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SOCIAL SECURITY
Pensioners
1. Mr. Robert G. Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment he has made of the effect of the introduction of a higher guaranteed minimum income for pensioners on incentives to save. [36956]
Mr. Lilley: Any guaranteed minimum income scheme for pensioners set significantly above income support levels would involve means-testing all pensioners and would weaken the incentive for individuals to save for their retirement.
Single Mothers
13. Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the earnings disregard, with particular reference to single mothers on benefit. [36968]
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: The earnings disregard is part of our three-fold strategy for lone parents: namely, to help and encourage lone parents to take up work through work incentives, to ensure that both parents take responsibility for their children and that maintenance is properly paid, and to ensure even-handed treatment of one and two parent families.
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Pensioner Incomes
15. Sir Teddy Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what has been the average change in pensioner incomes in real terms since 1979; and if he will make a statement. [36970]
Mr. Heald: Pensioners' average net incomes, before housing costs, increased by 51 per cent. in real terms, between 1979 and 1993.
- Source:
Pensioners' Incomes Series 1993, based on information drawn from the Family Expenditure Surveys 1979 and 1993.
Family Credit
16. Mr. Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people were in receipt of family credit in the year of its introduction; and how many currently receive it. [36971]
Mr. Roger Evans: Currently, 643,000 families receive family credit compared with 282,000 families in 1988.
- Source:
Family Credit Quarterly Statistical Enquiry October 1995.
Mr. Roger Evans: Estimated out-turn on family credit in 1995-96 was £1,682 million. Figures for expenditure on childcare disregard in 1995-96 are not yet available. However, we provisionally estimate that the cost of the disregard from its introduction in October 1994 to the end of February 1996 was £17.8 million.
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- Sources:
1996 Departmental Report.
Family Credit 5 per cent. sample of awards.
Mr. Evans: The information is set out in the tables.
| Occupation | Number of cases | Annual expenditure (£ million) |
|---|---|---|
| Self-employed | 96,000 | 297 |
| Employed | 547,000 | 1,385 |
| Hourly earnings | Number of cases | Average weekly family credit (£) |
|---|---|---|
| £2.50 and under | 67,000 | 73.64 |
| £2.51-£3.00 | 66,000 | 65.67 |
| £3.01-£3.50 | 101,000 | 60.34 |
| £3.51-£4.00 | 87,000 | 52.43 |
| £4.01-£4.50 | 73,000 | 44.99 |
| £4.51 and above | 154,000 | 35.43 |
Sources:
1. 1996 Departmental Report and Family Credit 5 per cent. sample of awards (October 1995)--all numbers are rounded to the nearest thousand.
2. 1996 Departmental Report 5 per cent. sample of Family Credit cases.
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Mrs. Maddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the total amount paid out in family credit to people in (a) the south-west region, (b) the county of Dorset and (c) each district in Dorset in each of the last five financial years. [38166]
Mr. Roger Evans: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is set out in the table:
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 1991-92 | 87 |
| 1992-93 | 133 |
| 1993-94 | 163 |
| 1994-95 | 198 |
| 1995-96 | 233 |
The figures for 1995-96 have been derived by apportioning the estimate of total family credit expenditure published in the departmental report, and must, therefore, be treated with caution. All other figures relate to March each year.
Guaranteed Minimum Pension
17. Mr. Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the cost of introducing a guaranteed minimum pension of £80 a week. [36972]
Mr. Lilley: It is estimated that a guarantee set at this level which takes account of all sources of taxable income would cost up to £4½ billion at 1996-97 prices.
Benefits Freeline Service
18. Dr. Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment he has made of the consequences of the abolition of the benefits freeline service. [36973]
Mr. Roger Evans: No one will lose out through the closure of the freeline service. Customers will be encouraged to contact their local office where direct links can be made between benefit advice and personal circumstances. Freeline has no access to individual customer details and has never been able to give information specific to claims--the very reason people ring. We are directing our resources to where they are needed most as any organisation must do in order to keep operating costs in check. This decision will mean that we can keep much needed local services running.
26. Mr. Nigel Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people used his Department's freephone help line in the last year. [36981]
Mr. Roger Evans: The freeline service took 3,237,711 calls from April 1995 to March 1996.
Mr. Madden: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he proposes to maintain the freeline service offering confidential advice and information on benefits, pensions, and national insurance; how many calls have been received in each year, to date, since the service was introduced; and if he will make a statement. [38581]
Mr. Roger Evans: This is a matter for Peter Mathison, chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.
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Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Max Madden, dated 22 July 1996:
These figures are rounded to the nearest 100,000.
I hope you find this reply helpful.
Mrs. Helen Jackson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if the telephone advice service to local offices to replace the social security freeline service will be free to callers; [38610]
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking if he proposes to maintain the Freeline service offering confidential advice and information on benefits, pensions, and national insurance; how many calls have been received in each year, to date, since the service was introduced; and if he will make a statement.
The Freeline service closed on 12 July, customers are being encouraged to contact their local benefit offices. The closure will allow resources to be refocused so that the customer is in touch with the staff who administer their claims or who can directly link the benefits available with the specific personal details of the customer.
Freeline, Social Security has been operating since 1984, however information about the number of calls is available only from 1993. The number of calls received has been taken to mean the number of calls answered by an adviser.
The number of calls answered are shown in the table below:
Number
April 1993 to March 1994 1.5 million
April 1994 to March 1995 2.6 million
April 1995 to March 1996 3.2 million
April 1996 to 12 July 1996 800,000
- (2) what monitoring he will set in place to review the effect of the cancellation of the freeline social security service on the take up of benefits. [38609]
Mr. Roger Evans: This is a matter for Peter Mathison, chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Peter Mathison to Mrs. Helen Jackson, dated 22 July 1996:
Mrs. Helen Jackson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the annual cost saving to his Department of the abandonment of the Social Security freeline telephone service for claimants; and how many claimants made use of the telephone freeline service in the last year. [38608]
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions asking if the telephone advice service to local offices to replace the Social Security Service Freeline service will be free to callers and what monitoring he will set in place to review the effect of the cancellation of the Freeline Social Security Service on the take up of benefits.
Many customers who contacted Freeline had to make subsequent contact with their local benefit office in order to pursue their enquiry. These calls were not free and there are no proposals to make calls to local benefit offices free now that Freeline has closed.
It is not expected that the closure of Freeline will have a significant effect on the take up of benefits. Advice and information about benefit entitlement is available through the Agency's network of local benefit offices. Benefit literature is readily available in local offices, post offices and numerous other outlets. There are no proposals to review the effect of the closure of Freeline on the take up of benefits.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to explain the position.
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Mr. Evans: This is an operational matter for Peter Mathison, chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.
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