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Attendance Allowance

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the number of home owners whose attendance allowance was withdrawn because they were in residential care temporarily paid for by the local authority pending the sale of their homes, in each year of the allowance's operation. [19325]

Mr. Andrew Mitchell: The information is not available.

Computers

Mr. Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list all cases since 1987 in which his Department has bought computer capacity from (a) other Departments and (b) the private sector, giving the value of each contract and the name of the private sector contractors. [19453]

Mr. Burt: There are no such cases.

From March 1994 the Department had a contingency arrangement with the private sector to protect some of its mainframe computers. The contract was never enacted. From June 1995, after outsourcing of the Department's data centre services, EDS became responsible for the mainframe computers. The Department requires EDS to guarantee a specific level of service but the specifics of contingency arrangements are a matter for EDS.

Compensation Recovery Scheme

Mr. Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what representations he has received on the compensation recovery scheme. [19767]

Mr. Roger Evans: I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave to the hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field) on 17 October 1995, Official Report, column 223.

Pensioners (Benefits)

Mr. Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimates he has made of the number and percentage of (a) single pensioners and (b) pensioner couples (1) under and (2) over 75 years of age entitled to, but not in receipt of, (i) council tax benefit, income support and housing benefit, (ii) income support and housing benefit, (iii) income support and council tax benefit, (iv) housing benefit and council tax benefit, (v) council tax benefit alone, (f) income support alone and (g) housing benefit alone. [19652]

Mr. Roger Evans: The information is not readily available. Where obtainable, it could be provided only at disproportionate cost and would not produce reliable results.

Lowered Standard of Occupation Allowance

Mr. Viggers: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what discretion Ministers have on the payment of allowance for lowered standard of occupation in individual cases. [20037]

Mr. Heald: Article 21 of the Naval, Military and Air Forces etc. (Disablement and Death) Service Pensions Order 1983 provides that the allowance for lowered

14 Mar 1996 : Column: 760

standard of occupation may be awarded to ex-service men and women who, because of the effects of their war pensioned disablement, are incapable, and likely to remain permanently incapable, of following their regular occupation and any other occupation which is of an equivalent standard and suitable for them. The Secretary of State will pay the allowance where he is satisfied that those conditions are met.

Disability Working Allowance

Mr. Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many additional claimants would qualify for the disability working allowance if the functional test were applied for initial claims for those not receiving a qualifying benefit; and what estimate he has made of the net cost. [20166]

Mr. Andrew Mitchell: The information is not available.

Mr. Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many claimants of disability working allowance have earnings below the lower earnings limit. [20168]

Mr. Mitchell: The lower earnings limit for 1995-96 is £58. On the 31 October 1995 there were 7,644 claimants in receipt of disability working allowance, of whom 2,620 were earning less than £58 per week.

Source: Disability working allowance computer system 100 per cent. scan of all awards.

Unemployment Benefit

Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the current level of unemployment benefit for an adult aged over 25 years in each EU state; and what percentage this figure represents as a proportion of the current national average wage in each country. [20317]

Mr. Roger Evans: Information on the level of unemployment benefits in each European Union country is contained in MISSOC "Social Protection in the Member States of the European Union", published by the European Commission. Information on unemployment benefits as a percentage of average earnings in member states is available in "Social Protection in Europe 1995", also published by the European Commission. Copies of both publications are in the Library.

Severe Weather Conditions

Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what additional funding will be made available to help people in receipt of income support who have suffered loss and damage as a result of the recent severe weather. [21290]

Mr. Roger Evans: I recently announced additional funding for four districts in the Glasgow area amounting to £268,308 for 967 applications. At the same time I also made available a further £80,000 from the contingency reserve for any future emergencies.

Since then, two further districts--Sefton and Highlands and Islands--have been awarded additional allocations from this sum of £80,000 due to their increased expenditure during the severe weather.

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On 29 February Sefton district reported a total of 76 awards at a cost of £25,315 and Highlands and Islands 396 awards at a cost of £42,000--a total expenditure of £67,315. The majority of awards were for budgeting loans.

I have therefore agreed that a further social fund in-year allocation of £67,315 should be made to the district offices affected.

The latest information we have suggests that there is unlikely to be any further requirement for additional allocations in the current financial year.

Benefit Statistics

Mr. MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the total amount paid in each of the last five years to workers in (a) full and (b) part-time employment in the form of housing benefit, family income support and other benefits paid by his Department. [20121]

Mr. Roger Evans: The available information in respect of the in-work benefits is set out in the table. It has been provided in respect of all workers, including those who are self-employed, irrespective of the number of hours they work. In addition to the benefits shown, workers may benefit from a range of categorical benefits, such as child benefit.

£million

Benefit cost	1990-91	1991-92	1992-93	1993-94	1994-95
Family credit(16)	494	626	929	1,208	1,480
Disability working allowance(16)	(18)--	(18)--	(18)--	7	13
Housing benefit(17)	340	395	525	600	700
Community charge benefit(17)	170	80	95	(18)--	(18)--
Council tax benefit(17)	(18)--	(18)--	(18)--	130	140
Total	1,004	1,101	1,549	1,945	2,333

Sources:

(16) 1995 departmental report.

(17) Estimates derived from the 1 per cent. Housing Benefit Management System sample annual enquiry.

(18) Represents periods before benefits were introduced/after they were replaced.

Earnings Disregard

Mr. Martlew: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the effect on public revenues in 1996-97 and 1997-98 of increasing the earnings disregard under income support for all claimants to at least (a) £10, (b) £15, (c) £25 and (d) £50 based on the assumption that (1) the disregard applies equally to individuals and the joint earnings of couples and (2) each partner in a couple is allowed the full disregard. [18104]

Mr. Roger Evans [holding answer 29 February 1996]: The information is set out in the tables.

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Table 1: 1996-97£ million

Change in disregards	Assumption 1	Assumption 2
At least £10	20	20
At least £15	40	40
At least £25	110	110
At least £50	240	240

Table 2: 1997-98£ million

Change in disregards	Assumption 1	Assumption 2
At least 10	10	10
At least 15	30	30
At least 25	100	100
At least 50	230	230

1. Estimates are modelled on the 1991-92-93 Family Expenditure Surveys and the 1994 Annual Statistical Enquiry, uprated to 1996-97 and 1997-98 levels of prices, earnings and benefit rates. Costs are rounded to the nearest £10 million.

2. Estimates are lower in 1997-98 than in 1996-97, as they take into account the change to the couples disregard for income support and jobseeker's allowance that is to be introduced in October 1996.

3. Costs include the increased cost of housing benefit and council tax benefit due to increased entitlement to these benefits.

4. The costs are shown as the same under both assumptions because of the small number of claims where both the claimant and partner work part time.

5. Behavioural changes, which would be considerable with the higher disregards have been ignored.

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