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Council Tax Benefit
Mr. Wicks: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the annual cost of reducing the council tax benefit taper for those in paid work to (i) 15 per cent. and (ii) 10 per cent.; and how many people would be entitled to benefit in each of these cases. [7179]
Mr. Roger Evans: The information is set out in the table.
| Taper | Net cost | Council tax benefit caseload |
|---|---|---|
| £ million | ||
| 20 per cent. | -- | 5,620,000 |
| 15 per cent. | 40 | 5,675,000 |
| 10 per cent. | 120 | 5,870,000 |
Estimates based on the Family Expenditure Surveys of 1991, 1992 and 1993, uprated to 1996-97 prices and benefit levels. Estimates of costs are rounded to the nearest £5 million. Estimates of caseloads are rounded to the nearest 5,000. Figures may not sum exactly due to rounding.
20 Dec 1995 : Column: 1273
Earnings Disregard
Mr. Wicks: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the cost of increasing the earnings disregard for income support claimants by (i) £5, (ii) £10 and (iii) £15 a week. [7183]
Mr. Roger Evans: The information is set out in the table.
| Increase in disregard | Cost |
|---|---|
| £ | £ million |
| 5 | 35 |
| 10 | 65 |
| 15 | 100 |
1. Modelled on the 1991, 1992 and 1993 Family Expenditure Surveys and the 1994 Quarterly Statistical Enquiry uprated to 1995- 96 prices, benefits and earnings levels. 2. Costs include the increased costs of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit due to increased entitlement to these benefits. 3. It has been assumed that both the head and the spouse of a couple each gain by the increases in the earnings disregards. 4. It has been assumed that no behavioural changes take place.
Benefit Savings
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list each local authority in England which achieved (a) less than 50 per cent. and (b) between 50 per cent. and 60 per cent. of its target level of weekly benefit savings resulting from the detection of housing benefit fraud in the last available year; and if he will list the actual percentage achieved by each local authority which achieved less than 50 per cent. of its target. [7147]
Mr. Roger Evans: The information for the latest available year, 1994-95, is set out in the table.
| Local authority | Percentage of weekly benefit savings threshold achieved |
|---|---|
| Between 50 per cent. and 60 per cent. of threshold achieved | |
| Chiltern | 58 |
| Blyth Valley | 58 |
| Tower Hamlets | 57 |
| Bromley | 56 |
| Thamesdown | 53 |
| North Wiltshire | 53 |
| Coventry | 52 |
| Sutton | 51 |
| Colchester | 51 |
| Wirral | 51 |
| Kirklees | 50 |
| Kingston Upon Hull | 50 |
| Bexley | 50 |
| Less than 50 per cent. of threshold achieved | |
| Hart | 45 |
| Sedgefield | 38 |
| Knowsley | 30 |
| Rutland | 27 |
| Wansbeck | 24 |
| Nuneaton | 20 |
| Congleton | 18 |
| North-west Leicester | 8 |
| Isles of Scilly | 0 |
| South Bedfordshire | 0 |
| Teesdale | 0 |
20 Dec 1995 : Column: 1274
Private Finance Initiative
Mr. Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will provide revenue forecasts for the current year and the next five years of expenditure on schemes provided under the PFI. [5734]
Mr. Burt [holding answer 14 December 1995]: Revenue costs from public funds will not arise until 1997 when the first of our PFI systems has been developed and successfully delivered. Estimated revenue costs are subject to continuing negotiation and are commercial in confidence.
Mr. Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will provide a breakdown of administration costs incurred to date and forecast for the future on PFI work. [5733]
Mr. Burt [holding answer 14 December 1995]: The administrative costs incurred in the DSS in 1994-95 on PFI work are estimated at around £2 million. The estimated costs for 1995-96 are £8 million. It is not possible to forecast, with confidence, future administrative costs associated with PFI work.
Mr. Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will provide for schemes so far agreed under the PFI the level of financing costs above the current cost of Government borrowing for the scheme with (a) the highest financing costs and (b) the lowest costs. [5735]
Mr. Burt [holding answer 14 December 1995]: The information is not available in the format requested. It is a fundamental principle when considering schemes under the private finance initiative that what is assessed is the overall best value for money in providing a specified service, taking into account all aspects of design, building, finance and operation as a unified whole.
Child Support Agency
Mr. Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what technical difficulties the Child Support Agency has encountered in meeting requests for subject access under the Data Protection Act 1984; what investigations were instigated in respect of those difficulties; and what steps he has taken to ensure that future software procurement programmes will include, as part of their design criteria, routines which support the rights of data subjects under the Data Protection Act 1984. [5301]
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.
20 Dec 1995 : Column: 1275
Letter from Miss Ann Chant to Mr. Harry Cohen, dated 19 December 1995:
I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary for Social Security about the Data Protection Act 1984.
Mr. Mitchell:
The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Miss Ann Chant to Mr. John Greenway, dated 19 December 1995:
Mr. Sheerman:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many day centres for the homeless have received funding from his Department in the last 12 months. [7216]
Mr. Clappison:
I have been asked to reply.
20 Dec 1995 : Column: 1276
My Department does not fund the capital costs or the overall running costs of day centres for homeless people, but 21 day centres have received grant under section 73 of the Housing Act 1985 which is paid to voluntary sector organisations for specific projects to prevent and relieve homelessness.
Mr. Sheerman:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many day centres for homeless people there are in the United Kingdom. [7217]
Mr. John Greenway:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will update his answer of 23 November, Official Report, column 231, regarding savings achieved by the Child Support Agency, to the same format as his answer of 19 July, Official Report, column 1499, to provide a full breakdown of the maintenance contributing to benefit savings from (a) pre-CSA arrangements paid direct by absent parent to parent with care, (b) pre-CSA arrangements paid through the agency collection service, (c) CSA assessments and paid direct by absent parent to parent with care and (d) CSA assessments and paid via the agency collection service. [5651]
Prior to August 1995 the Agency experienced some difficulties in providing information from the Child Support Computer System to the public in a clear and understandable format.
System enhancements introduced during August this year have eradicated the major technical difficulty which meant that explanations and other actions had to be undertaken clerically before personal information held on the Child Support Computer System could be issued.
The latest information that I can give you is that in over 90 per cent. of cases the Agency is answering requests for information within 40 days as required by the Data Protection Act 1984.
The Child Support Agency is registered with the Data Protection Registrar's Office in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1984. Any future software procurement programmes will take full account of its requirements.
I hope this is helpful.
I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about benefit savings.
You asked for an answer given on 23 November 1995 to be updated to provide a breakdown of maintenance contributing to benefit savings between that arising from pre CSA assessments and that arising from CSA assessments.
The Child Support Agency is responsible for recording all Social Security benefit savings arising as a result of action taken to arrange maintenance. During the first two years we sought to estimate a breakdown between pre and post CSA maintenance. This was appropriate as, like any new organisation, the Agency wished to monitor its progress.
As an ever increasing proportion of all the maintenance paid has now been arranged by the Agency, producing estimates between "old" and "new" money would no longer be either valid or useful; the Agency no longer has a business need to try to divide maintenance paid in this way. I cannot therefore provide the data you ask for.
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