and which wants to ensure that disabled people know this. Users must accept five commitments :
to interview all job applicants with a disability who meet the minimum criteria for a job vacancy ;
to consult disabled employees to ensure that they can develop their abilities at work ;
to take steps to retain employees who become disabled to make sure they stay in employment ;
to ensure that key employees develop the awareness of disability needed to make employers' commitments work ;
and each year, to reviewing achievements and planning improvements.
The first four commitments are intended as a starting point for good practice, the fifth to help them monitor progress and make sure that their commitments are working in practice.
Employers preparing to adopt the symbol are encouraged to first discuss the symbol commitments in detail with a representative of my local Employment Service Placing, Assessment and Counselling Team (PACT). The PACT will advise on ways to meet the commitments within the particular organisation and, if necessary, suggest steps to be taken before
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the organisation formally adopts the symbol. Although it will be most useful for employers to call on their PACT when first preparing to adopt the symbol they may seek advice at any stage. The PACT role in monitoring employers' use of the symbol is thus one of helping rather than policing.As far as possible the commitments involve specific, observable actions and will be self-policing. We believe that employers are unlikely to sign up unless they intend to take them seriously. We would of course take up with a symbol user any complaint received from disabled people that the commitments were not being met in their case and if, exceptionally, it became clear that the symbol was being abused, we would ask the firm to stop using it. In the main, however, we expect to resolve difficulties through discussion to resolve any misunderstandings about what the commitments involve in practice. I hope this is helpful.
As decided by the Administrative Committee of the House of Commons, Chief Executive replies to written Parliamentary Questions will now be published in the Official Report. I will also place a copy of this letter in the Library of the House.
Health and Safety
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many health and safety inspectors there are in Wales ; and from which locations they work.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The number of inspectors permanently employed by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and based in Wales at 1 November 1993 was 63. The locations from which they work are HSE field operations division area and local offices in Cardiff, Wrexham, and Carmarthen.
Car Boot Sales
Mr. French : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what plans he has to strengthen health and safety regulations at car boot sales.
Workstart Project
Mr. Byers : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment for each workstart pilot project, what is the number of places available for unemployed people and the number actually taken up.
Mr. Michael Forsyth [holding answer 3 December 1993] : Each of the four workstart pilots has funding to place up to 250 long-term unemployed people into employment.
On 23 November the number of people in employment supported under workstart in each pilot area was as follows :
|Number
---------------------------------
South London |40
East Kent |35
Tyneside |30
Devon and Cornwall |3
The rate of take up in workstart is increasing. The Tyneside training and enterprise council (TEC) is working closely with the local employment service to match individual unemployed people to specific vacancies. The other TEC-run pilot, in Devon and Cornwall, is now adopting a similar approach to improve performance.
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Labour Statistics
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the average length of time (a) males over 35 years, (b) males over 16 and under 35 years, (c) women over 16 and under 35 years and (d) women over 35 years remain unemployed.
Miss Widdecombe [holding answer 29 November 1993] : Analysis of the computerised records relating to claimants whose spell of unemployment was completed in the period between 10 September and 14 October gives the following median durations of unemployment : those aged between 16 and 35 ; males--15.7 weeks, females--11.2 weeks : those aged 35 and over ; males--21.9 weeks, females--15.9 weeks. Analysis of a 5 per cent. sample of these same claimants shows that their mean duration of unemployment was as follows : those aged between 16 and 35 ; males--32 weeks, females--22.7 weeks : those aged 35 and over ; males--39.9 weeks, females--29.3 weeks.
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will provide a table showing the number of vacancies in jobcentres that were (a) temporary and (b) permanent in each quarter from April 1987 in each region.
Mr. Michael Forsyth [holding answer 6 December 1993] : Responsibility for the subject of the question has
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