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Iraq (Export Credit Guarantees)
Mr. Byers: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what is his estimate of the potential export credit guarantee liability in respect of contracts entered into with companies in Iraq or the Government of Iraq; how much of this amount is in respect of defence contracts; and what amount of export credit guarantee liability has been actually paid. [16994]
Mr. Ian Taylor [holding answer 28 March 1995]: The ECGD's current exposure on Iraq is estimated at £652 million, of which £593 million relates to un-recovered claims payments. Over the period 1985 90, ECGD supported about £52 million for exports with potential defence applications.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Child Support
Mr. David Shaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the estimated total number of liable parents for child maintenance without care
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responsibilities prior to the Child Support Act 1991; what is the most recent estimated number of parents without care responsibilities but potentially liable for child support; and what is the estimated total number in each category who were or are not paying any child support at all and the estimated total numbers who paid £500 or less per child. [15264]Mr. Burt: Information is not available in the form requested. Estimates at the time the White Paper "Children Come First" was published in 1990 indicated that only 30 per cent. of lone mothers and 3 per cent of lone fathers received maintenance. The average amount of maintenance paid was £25 a week.
Incapacity Benefits
Mr. Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many claimants of incapacity benefits have been found (a) capable of work, (b) capable of alternative work and (c) capable of their usual occupation during each of the last four quarters; and in each category, how many of these were examined and how many were not. [16102]
Mr. Hague: The available information is in the table.
Outcome of claims referred to Benefits Agency medical service. Quarter |December |March |June |September ending |1993 |1994 |1994 |1994 ---------------------------------------------------------------- Capable of alternative work |25,000 |28,000 |25,000 |27,000 Capable of normal occupation |5,000 |5,000 |4,000 |4,000 Notes: 1. Based on a 100 per cent. count of cases, rounded to the nearest thousand. 2. References are for sickness benefit, invalidity benefit and severe disablement allowance claimants, but excludes those references where the national insurance contribution conditions for sickness/invalidity benefit have not been satisfied and benefit is payable because the person's incapacity is the result of an accident at work or a prescribed industrial disease. 3. Figures for June and September do not include references to Durham medical examination centre. Figures for September do not include references to Swansea reference office.
All these claimants were examined by the Benefits Agency medical service.
Mr. O'Hara: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if Mr. Harold Fairs' entitlement to incapacity benefit will cease on 1 June; if his retirement pension will be payable from the first pension pay day on 5 June; and from which public funds during the period 2 to 4 June Mr. Fairs will meet the needs for which his incapacity benefit is intended. [17354]
Mr. Hague: I refer the hon. Member to my reply of 24 February, Official Report , columns 351-52 .
Public Relations
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much his Department spent on public relations during the financial year 1993 94; how much contracts with the private sector cost; and if he will list the activities covered by these contracts. [16286]
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Mr. Hague: This Department spent the following on public relations with the private sector during the financial year 1993 94:
Department |£ ------------------------------------------------------------- Headquarters |nil Benefits Agency |nil Contributions Agency |nil Child Support Agency |nil War Pensions Agency |nil Resettlement Agency |nil Information Technology Services Agency |2,765
The activities covered by the contractor to ITSA were to assist the agency in the establishment of its public relations function; to advise on dealing with the IT press, and to make recommendations on both internal and external communication.
Departmental Annual Report
Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the cost of producing and circulating the departmental annual report for each of the last 10 years in real terms. [16623]
Mr. Hague: The Department has produced only three separate departmental annual reports. Costs, in March 1995 prices, for these are as follows:
1995 96: £34,104
1994 95: £27,342
1993 94: £33,476
For the years 1991 92 and 1992 93 the Department's expenditure plans were published as part of a Treasury series and separate figures are therefore not available.
For the years 1985 86 to 1989 90 expenditure plans for all Departments were published by the Treasury in its expenditure White Paper. Separate figures are not available.
Benefits (Capital Limits)
Mr. David Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list all the current capital limits to the entitlement to benefits and other assistance together with the year of introduction; what was the value of each in real terms at the time of introduction; and if he will make a statement. [16611]
Mr. Roger Evans: The five income-related benefits--council tax benefit, disability working allowance, family credit, housing benefit and income support--all have a lower capital limit, above which deductions are made from benefit, and an upper capital limit, above which no benefit can be paid. The lower capital limit in all those benefits is also the level above which no personal allowance can be paid for a dependent child if he possesses that amount of capital or more.
Additionally, in qualifying for a social fund maternity or funeral payment, community care grant or budgeting loan, if capital is held above a certain limit, deductions are made from any payment awarded. The limits, and the dates when they were introduced or last increased, are set out in the table.
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£
|Value now
|if uprated
|in line with
|Date fixed |prices<1>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Council Tax Benefit
Lower capital limit £3,000 |April 1993 |3,108
Upper capital limit £16,000 |April 1993 |16,576
Disability Working Allowance
Lower capital limit £3,000 |April 1992 |3,216
Upper capital limit £16,000 |April 1992 |£16,596
Family Credit
Lower capital limit £3,000 |April 1988 |4,105
Upper capital limit £8,000 |April 1990 |9,940
Housing Benefit
Lower capital limit £3,000 |April 1988 |4,105
Upper capital limit £16,000 |April 1990 |19,881
Income Support
Lower capital limit £3,000 |April 1988 |4,105
Upper capital limit £8,000 |April 1990 |9,940
Social Fund
Capital limit for funeral £500 or
maternity payments (up to age 60) |April 1990 |621
Capital limit for funeral £1,000 or
maternity payments (60 and over) |April 1990 |1,242
Community care grant £500 (up to age
60) |April 1988 |684
Community care grant £1,000 (60 and
over) |April 1988 |1,242
Budgeting loan £500 (up to age 60) |April 1988 |684
Budgeting loan £1,000 (60 and over) |April 1988 |1,242
<1> Uprated in line with ROSSI-retail prices index excluding housing costs.
Jobseeker's Allowance
Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate of the number of people who will receive the jobseeker's allowance; and if he will make a statement. [16830]
Mr. Roger Evans: On current assumptions, 2,110,00 people would be receiving a jobseeker's allowance at any one time in 1996 97. Once transitional protection has ended, on the same assumptions 2,070,000 would be receiving a jobseeker's allowance.
Notes:
1. Assumes in 1996 97 and 1997 98 claimant unemployment in Great Britain of 2.4 million and an unemployment benefit case load of 500, 000.
2. Estimates rounded to the nearest 10,000.
Statutory References
Mr. Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what statutory references to hon. Members have been made in legislation introduced by his Department, or its predecessors, since 1965. [17037]
Mr. Hague: An analysis of all legislation introduced by this Department and its predecessors since 1965 for any reference to the type requested, could be provided only at disproportionate cost. It is exceptional for reference to be made specifically to an individual hon. Member. Frequent references are made to officers of state, and occasional general references are made to persons
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who are members of one or other of the Houses of Parliament.Performance Targets
Mr. Coe: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what performance targets he has set his Department's agencies for 1995 96; and if he will make a statement. [18010]
Mr. Lilley: The targets I have set my executive agencies for 1995 96 are given.
The targets represent a significant challenge to each agency, and support the continued success of the citizen's charter and next steps programmes.
As well as performance targets, I have also set resource management targets requiring agencies to deliver their services within agreed financial resources.
Further information on my agencies' plans for 1995 96 is contained in their individual business plans which have been published today. Copies have been placed in the Library.
The targets for 1995 96 are:
BENEFITS AGENCY
1 Benefit clearance times
Social fund crisis loans--the day the need arises.
Income support new claims--63 per cent. of claims cleared in five days and 87 per cent. in 13 days.
Incapacity benefit--65 per cent. of claims cleared in 10 days and 85 per cent. in 30 days.
Child benefit--68 per cent. of claims cleared in 10 days and 94 per cent. in 30 days.
Family credit--60 per cent. of claims cleared in 13 days and 95 per cent. in 42 days.
Disability living allowance--68 per cent. of claims cleared in 30 days and 85 per cent. in 53 days.
2 Benefit Accuracy
Income support--to pay the correct amount in 87 per cent. of cases.
Incapacity benefit--to pay the correct amount in 94 per cent. of cases.
Family credit--to pay the correct amount in 91 per cent. of cases.
Disability living allowance--to pay the correct amount in 96 per cent. of cases.
3 Customer satisfaction
85 per cent. of customers to regard the agency's service as satisfactory or better.
4 Resource management
To manage the agency's resources so as to deliver its business plan within the gross budget allocation.
To keep to the net cash limited provision for the discretionary social fund budget approved by Parliament.
To deliver new efficiency savings of at least £75 million. 5 Financial recovery
Recovery of social fund loans--£273 million.
Benefit savings from the detection of fraud--£680 million. Recovery of benefit overpayments--£110 million.
CONTRIBUTIONS AGENCY
1 Performance: compliance
Collection of contribution arrears, excluding central payments section, of £250 million.
Identification of £133 million class 1 arrears as a result of compliance work.
Carry out 116,500 surveys, including 23,300 employer educational visits.
Actively identify 40,000 persons with class 2 liability who have an immediate requirement to pay contributions.
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2 Performance: records maintenanceProcess 98 per cent. of available employers' end of year returns by 31 December 1995.
Correct 92 per cent. of rejects from employers' end of year returns by 31 March 1996.
3 Performance: information provision/customer service
Clear 99 per cent. of benefit inquiries handled clerically in two working days to 98 per cent. accuracy.
Despatch either a full reply, or an informative response to 95 per cent. of customer enquiries within 10 working days of receipt. Complete action to register acceptable personal pension cases and process straight-forward termination notices for 95 per cent. of all cases within 22 working days of receipt.
4. Customer satisfaction
Provide a level of public service considered to be satisfactory by at least 80 per cent. of customers surveyed.
5. Resource management
Manage the agency's resources so as to deliver its business plan within a total budget of £240.244 million.
CHILD SUPPORT AGENCY
1. Performance
£300 million of maintenance to be collected, or arranged for direct payment from AP to PWC IN 1995 96.
90 per cent. of payments made to PWCs to be made within 10 working days of receipt from the AP.
To achieve a rapid and continuing improvement in accuracy so that in at least 75 per cent. of cases checked during March 1996 the cash value will be for the correct amount.
Where a client is dissatisfied with a child support officer's decision and requests a review, 50 per cent. to be cleared within 13 weeks; 80 per cent. to be cleared within 26 weeks; and no more than 20 per cent. to be older than 26 weeks as at 31 March 1996. 60 per cent. of new maintenance applications to be cleared within 26 weeks and as at 31 March 1996 no more than 10 per cent. of all maintenance applications received by the agency to be over 52 weeks old.
2. Customer satisfaction
To achieve a score of 65 per cent. on an index of client satisfaction with the agency's service, as determined by an independent national survey.
3. Resource management
To manage the agency's resources so as to deliver its Business Plan within the gross budget allocation.
WAR PENSIONS AGENCY
1. Performance
Disablement first claims (UK)--60 per cent. cleared in 150 days Disablement second and subsequent claims--60 per cent. cleared in 135 days.
War widows claims (UK)--80 per cent. cleared in 70 days. Entitlement appeals--70 per cent. in 275 days.
Assessment appeals--70 per cent. in 190 days.
Claims Accuracy, all claims--95 per cent.
2 Customer satisfaction
To achieve a level of 85 per cent. of war pensioners sampled who regard the agency's service as satisfactory or better, as determined by an independent survey.
3 Resource Management
To manage the agency's administration resources so as to deliver the business plan within a total budget of £40.56 million.
RESETTLEMENT AGENCY
1 Disengagement strategy
Ensure sufficient replacement bedspaces are operational to enable the closure of Leeds and Bishopbriggs (Glasgow) resettlement units and thereby completion of the disengagement programme by 31 March 1996.
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2 Customer careVisit 30 per cent. of grant-aided organisations by 31 March 1996 to ensure that the conditions of the grant award are met, that facilities are managed in a way which ensures value for money and to establish levels of customer care, with a view to dissemination of best practice throughout the network of hostel provision.
3 Resettlement
Ensure that the objective of successful resettlement is maintained through the Resettlement Agency's own systems of measurement, including extending the use of its resettlement index to 50 per cent. of grant-aided organisations.
4 Planning
In collaboration with DSS headquarters, plan and effect the orderly transfer of appropriate residual agency functions to them, assuming that all possible business is concluded by 31 March 1996 and that ministerial approval for funding and monitoring arrangements from April 1996 is agreed.
5 Resource management
Manage the agency's resources so as to deliver its business plan within a total allocation of £26,975 million.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES AGENCY
1 Performance
Deliver an overall business efficiency improvement of 8 per cent.
Deliver 90 per cent. of services to customers to service levels for budget, time and quality as agreed within contracts.
During 1995 96 to outsource the bulk of ITSA's IT processing functions to departmental time scales.
Define the three-year contract frameworks with customers for core systems development.
2 Resource management
Manage ITSA's resources within the agency's funding regime. Notes:
Clearance times cover the date of receipt of a written claim in the agency to the date of decision/payment. All days refer to working days.
The maintenance target comprises the following two forecast components:
£140 million of maintenance will be collected by the agency and £160 million assessed by the agency for direct payment by absent parents to parents with care; and
£540 million benefit savings are expected to result from the achievement of CSA targets.
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