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Child Benefit
Mr. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what would be the annual cost of raising the level of child benefit by £5 per week for each first child only. [22782]
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Mr. Andrew Mitchell: It is estimated that the net cost would be £1.35 billion in 1996-97 prices, after taking account of the effect on income-related benefit expenditure.
Christmas Bonus
Mr. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what would be the cost of replacing the Christmas pensioners bonus with a double payment of state pension in the first week of December. [22780]
Mr. Heald: The £10 Christmas bonus is paid to all those who are entitled to receive a qualifying benefit in the first week in December. To replace the bonus with an extra week's entitlement of basic state pension for the recipients of retirement pension alone would cost 1 £440 million at December 1996.
1 1996-97 prices rounded to nearest £10 million. Source: Government Actuary's Department's report on Social Security Uprating Order 1996--Cm3149.
Indian Sub-continent
Mr. Marlow: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will break down by categories and amounts, the money form the social security budget sent to the Indian subcontinent over the last year for which figures are available. [22838]
Mr. Heald: The information is in the table:
| £ Amount | |
|---|---|
| Retirement pension | 15,634,083 |
| Widow's benefit | 2,079,196 |
| War pension | 9,067 |
| Total | 17,722,346 |
1. The information relates to 1995.
2. Figures are provisional and subject to change.
3. Figures have been rounded to nearest £.
Disability Living Allowance
Mr. Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what recommendation he has received from the Social Security Advisory Committee about the proposal to remove the disability living allowance mobility component from long-term hospital patients; and if he will place a copy of the Social Security Advisory Committee's comments in the Library. [22581]
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: The Social Security Advisory Committee has recently submitted its report, which we are studying carefully. A command paper containing the committee's recommendations and the Government's response will be laid before Parliament with the draft regulations in due course.
National Insurance
Mr. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate of the annual cost of raising the starting rate for the payment of employee national insurance contributions to the same level as the personal income tax allowance; and how many people would cease to pay employee national insurance contributions as a consequence. [22718]
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Mr. Heald: The estimated loss in revenue from employee national insurance contributions would be some £650 million in a full year. On average, about 0.7 million employees in any week would no longer be liable to pay contributions.
Source:
Government Actuary's Department.
Mr. Heald: The estimate is £250 million based on 1995-96 figures.
Note:
The information available relates only to extending employer national insurance contributions to taxable benefits in kind.
State Pensions
Mr. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what would be the cost of abolishing the contributory principle for state pensions. [22777]
Mr. Heald: The additional cost in 1996-97 of paying the basic state retirement pension at the full rate of £61.15 to all individuals over state pension age in Great Britain is estimated at £4 billion.
Notes:
1. A gross cost of £5.5 billion is estimated by calculating the total cost of a Pension of £61.15 per week for everybody over state pension age in the GB population and deducting the estimated cost of the contributory benefits currently payable to those people. The net cost of £4 billion takes account of the effects on income-related benefits.
2. The estimated cost assumes that additions to basic retirement pension (adult dependency increases, increments, graduated pensions, age addition and invalidity addition) will continue to be paid and that overseas pensioners continue to get all benefits under the current rules.
3. It is not possible to estimate the costs of making the state earnings-related pension scheme (SERPS) non-contributory as it is an earnings-related scheme.
4. All costs are in 1996-97 prices, rounded to the nearest £0.1 billion and are based on the September 1995 public expenditure settlement.
Source:
Government Actuary's Department.
Unemployment (21-hour Rule)
Mr. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what would be the annual cost of abolishing the 21-hour rule for unemployed people studying or being trained for more than 21 hours per week. [22781]
Mr. Roger Evans: The 21-hour rule is a concession to help unemployed people who have left full-time education but who wish to take up part-time study or training while they are unemployed. There are insufficient data on which to base a reliable estimate of the cost of abolishing this rule.
Jobseeker's Allowance
Mr. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate of the annual cost
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savings from the introduction of the jobseeker's allowance. [22785]
Mr. Roger Evans: The current estimates for the savings from the introduction of the jobseeker's allowance are £60 million in 1996-97 and £240 million in 1997-98. These figures are lower than the estimates given in the financial memorandum to the Jobseekers Bill. This is due to the deferral of introduction from April 1996 to October 1996, revised forecasts of unemployment, changes to the transitional arrangements for those in receipt of unemployment benefit when jobseeker's allowance is introduced and the use of more recent data.
Benefit Restriction (Young People)
Mr. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what has been the annual saving from restricting income support and other benefits to people between the ages of 16 and 18 years. [22717]
Mr. Roger Evans: Young people aged 18 years are entitled to income support under the normal rules; 16 and 17-year-olds not required to be available for work are similarly entitled. There is no restriction on access to any other benefit.
Since 1988, the Government have further encouraged unemployed 16 and 17-year-olds to take the more positive option of youth training in place of dependence on benefit. Reliable estimates of the number of claims that would have been made by this group under the previous arrangements are not practicable. They would be dependent on a variety of economic and other assumptions.
Departmental Performance Targets
Mr. Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what performance targets he has set his Department's agencies for 1996-97; and if he will make a statement. [23285]
Mr. Lilley: The targets I have set the Department's executive agencies for 1996-97 are as follows.
The targets represent a significant challenge to each agency, and focus effort on the key elements of their individual businesses.
The resettlement agency will have fulfilled its overall objectives by completing its disengagement programme by 31 March 1996, and will have transferred all its residual functions to this Department's headquarters by that date.
Further information on the agencies' plans for 1996-97 is contained in their individual business plans which have been published today. Copies have been placed in the Library.
The targets for 1996-97 are:
Benefits agency
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1. Benefit claims clearance times
Social Fund Crisis Loans--the day the need arises.
Income Support claims--63 per cent. in 5 days and 87 per cent. in 13 days.
Incapacity Benefit claims--65 per cent. in 10 days and 85 per cent. in 30 days.
Child Benefit claims--68 per cent. in 10 days and 94 per cent. in 30 days.
Disability Living Allowance claims--65 per cent. in 30 days and 85 per cent. in 53 days.
Faster Family Credit claims--90 per cent. in 5 days.
2. Benefit accuracy
Income Support accuracy--to pay the correct amount in 87 per cent. of cases.
Incapacity Benefit accuracy--to pay the correct amount in 94 per cent. of cases.
Family Credit accuracy--to pay the correct amount in 91 per cent. of cases.
Disability Living Allowance accuracy--to pay the correct amount in 96 per cent. of cases.
3. Financial recovery and financial control
156,700 claims of those obtaining benefit by deception to be withdrawn within 10 days of fraud investigation, and 189,000 within 28 days.
Security Savings--£1,500 million.
Overpayment Recovery--£91.5 million.
Social Fund Loans Recovery--£278 million.
4. Resource management
To manage the Agency's resources to deliver its Business Plan within gross allocation.
To keep to the cash limited agreement with Treasury for the discretionary Social Fund budget approved by Parliament.
5. Customer satisfaction
Customer Satisfaction--85 per cent. to regard the Agency's service as satisfactory or better.
Contributions agency
1. Performance: Compliance
Collection of contributions arrears (excluding Central Payments Section) of £220 million.
Identification of £150 million Class 1 arrears as a result of compliance work.
Actively identify 40,000 persons with Class 2 liability who have an immediate requirement to pay contributions.
2. Performance: Records maintenance
Process 98 per cent. of available employers' end of year returns by 31 December 1996.
Correct 94 per cent. of rejects from employers' end of year returns by 31 March 1997.
3. Performance: Information provision/customer service
Clear 99 per cent. of benefit enquiries 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 ten working days of receipt.
To register Appropriate Personal Pension (APP) cases and process 95 per cent. of straightforward APP termination notices within 22 working days.
4. Resource management
To manage the Agency's resources to deliver its Business Plan within a total budget of £228.775 million.
5. Customer satisfaction
Provide a level of public services considered to be satisfactory by at least 80 per cent. of customers surveyed.
Child support agency
1. Performance
Sixty per cent. of new maintenance applications to be cleared within 26 weeks and as at 31 March 1997 no more than 10 per cent. of all maintenance applications received by Agency to be over 52 weeks old.
To achieve a continuing improvement in accuracy so that in at least 85 per cent. of cases checked during March 1997 the cash value of the assessment will be correct.
Where a client is dissatisfied with a Child Support Officer's decision and requests a review, 55 per cent. to be cleared within 13 weeks; 80 per cent. within 26 weeks; and no more than 15 per cent. to be older than 26 weeks at 31 March 1997.
A band of £380-£400 million of maintenance to be collected or arranged for direct payment from the absent parent to the parent with care in 1996-97.
Ninety five per cent. of payments to parent with care to be made within 10 working days of receipt from an absent parent.
War Pensions Agency
1. Performance
Disablement First Claims (UK)--60 per cent. cleared in 145 days.
Disablement Second and Subsequent Claims--60 per cent. cleared in 135 days.
War Widows' Claims (UK)--80 per cent. cleared in 70 days.
Claims accuracy--95 per cent.
All appeals--60 per cent. in 260 days.
As at 31 March 1997, to have no more than 30 per cent. of outstanding appeals more than 260 days old.
To clear 12,000 appeals during 1996-97.
2. Resource management
To manage the Agency's administration resources so as to deliver the Business Plan within a total budget of £34.14 million.
3. 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.
Information Technology Services Agency
1. Performance
Deliver an overall business efficiency improvement of 13.5 per cent.
Deliver 92 per cent. of services to customers to service levels for time, budget and quality as agreed in contracts.
To develop, test and deliver, to agreed timescales and with agreed functionality the Jobseeker's Allowance Payment System (JSAPS) to enable JSA implementation from 7 October 1996.
To develop, test and deliver, to agreed timescales for the Customer Accounting and Payment System (CAPS) programme, the necessary facilities to support payment by card and improved programme accounting.
Define and develop, to agreed timescales, an approach to customer satisfaction measurement which is consistent with industry standards.
Define and develop ITSA's business strategy, to agreed timescales, according to the needs of the Departmental Change Programme and the Agency's customers.
2. Resource management
Manage ITSA's resources within the Agency's Funding Regime.
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