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Disability Working Allowance
Mr. Alan Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate of (a) the annual cost and (b) the numbers gaining if people could qualify for disability working allowance by virtue of having been in receipt of one of the qualifying benefits (i) six months before the disability working allowance claim and (ii) a year before the disability working allowance claim.[15799]
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: The information required to make such an estimate is not available.
Mr. Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his current estimate of (a) the cost and (b) the numbers gaining from a full disregard of spouse earnings in disability working allowance claims. [16667]
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 9 December 1996, Official Report, column 67.
Private Employment Agencies
Mr. Hall: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the private employment agencies used by his Department and its agencies in each of the last three years for which figures are available, indicating (a) the names of the agencies, (b) the numbers employed by the agencies in work for his Department, (c) the total cost to his Department of using employment agencies and the median cost paid to the agency per person recruited and (d) the average length of contract for persons recruited via such agencies. [16187]
Mr. Burt: The information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Unfunded Pension Liabilities
Mr. Chris Davies:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what actions he has taken to implement the recommendations contained in paragraphs (a) 14,
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(b) 15 and (c) 16 of the First report of the Social Security Committee relating to unfunded pension liabilities in the European Union, HC23, Session 1996-97. [16024]
Mr. Heald:
The Government published their response to the Committee's report on 20 December 1996 (Cm 3519) setting out the actions it is taking to implement the recommendations.
Mr. Cousins:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate (i) the number of (a) employees and (b) self-employed workers who are not making any contribution to private or occupational pensions and (ii) the proportion of this group which is not contributing to (1) state earnings-related pensions or (2) the basic state pension in their own right. [16922]
Mr. Heald:
The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is as follows.
Information on private pension membership from the 1994 general household survey suggests that approximately 6.6 million employees and 1.6 million self-employed people were not current members of occupational or personal pension schemes. It is not possible to identify how many of these were not contributing to SERPS or to the basic state retirement pension.
Mr. Cousins:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate (a) the number of contributors to (i) company or occupational final salary schemes, (ii) company or occupational money purchase schemes, (iii) group personal pensions and (iv) personal pensions in 1992 and currently and (b) in each date and category the median size of annual contributions from both company and individual contributors. [16931]
Mr. Heald:
The information is not available in the form requested. Such information as is available is as follows.
The 1991 Government Actuary's survey of occupational pension schemes estimated that there were 9.8 million members of defined-benefit occupational schemes, of whom 8.4 million were in contributory schemes; and 0.9 million members of defined-contribution occupational schemes, of whom 0.7 million were in contributory schemes--although 0.2 million of them were in schemes which required them to contribute only the national insurance contracted-out rebate.
The number of contributors to group personal pensions is not known but it is estimated that there may be in the region of half a million members of such schemes at present.
Inland Revenue data indicate that in 1992-93 there were a total of around 10.8 million personal pension arrangements qualifying for income tax relief, including group personal pensions, retirement annuity contracts and free-standing additional voluntary contributions arrangements. It is not possible to say how many individual pension holders this represents, since one person may hold several arrangements, nor how many of
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the arrangements actually received contributions in the year. The number of such arrangements in 1994-95 was 11.7 million.
Total employee and employer contributions to occupational pension schemes in 1991 were estimated to be £8 billion and £17.6 billion respectively; a division between defined-benefit and defined-contribution schemes is not available. Individual contributions to the personal pension arrangements identified above were estimated to total £4.7 billion in 1992-93; employer contributions were estimated to be £0.7 billion. Estimates for 1994-95 are £5.6 billion for individual contributions and £0.6 billion for employer contributions.
Mr. Denham:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will calculate the total reduction in future expenditure on the state earnings-related pension scheme at net present value, arising from membership of appropriate personal pensions, assuming the social discount rate used by his Department. [13842]
Mr. Heald
[holding answer 4 February 1997]: For the years 1987-88 to 1994-95, the latest period for which certified figures are available, £7.2 billion at net present value has been saved in future payments of the state earnings-related pension scheme. This figure has been calculated using the GDP deflator and a social discount rate of 3.75 per cent. consistent with the Government Actuary's review of contracting out terms (Cm 3221).
Ms Jowell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many notices issued by the clerks to each of the social security appeal tribunals covering the London boroughs of Southwark and Lambeth between 21 October and 21 December 1996, directing the parties to notify him if they wished an oral hearing to be heard, have resulted in requests for oral hearings by (a) the claimant only, (b) the adjudication officer only and (c) both the claimant and the adjudication officer; and how many of those requests were made within 10 days of receipt of the direction. [16925]
Mr. Roger Evans:
This is a matter for the Independent Tribunal Service.
Mr. Barry Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the legislation for which his Department has been responsible which affects (a) local government finance and (b) other local government responsibilities in the present Parliament. [15831]
Mr. Gwilym Jones:
The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 is the only legislation since April 1992 affecting local government in Wales for which the Department has been responsible.
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Mr. Ron Davies:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) what progress has been made by the Welsh Office Agricultural Department in addressing cases of overgrazing in Wales identified by (a) wildlife trusts and (b) others; [17245]
Mr. Hague:
My Department's policy is to seek to enforce the overgrazing conditions which attach to the payment of livestock production subsidies. These conditions are intended to prevent land being grazed with too many livestock so that the growth, quality or diversity of the vegetation is adversely affected. Late last year all producers claiming sheep and beef production subsidies were sent a copy of a booklet, "Your Livestock and Your Landscape", which describes how to recognise and deal with overgrazing and inappropriate supplementary feeding. I have arranged for copies to be placed in the Library.
ADAS is currently considering a number of potential overgrazing cases which my Department has referred to it for technical advice before deciding how to proceed. In considering the handling of such cases, the representations of wildlife trusts and others are taken into account.
Mr. Ainger:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much the Welsh blood service has contributed to the Welsh bone marrow registry for each year since 1986.[17076]
Mr. Gwilym Jones:
The information requested is not held centrally.
Mr. Ainger:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will provide an annual grant to the Welsh blood service to employ a nurse recruitment officer to develop and maintain the bone marrow donor recruitment programme in Wales. [17087]
Mr. Jones:
Health authorities are funded to commission appropriate activities by the Welsh blood service. This is, therefore, a matter for them to consider.
(2) if he will make a statement on the effects of large-scale overgrazing in the Welsh uplands on biodiversity in Wales, indicating the evidence which underlies his assessment. [17244]
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