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Advice Line
Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the call cost for employers using the social security advice line for employers; what has been
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the total cost of running this service in the last year; what are its objectives; and what plans he has to revise the call cost. [2279]
Mr. Heald: On 7 October the social security advice line for employers--SSALE--was incorporated into a new employers' helpline offering an expanded and improved service which also covers Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise.
All telephone calls to the employers' helpline are charged at local rate; there are no plans to change the call cost.
For the 1995-96 tax year SSALE was allocated a budget of £749,000. The objective of the helpline was to help employers and their representatives comply with national insurance legislation by providing an advisory service.
Mr. Matthew Banks:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what progress has been made with establishing an advice and assistance service under part III of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. [3266]
Mr. Burt:
I am pleased to announce that we are creating the disability access rights advice service. Following an open tendering and evaluation exercise during which we worked closely with the National Disability Council, we have decided to award the DARAS contract to the Deloitte and Touche consulting group. The contract is worth approximately £1.5 million over the next two and a half years.
The service will provide consistent and expert advice on the Act's rights of access to goods and services, drawing on the expertise and experience of a range of disability organisations, specialists trainers and lawyers, to organisations advising disabled people and business alike.
It will be operational from 2 December 1996, the date when disabled people's new rights come into force. In addition to providing advice over the telephone and in writing, the new service will also produce information and deliver training designed to improve the primary advisers' understanding of the Act's rights of access to goods and services. The service will also establish arrangements for conciliation of disputes. It will therefore keep to a minimum the need for cases to go to court.
Mr. Hinchliffe:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list for each of the last five years and for each Benefits Agency office, the number of occasions payments have been made by the Benefits Agency out-of-hours service. [1430]
Mr. Roger Evans:
The information is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Gordon Prentice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the cost of the basic rate pension (a) indexed to prices and (b) indexed to earnings in 2000, 2010, 2020, 2030, 2040 and 2050 on
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the basis of the 1994 OPCS population projections; and if he will estimate the comparable costs, on the same assumptions and for the same years, on the basis of the 1992 Office of Population Censuses and Surveys population projections. [2292]
| Estimated expenditure on basic state pension | 2000 | 2010 | 2020 | 2030 | 2040 | 2050 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price uprating 1992 population projection | 30.7 | 34.6 | 36.5 | 44.2 | 47.1 | 44.9 |
| Price uprating 1994 population projection | 30.3 | 33.6 | 35.4 | 43.4 | 46.7 | 44.4 |
| Earnings uprating 1992 population projection | 32.6 | 42.6 | 52.2 | 73.3 | 90.7 | 100.4 |
| Earnings uprating 1994 population projection | 32.2 | 41.3 | 50.7 | 71.9 | 89.9 | 99.2 |
1. Estimated expenditure is shown in 1996 benefit rate terms, rounded to the nearest £0.1 billion.
2. Estimated expenditure on basic state pension using the 1992 population projections is based on the report by the Government Actuary on the third quinquennial review under section 137 of the Social Security Act 1975 and the Pensions Bill 1994 report by the Government Actuary on the financial provisions of the bill on the national insurance fund as appropriate. It is based on 1996-97 benefit rates, is for Great Britain, assumes equalisation of state pension ages and excludes graduated pensions and additional pension.
3. Earnings uprating figures assume that earnings increase faster than prices by 1.5 per cent. per annum commencing with the uprating in April 1997.
4. Estimated expenditure on basic state pension using the 1994 population projections has been obtained by adjusting the expenditure figures described in note 2 in the light of the different numbers in the population over state pension age in the 1992 and 1994 population projections. It is based on 1996-97 benefit rates, is for Great Britain, assumes equalisation of state pension ages and excludes graduated pension and additional pension.
Bronchitis and Emphysema
Mr. Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment he has made of the cost of implementing the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council's recommendations on chronic bronchitis and emphysema. [2029]
Mr. Roger Evans: Any assessment of the cost of implementing the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council's recommendations could only be a broad estimated as it would be based on assumptions about the number of claimants who may come forward. The estimate annual benefit cost is around £20 million, with an additional administrative cost in the first year of around £5 million.
Expatriate Pensioners
Mr. Churchill: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the current estimated cost to public funds of fully uprating Britain's expatriate pensioners whose pensions are frozen in consequence of their chosen country of abode. [2623]
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Mr. Heald: The estimated cost of paying fully indexed benefits to all state retirement and widow's pensioners living abroad whose benefits are frozen is £255 million a year.
The figure is based on the number of pensioners living abroad in July 1996 and on the current rate of state pension.
Mr. Churchill:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the savings to public funds in respect of social security, residential care and health care costs in respect of Britain's expatriate pensioners. [2624]
Mr. Heald:
The information is not available.
We cannot say what calls British pensioners would make on these services if they lived in this country, or what the additional cost to the social security or health and social services budgets would be.
Mr. Hain:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the amount (a) cumulatively and (b) per week by which the retirement allowance of those people transferred from reduced earnings allowance to retirement allowance between 1 April and 1 October was lower than their reduced earnings allowance. [2684]
Mr. Roger Evans:
The estimated average weekly difference for those transferred from reduced earnings allowance to retirement allowance between 1 April and 30 September is approximately £29. The estimated average cumulative difference is about £630. This may be offset by additional income related benefits entitlement for some retirement allowance recipients.
Mr. Hain:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many appeals against being transferred from reduced earnings allowance to retirement allowance were lodged with social security appeal tribunals between 1 April and 1 October; and how many of these have been (a) allowed and (b) heard. [2685]
Mr. Evans:
The information is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Hain:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many (a) men and (b) women were transferred from reduced earnings allowance to retirement allowance between 1 April and 1 October; and how many of the woman were aged under 65 years at the time of conversion. [2686]
Mr. Evans:
It is estimated that between 1 April and 30 September approximately 17,000 men and 4,000 women who are over pension age have been transferred from reduced earnings allowance to retirement allowance. Virtually all of the 4,000 women are likely to have been under 65 years of age at the time of transfer.
Mr. Foulkes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the percentage withdrawal of benefit following all work test examinations at each benefit agency office in Scotland for each month from June 1996 to the latest available month. [1356]
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Mr. Andrew Mitchell:
The administration of incapacity benefit is a matter for Peter Mathison, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. George Foulkes, dated 5 November 1996:
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking if he will give the percentage withdrawal of benefit following All Work Test examinations at each Benefit Agency Office in Scotland for each month from June 1996 to the latest available month.
Source:
100 per cent. count of cases on the incapacity benefit system. Excludes a small number of clerically processed cases.
Notes:
1. Percentage withdrawal includes a small number of credits only cases withdrawn as they failed to return their questionnaire without good cause or failed to attend a medical. Some credits only cases which existed prior to April 1995 are not included.
2. The decision to withdraw benefit is made by the independent adjudication officer.
3. Figures are provisional and subject to change.
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Mr. Andrew Mitchell:
The administration of the Benefits Agency medical services is a matter for Peter Mathison, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. George Foulkes, dated 5 November 1996:
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what payment is made to doctors carrying out All Work Tests for each test.
Mr. Mitchell:
The administration of incapacity benefit is a matter for Peter Mathison, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.
The available information is shown in the attached table.
I hope you find this reply helpful.
District Local Office June July August September Clyde Coast and Cowal Greenock 14.60 10.60 10.00 11.50
Clyde Valley Motherwell 18.80 24.00 36.00 41.20
Hamilton 19.80 25.50 48.00 45.80
Coatbridge Coatbridge 20.70 19.00 23.70 30.70
East Lowlands Edinburgh South 8.00 9.84 28.20 30.10
Edinburgh East 32.80 17.90 23.40 22.00
Galashiels 22.20 23.40 20.00 24.70
Fife Kirkcaldy 31.20 28.50 36.20 20.40
Cowdenbeath 16.60 22.40 25.90 9.00
Leven 14.20 22.60 17.10 26.50
Dunfermline 15.80 18.10 23.00 17.00
Forth Valley Stirling 15.20 13.60 18.90 17.60
Falkirk 12.30 20.30 13.20 15.50
Glasgow City Glasgow City 22.90 26.20 30.20 6.50
Glasgow Maryhill 31.60 23.10 34.90 10.80
Glasgow East Glasgow Shettleston 35.40 31.50 44.40 47.30
Glasgow Bridgeton 43.60 39.50 14.10 28.80
Glasgow Provan 17.20 31.40 15.50 30.90
Glasgow Laurieston Glasgow Laurieston 32.40 45.70 30.70 31.60
East Kilbride 30.20 43.1 39.1 25.6
Glasgow South West Glasgow South West 29.40 28.00 23.40 21.30
Glasgow Springburn Glasgow Springburn 20.00 27.00 11.90 16.00
and Cumbernauld Glasgow Cumbernauld 27.50 32.70 18.20 18.00
Glasgow West Glasgow Anniesland 21.50 20.70 14.00 14.50
Glasgow Patrick 17.60 22.50 14.20 19.20
Grampian and Shetland Aberdeen 13.4 4.1 9.2 8.6
Lerwick 0.00 18.5 0.00 19.00
Peterhead 3.92 6.93 8.6 3.4
Highlands and Islands Inverness 8.70 9.87 14.10 12.40
Elgin 9.50 14.80 14.10 20.60
Fort William 3.60 18.80 7.89 17.70
Kirkwall 0.00 20.00 0.00 27.30
Stornoway 2.3 10.20 8.80 13.20
Wick 10.80 4.30 5.00 7.60
Irvine and Kilmarnock Irvine 13.90 21.00 13.60 13.50
Kilmarnock 2.40 16.40 19.70 8.80
Lomond and Argyll Clydebank 12.60 10.40 13.20 11.00
Campbeltown 8.30 21.80 3.10 26.30
Oban 6.20 27.60 0.00 43.30
Lothian and Central Edinburgh City 19.60 25.70 12.00 17.60
Leith 5.10 2.10 1.40 6.60
Lothian West Lothian West 12.00 14.90 10.90 11.60
Renfrew Renfrew 6.80 14.80 11.30 13.10
South-west Scotland Ayr 20.90 18.30 19.90 17.20
Dumfries 9.81 6.50 22.40 12.90
Stranraer 10.40 20.80 31.80 16.00
Tayside Dundee 21.70 24.00 18.30 17.20
Arbroath 24.80 29.60 21.20 16.05
Perth 11.00 18.30 15.00 14.10
Mr. Foulkes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what payment is made per test to doctors carrying out all-work tests. [1351]
Mr. Foulkes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the absolute numbers of people who (a) failed and (b) passed the all work tests at Ayr for each month since April 1995; if he will indicate the number of those who failed who subsequently appealed for each month, the number of those appeals which were successful and the number of successful appellants who were subsequently called for a further all work test. [1357]
Doctors who are contracted to carry out all work test assessments on a sessional basis are paid at an hourly rate of £30.70. A session normally lasts three and a half hours. The number of assessments carried out in a session varies depending on the complexity of the condition involved. An average assessment takes a total of 47 minutes, therefore on average each doctor can be expected to assess up to 4 clients per session.
I hope you find this reply helpful.
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