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Market Testing
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer to the hon. Member for City of Chester (Mr. Brandreth) of 18 April, Official Report , column 396 , what areas have been selected for internal charging ; what system of charging is proposed ; and how the transaction costs of internal charging will be allocated.
Mr. Sackville : The Department's internal management consultancy unit's services were fully internally charged from 1 April 1993 and the unit competes with commercial management consultancy firms. In addition, for a number of services now contracted out, such as printing and travel, expenditure is charged out within the Department to the point of consumption. For services being market-tested, and any provided to other Government Departments or
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executive agencies under service level agreements, a system of overhead allocation has been developed. The Department is considering further developments in internal charging in areas where this makes management sense, and where the benefits of introduction clearly outweigh the costs of implementing and maintaining the internal charging systems.Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer to the hon. Member for City of Chester (Mr. Brandreth) of 18 April, Official Report , column 396 , what was the outcome of the market- testing programme for 1993-94.
Mr. Sackville : The Department's 1993-1994 market-testing programme runs from October 1993 to September 1994 and was published in the citizens charter second report 1994, copies of which are available in the Library. To date the following market tests have been completed :
Reprographic service on the London estate--contract awarded to Libra Business Services.
Building management in certain Department of Health
buildings--contract awarded to Procord Facilities Management. Survey of infant feeding practices--contract awarded to Office of Population, Censuses and Surveys.
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer to the hon. Member for City of Chester (Mr. Brandreth) of 18 April, Official Report , column 396 , what areas the market-testing programme for 1994-95 will cover ; and what are the personnel consequences.
Mr. Sackville : The Department will shortly be agreeing its 1994- 1995 programme with the efficiency unit of the Cabinet Office.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Unemployment Benefit
Mr. Dewar : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish figures similar to those in his answer to the hon. Member for Lewisham, Deptford (Ms Ruddock) of 25 January, Official Report , column 186 , on unemployment benefit, showing the value of income support for a couple with two children under the age of 11 years giving figures for April and using estimates for April prices.
Mr. Burt : The available information is in the table. It shows that, since 1988, the level of income support as a proportion of full-time adult earnings has fallen but that its value in real terms has risen. In the period covered by the table, average earnings have risen faster than prices. Similar information on supplementary benefit is not readily available.
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|Total is |Average real |Equivalent |As a
|value of |value of |percentage of
|benefit at |benefit at |all adults
|April 1993 |April 1993 |average
|prices over |prices at date|earnings
|the period |of uprating
|£ |£ |£ |%
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
April 1988 |79.10 |102.19 |104.26 |36.2
April 1989 |84.80 |103.86 |106.12 |35.4
April 1990 |89.65 |102.39 |105.51 |34.1
April 1991 |96.90 |103.86 |105.10 |34.0
October 1991 |98.15 |102.98 |103.62 |33.4
April 1992 |105.00 |107.47 |108.13 |34.5
April 1993 |108.75 |107.99 |108.75 |34.3
Notes:
1. Source: Abstract of Statistics for Social Security Benefits and Contributions and the
Indices of Retail Prices and Average Earnings; Social Security Statistics.
2. Earnings are derived from the Employment Departments New Earnings Survey estimates of
all adult, full time, earnings.
3. Real value comparisons have been made using the Retail Prices Index of all items
excluding certain housing costs (ROSSI).
4. Income Support was introduced in April 1988. Estimates for entitlement to
Supplementary Benefit (which was replaced by Income Support) are difficult as assessment
varied with personal circumstance. For example, in addition to the ages of any children,
household status, accommodation type, health and other factors were all relevant.
Benefit Statistics
Mr. Dewar : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish estimates of the average numbers receiving benefits at any one time on the same
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basis as table 6 of the Social Security departmental report giving figures for (a) 1993-94, (b) 1994-95, (c) 1995- 96 and (d) 1996-97.Mr. Hague : The information is in the table.
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Figures are shown in thousands (000s)
|1993-94|1994-95|1995-96|1996-97
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Retirement pension |10,094 |10,056 |10,073 |10,122
Widows benefit |335 |331 |328 |324
Unemployment benefit |620 |625 |623 |558
Sickness benefit |142 |142 |142 |142
Invalidity benefit |1,536 |1,702 |1,691 |1,578
Maternity allowance |11 |11 |11 |11
Non contributory retirement pension |28 |28 |28 |28
War pension |304 |281 |281 |281
Attendance allowance |1,244 |1,371 |1,493 |1,618
Invalid care allowance |227 |262 |294 |324
Severe disability allowance |311 |318 |326 |333
Disability living allowance |1,401 |1,606 |1,772 |1,954
Disability working allowance |5 |9 |12 |14
Industrial injuries disability benefit |204 |204 |204 |204
Reduced earnings allowance |157 |157 |157 |157
Other industrial injuries scheme |2 |2 |2 |1
Industrial death benefit |23 |22 |21 |20
Income support |5,426 |5,605 |5,777 |5,982
Child benefit-Number of children |12,718 |12,930 |13,139 |13,336
Child benefit-Number of families |6,948 |7,048 |7,146 |7,237
One parent benefit |903 |950 |999 |1,047
Family credit |410 |448 |491 |521
Housing benefit-rent allowance |1,439 |1,432 |1,483 |1,536
Housing benefit-rent rebate |3,117 |3,186 |3,230 |3,279
Council tax benefit/Community charge benefit |5,252 |5,365 |5,455 |5,519
Note:
The forecasts are based on economic and unemployment assumptions published in the
Financial Statement and Budget Report 1994-95.
Housing Benefit
Mr. Gerrard : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what would be the estimated costs in 1994-95 and 1995-96 of increasing disregarded earnings for housing benefit purposes for single people to £10 per week and for couples to £25 per week ; and how many claimants would benefit from such a change.
Mr. Hague : The cost in 1994-95 is estimated to be £120 million and would benefit some 370,000 claimants. There is insufficient information to calculate figures for 1995-96.
Source :
The reply is based on the Family Expenditure Survey data from
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1989, 1990 and 1991, uprated to 1994-95 prices and caseloads. Figures are rounded down to the nearest £10 million and 10,000 cases.Mr. Gerrard : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what would be the estimated costs in 1994-95 and 1995-96 of reducing the housing benefit taper to 50 per cent. ; and how many claimants would benefit from such a change.
Mr. Hague : The estimated cost in 1994-95 is £730 million and it is estimated that 1,955,000 housing benefit recipients would benefit from such a change. Figures for 1995-96 are not available. Source :
Estimate uses data drawn from the 1989-90-91 Family Expenditure Surveys and modelled at 1994-95 prices and benefit levels. Costs are rounded to the nearest £5 million and numbers of claimants rounded to the nearest 5,000.
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Civil Rights (Disabled Persons) Bill
Ms Lynne : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what discussions he or Ministers in his Department or their parliamentary private secretaries had with the hon. Members who tabled amendments for consideration at the Report stage of the Civil Rights (Disabled Persons) Bill prior to and following the tabling of those amendments.
Mr. Lilley : My ministerial colleagues and I meet hon. Members from time to time on matters relating to our departmental
responsibilities.
Mr. Alfred Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to the answer of 12 May, Official Report , columns 212- 13 , on what date the Minister for Disabled People authorised his Department to instruct Parliamentary Counsel on the drafting of the amendments tabled to the Civil Rights (Disabled Persons) Bill by five hon. Members on 3 May.
Mr. Scott : On 20 April 1994, I authorised my officials to instruct Parliamentary Counsel to draft amendments.
Child Support Agency
Mr. Ingram : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many absent parents whose cases were taken on by the Child Support Agency during 1993-94 were on income support ; of these how many were (a) exempt from the £2.20 deductions made from income support in lieu of child maintenance, (b) subject to the £2.20 deductions ; and how many of the maintenance assessments calculated using the child support formula issued by the end of March were (i) nil assessments, other than those for absent parents on income support and (ii) minimum assessment of £2.20 a week, as opposed to deductions from income support.
Mr. Burt : The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Ros Hepplewhite to Mr. Adam Ingram, dated 17 May 1994 :
I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about benefit deductions. Not all of the information you have requested is available. To the end of March 1994, 40,446 assessments involved cases where the absent parent was in receipt of income support.
I understand that for the quarter ending 28 February 1994, the Benefits Agency had made deductions from income support in 16,413 cases.
In addition to those cases involving an absent parent on income support, a further 6,981 assessments resulted in the absent parent being assessed as unable to pay more than the minimum contribution which is now £2.30.
I am sorry that this reply is not more helpful.
Mr. Ingram : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security in how many cases dealt with by the Child Support Agency in 1993-94 the alleged absent parent disputed paternity ; how many of these cases have been resolved without reference to court and in how many of these paternity was established ; how many disputed paternity cases have been referred to court by the agency ; how many cases have been heard to date and in how many paternity has been established by the court ; and how many disputed paternity cases are unresolved to date.
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Mr. Burt : The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Ros Hepplewhite to Mr. Adan Ingram, dated 17 May 1994 :
I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about disputed paternity cases. I am grateful to you for raising the matter of disputed paternity again as I was about to write to you on the subject, following further information which has now come to light. When I wrote to you on 31 March in response to Question 1482, Official Report column 1026, I inadvertently provided incorrect figures. I am sorry that the information quoted, which was based on computerised information, was not accurate. We are undertaking immediate action to rectify the error.
The current position based on clerical checks is that from April 1993 to the end of March 1994, the absent parent disputed paternity in 3,006 cases. Of these, 657 cases were resolved without reference to court and 80 were withdrawn as paternity investigations were progressing. Information is not available on the establishment of paternity in those cases which were resolved without reference to the courts.
At the end of March 1994, 2,269 cases remained to be resolved and some 23 cases have been referred to the courts but none has yet completed a full hearing.
I hope this reply is helpful and I apologise again for providing incorrect information earlier.
Mr. Ingram : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many section 18 and section 17 reviews of child support officers were requested during 1993-94 ; how many of each were outstanding at the end of the financial year ; in how many of those resolved in each case the decision had been revised ; and what is the average number of weeks that the outstanding reviews have been awaiting decison in each Child Support Agency centre.
Mr. Burt : The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Ros Hepplewhite to Mr. Adam Ingram, dated 17 May 1994 :
I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about child support reviews. Not all of the information you have requested is available. I can however tell you that during 1993-94 the Agency processed 20,211 Section 17 reviews. The assessment was revised in 19,952 of those. I am also able to provide you with some of the information about Section 18 reviews. During 1993-94 there were requests for 25,013 such reviews of which 13,281 were cleared leaving 11,732 reviews outstanding.
Mr. Ingram : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many of the maintenance application forms issued by the Child Support Agency during 1993-94 have been issued to (a) non-benefit claimants, (b) family credit claimants, (c) new income support claimants and (d) existing income support claimants ; and how many have been issued to absent parents.
Mr. Burt : The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Ros Hepplewhite to Mr. Adam Ingram, dated 17 May 1994 :
I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the issue of maintenance application forms.
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During the period from April 1993 to the end of March 1994, a total of 858,000 maintenance application forms were issued. Of these, 29,600 were issued to clients who do not receive any of the prescribed benefits ; 223,800 were issued to parents with care in receipt of either Family Credit or Disability Working Allowance ; 320,400 were issued to new and repeat applicants for Income Support and 284,200 were issued to parents with care in receipt of Income Support before 5th April 1993.Information is not recorded on the number of application forms issued to Absent Parents.
Mr. Ingram : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 31 March, Official Report, column 1026, if he will make a statement on the relationship between deductions from earnings orders issued by the Child Support Agency by the end of February and the number of accounts in arrears.
Mr. Burt : The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Ros Hepplewhite to Mr. Adam Ingram, dated 17 May 1994 :
I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the deductions from earnings orders which have been issued by the Child Support Agency, and the number of client accounts in arrears.
I regret that validated data on accounts in arrears is not currently available. The Child Support Computer System is being upgraded to provide additional information. The Agency had however issued an estimated 1,400 deductions from earnings orders by the end of February 1994.
Mr. Ingram : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many of the maintenance assessments issued by the Child Support Agency during 1993-94 were interim assessments ; how many of these interim maintenance assessments have been subsequently replaced by final maintenance assessments, and how many interim assessments remained in force at 31 March ; whether the final maintenance assessment for cases where an interim assessment is originally made appears in the monthly Child Support Agency statistics as another assessment made, and whether the monthly statistics could differentiate interim and final assessments ; and when he will be able to give a breakdown of the number of category A interim assessments and category B interim assessments.
Mr. Burt : The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Ros Hepplewhite to Mr. Adam Ingram, dated 17 May 1994 :
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I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about interim maintenance assessments.From April 1993 to the end of March 1994, 73,300 interim maintenance assessments were issued, of which 25,000 were converted to final maintenance assessments. 48,300 interim maintenance assessments remained in place at the end of the period. A breakdown of these figures by category is not available.
When an interim assessment is included in statistical reports it is excluded on conversion to a full maintenance assessment. Total assessments reported for statistical purposes therefore refer to the number of cases where initial assessments have been made. Information on the number of interim maintenance assessments issued will be included in future monthly reports placed in the Library of the House.
Mr. Ingram : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 31 March, Official Report, column 1025 , regarding the Child Support Agency, in how many section 6 cases the issue of the requirement to co-operate has been considered by the Child Support Agency during 1993-94 ; in how many of these cases he agreed that the parent with care need not be required to co-operate ; in how many of these cases the agency accepted that there was a risk of harm or undue distress, and what was the range of other reasons accepted for not requiring co- operation ; how many parents with care subsequently gave the authorisation or information ; how many reduced benefit directions were issued in 1993-94 ; and when the agency will begin to monitor the number of applicants who have given authorisation but subsequently seek to withdraw it.
Mr. Burt : The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Ros Hepplewhite to Mr. Adam Ingram, dated 17 May 1994 :
I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the requirement to co-operate.
During the period April 1993 to March 1994, the requirement to co-operate was considered in 64,800 cases. After investigation, good cause not to co- operate was accepted in 31,700 cases. Of these, 8,400 were cases where the parent with care was unable to name the parent of the child ; 15,800 were cases where there was a risk of violence and 7,500 were cases where other reasons such as emotional distress, mental illness or concern for the welfare of the child were accepted. After interview, 14,200 parents with care subsequently provided their authorisation or the necessary information.
In the same period, 627 Reduced Benefit Directions were referred to the Benefits Agency for implementation.
The Agency keeps its management information systems in this area under review. At this stage there are no firm plans to record routinely the number of applicants who provide authorisation and subsequently withdraw it.
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