| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Portavogie Harbour
Mr. John D. Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the production of ice at Portavogie harbour; how many reports he has received of fishing boats from Portavogie going to Ardglass harbour to get ice because of inadequate production; what plans there are to increase ice production at Portavogie harbour; and if he will make a statement. [48]
Mr. Ancram: On 19 September 1996, the compressor on the Northern Ireland Fishery Harbour Authority's main ice plant at Portavogie broke down and had to be replaced. Only a small amount of ice was available for the Portavogie fleet during the rest of that week. Two Portavogie boats obtained ice from the authority's new plant at Ardglass, and the authority organised the delivery of ice from Ardglass to the other Portavogie boats. Ice production was back to normal on 25 September. The authority has commissioned the Sea Fish Industry Authority to undertake an in-depth assessment of the ice production and storage needs at Portavogie, and to advise on the various options by which these can best be met.
Casualty Animals
Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what representations he has received relating to the reluctance of contractors to pick up bulls as casualty animals; and if he will make a statement. [466]
Mr. Ancram: No such representations have been received.
Children
Ms Mowlam: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many children in Northern Ireland will be aged (a) three and (b) four in (i) 1996, (ii) 1997, (iii) 1998 and (iv) 1999. [1176]
Sir John Wheeler: Responsibility for the subject in question has been delegated to the Statistics and Research Agency under its chief executive, Mr. Edgar Jardine. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
| Year | 3-year-olds | 4-year-olds |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 25,015 | 26,279 |
| 1997 | 24,545 | 25,015 |
| 1998 | 24,233 | 24,535 |
| 1999 | 23,884 | 24,219 |
I trust this information is sufficient and if I can be of further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.
30 Oct 1996 : Column: 159
Social Security Agency
Mr. Thomason: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what performance targets have been set for the Social Security Agency for the current financial year. [1811]
Mr. Moss: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to him on 30 April 1996, Official Report, columns 455-56. However, contrary to that answer, there is no secondary target for unemployment benefit claims clearance of 85 per cent. in 53 days, but only a single target of 75 per cent. in 12 days.
Electoral Officer's Report
Mr. Thomason: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will publish the report of the Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland of 1995-96. [1812]
Sir Patrick Mayhew: The Chief Electoral Officer's annual report has been laid before Parliament today. Copies are available in the Library of the House.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Disability Survey
Mr. Thurnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when he expects to receive the results of the disability survey being carried out by his Department; and when he will publish the survey. [126]
Mr. Burt: We expect to receive the data from the disability survey in summer 1997, shortly after completion of field work. The disability survey is a follow-up to the family resources survey and analysis will require data from the two surveys to be merged; we expect to have a combined dataset by the end of 1997. Plans are currently being made for the analysis of this large and complex dataset, but no date for publication has been decided as yet. Details will be included in the Department's research programme announcement next year.
Audit Commission (Fraud Investigations)
Mr. Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what new powers his legislative proposals to counter fraud will provide to the Audit Commission which would avoid the use of powers specified in sections 28 and 29 of the Local Government Finance Act 1982; what legal advice he has taken concerning the use of these powers by the Audit Commission with respect to its current fraud activities; and what limitations on the commission's work in this area were indicated by that advice. [210]
Mr. Heald: We shall be bringing forward legislative proposals to counter fraud shortly.
Voluntary Unemployment Deductions
Mr. Alan Howarth:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his latest estimate of the numbers of people who have received a voluntary unemployment deduction in the current financial year; and what is the total amount of money deducted. [416]
30 Oct 1996 : Column: 160
Mr. Roger Evans:
The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is as follows.
As at November 1995 it is estimated that some 30,000 income support claimants had a deduction from their income support payment for voluntary unemployment. The estimated average amount being deducted was £16.08 per week which equates to £25.3 million per year.
Mr. Burden:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish evaluation studies of the standards of medical tests conducted on claimants for incapacity benefit seen by doctors of the Benefits Agency medical service. [757]
Mr. Burt:
The performance of Benefits Agency medical service doctors is continuously monitored under local management arrangements to ensure that agreed standards of medical advice are maintained. A major study looking at the consistency of application of the all work test was recently carried out, and a report is being prepared for publication.
Mr. Livingstone:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the outcome of his Department's investigation started in 1986 into whether casualties contaminated by mustard gas at Bari harbour, Italy, in 1943 should be awarded back-dated war pensions; and if he will make a statement. [743]
Mr. Heald:
This investigation was undertaken following the exceptional decision to backdate the payment of war disablement pension to an individual who had been exposed to mustard gas while serving in the Royal Navy at Bari harbour in 1943. He had claimed a war pension in 1983 and contended that he would have claimed earlier had he been aware of the precise nature of the substance with which he had been contaminated.
The purpose of the special exercise was to identify other casualties of the incident in order to establish whether similar action was appropriate in their cases. A press notice announcing the exercise was issued and as a result of this 87 new claims for war pension were received, of which 33 were successful. In addition, 97 claims which had been made previously were reviewed. In total, of the 184 claims, 105 were successful.
30 Oct 1996 : Column: 161
The exercise confirmed that all but one were aware at the time of the incident that they had been exposed to mustard gas.
Mr. Cohen:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what arrangements he plans to make in respect of measures to counter fraud to ensure that claimants do not suffer damage or distress as a result of the matching of personal data which (a) are inaccurate, irrelevant or out of date or (b) relate to other individuals with the same or similar names; and if he will make a statement. [208]
Mr. Heald:
The Department has considerable experience in matching data held on different computer systems. The detailed criteria to be matched in each exercise are tightly defined to ensure that they are relevant to the benefit concerned and could not properly belong to more than one individual. Where anomalies are revealed, they are fully checked to eliminate inaccuracies before any further investigation is carried out. All data matching activities are conducted under secure conditions to ensure confidentiality.
Notes:
1. Rates of deduction for voluntary unemployment are at 20 per cent. or 40 per cent. of the personal allowance.
2. Sample size 5 per cent.
3. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest thousand.
4. The average amount deducted for voluntary unemployment was estimated using the deduction amount recorded on the income support computer system.
5. In a small number of cases, the amount to be deducted was greater than the award of income support. In such cases the latter was used as the "actual" amount deducted.
6. The total amount of money deducted was estimated by multiplying the average weekly deduction by the number of cases with a deduction by 52. This figure was then rounded to the nearest hundred thousand.
Source:
Income Support Quarterly Statistical Enquiry November 1995.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |