| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Performance Bonds
Mrs. Roche: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his Department's policy on the use of performance bonds; in what circumstances they are used; what was the total sum paid by bond in each of the last five years; and if his Department requires bonds from businesses with under (a) 100, (b) 50 and (c) 20 employees. [29415]
Mr. Boswell [holding answer 20 May 1996]: The Ministry's policy is to review the need for performance bonds in the light of the value and complexity of the contract to be let. The Ministry has occasionally used performance bonds which would allow it to call in financial guarantees should a contractor fail to meet specified standards. These would be used to compensate the Ministry should a contractor fail to complete a contract because of, say, liquidation or default. The Ministry regards "on demand" performance bonds as unjust and undesirable. The Ministry believes that bonds are not always necessary and are no substitute for considered judgments about the risks of a particular contract and the capabilities and financial resources of the chosen contractor. These factors will vary for each contract independent of the size of the contractor.
21 May 1996 : Column: 175
From records held centrally no performance bonds have been called in during the last five years.
Goods and Services
Mrs. Roche: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much his Department paid to the private sector for goods and services in 1995-96. [29462]
Mr. Boswell [holding answer 20 May 1996]: Data extracted from its financial management system reveals that the Ministry, including its six next steps agencies, paid the sum of £262.98 million to the private sector for goods and services in the financial year 1995-96.
Food Labelling Regulations
Mr. Key: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he expects to publish the consolidated food labelling regulations; when they will come into force; and if they will be accompanied by guidance notes published on the same day. [29921]
Mrs. Browning [holding answer 20 May 1996]: The Government expect to lay regulations before Parliament by 7 June. These will come into force on 1 July and the accompanying guidelines will be published on the same day.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Child Support Agency
20. Mrs. Anne Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when he expects to appoint the independent complaints adjudicator for the Child Support Agency. [28824]
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: An independent complaints examiner will be recruited for the Child Support Agency later this year following a pilot study to assess how best to support the examiner's operations.
Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate of the alleged child maintenance arrears and background calculations for CSA Ref. 1003420826; and for what reasons he has received documentation requiring payments in the year 2001, when his youngest child will be 24 years of age. [29867]
Mr. Mitchell: The Child Support Agency is charged with collecting legally due maintenance. Any arrears agreement negotiated is based on the amount of debt and the absent parent's ability to pay. The payment of arrears may, therefore, continue after the child has reached the age where regular maintenance is no longer due. The chief executive of the Child Support Agency, Miss Ann Chant, will write to the hon. Member separately detailing the circumstances of the case referred to.
Child Support
24. Ms Armstrong: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what number of parents in one-parent families are entitled to child support; and of these, what proportion are receiving it. [28828]
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: It is not known how many parents in one-parent families could obtain child support from the other parent if they applied for it. However,
21 May 1996 : Column: 176
341,500 parents with care, including 29,100 in two-parent families, had a full maintenance assessment from the Child Support Agency in November 1995. This includes 96,000 cases where the absent parent is assessed to pay nothing. In 60 per cent. of the remaining cases, maintenance is being paid in full or in part.
Benefit Fraud
14. Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what action he is taking to tackle housing benefit fraud. [28818]
Mr. Heald: On 5 March my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced a series of measures including an £8 million challenge fund to develop local authority innovation against fraud and a data-matching service to detect fraudulent benefit claims. These will not only step up the fight against housing benefit fraud, but also move towards preventing fraud from getting into the system in the first place.
Mr. Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many staff in his Department have been employed full time in tackling social security fraud for each year since 1979. [30419]
Mr. Heald: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the list:
1991-92: 3,344
1992-93: 3,344
1993-94: 3,328
1994-95: 3,363
1995-96: 3,793.5
1996-97: 5,046.
Notes
1. The numbers relate to staff employed in the benefit fraud investigation service (formerly sector fraud), organised fraud teams and staff employed on instrument of payment anti-fraud initiatives.
2. Prior to the creation of the Benefits Agency in April 1991, staff employed on fraud investigation duties were part of the local and regional office complement and information relating to numbers employed are not available.
Mr. Heald: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the table.
| Year | Savings £ million |
|---|---|
| 1986-87 | 144 |
| 1987-88 | 196 |
| 1988-89 | 262 |
| 1989-90 | 309 |
| 1990-91 | 341 |
| 1991-92 | 446 |
| 1992-93 | 558 |
| 1993-94 | 654 |
| 1994-95 | 717 |
Notes:
1. Savings from the Department's anti-fraud measures have only been routinely collected from 1986-87.
2. Finalised figures for 1995-96 are not yet available.
21 May 1996 : Column: 177
Miss Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what estimate he has made of the annual amount of money lost through fraud in child benefit payments; [30311]
- (2) how many successful prosecutions there have been in the last year relating to child benefit fraud. [30312]
Mr. Heald: The information requested is not available.
The Benefits Agency is undertaking a series of benefit reviews which determine the amount of incorrectness, including fraud, in each benefit reviewed. Over the five-year period of the security strategy launched by the Secretary of State in July 1995, all the major benefits, including child benefit, will be reviewed.
Mr. Battle:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much is being spent on the publicity campaign to tackle benefit fraud, set out by parliamentary constituency. [30421]
Mr. Heald:
The information is not available in the format requested as costings specific to parliamentary constituencies are not kept. However, to date the estimated total publicity costs for the first seven areas of the anti-fraud campaign are £407,710.
This figure covers radio and printed advertising, leaflet and poster production and distribution and press support material production.
16. Mrs. Gorman:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the level of pension contributions in (a) the United Kingdom and (b) other EU countries. [28820]
Mr. Heald:
In 1994, employers and employees contributed almost £30 billion to occupational and personal pension schemes in the United Kingdom. It is this level of commitment that has generated pension funds of nearly £600 billion--substantially more than is invested in all the other countries in the European Union put together.
18. Mr. Fabricant:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement concerning the level of funds currently held in the United Kingdom for private pension provision; and what assessment he has made of the level of funding relative to that in other European Union countries. [28822]
Mr. Heald:
In 1993, the total value of funds in private pension schemes in the United Kingdom was nearly £600 billion. This is substantially more than the latest estimate of the level of funds in all the other countries in the European Union put together.
25. Mr. Dunn:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what proportion of the retired population will have occupational pensions by 2006. [28829]
Mr. Heald:
The information is not available in the form requested. The Department's pensioner incomes simulation model projects that in 2010 more than 75 per cent. of
21 May 1996 : Column: 178
pensioner units will be in receipt of payments from an occupational pension.
Details of the methodology and assumptions used in the model, and a brief overview of basic results, will appear in a technical paper to be released shortly.
Mr. Heald:
At 30 September 1995, there were 2.4 million people over age 80 who received the 25p age addition to their state retirement pension.
Source:
5 per cent. sample of the pension strategy computer system.
Notes:
1. All people in receipt of the state retirement pension aged 80 or over, including people who qualify for a non-contributory retirement pension, receive the 25p addition.
2. The figure is rounded to the nearest 0.1 million.
Mr. Cox:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the number of pensioners over the age of 80 years, who receive the extra 25p per week on their state retirement pension. [29992]
Notes:
For the purposes of PENSIM, a pensioner unit is defined as a single pensioner over state pension age in 2010, or a couple with at least one partner over state pension age.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |