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Medals and Campaign Stars

Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the numbers and type of medals and campaign stars awarded to date to national service men who served between (a) 1939 and 1945 and (b) 1946 and 1963; and if he will make a statement. [3749]

Mr. Spellar: A list of the medals and campaign stars for which National Servicemen were eligible is as shown. In addition, they were eligible to be recommended for the

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full range of gallantry awards. No differentiation was made between National Servicemen and Regular personnel.


Prisoners of War (Compensation)

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to complete the review of compensation for prisoners of war who were protected personnel or officers; and if he will make a statement.[3130]

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Mr. Spellar: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Galloway and Upper Nithsdale (Mr. Morgan), Official Report, column 485.

Scottish Regiments

Mr. Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the current posting of each battalion of the Scottish regiments indicating dates of commencement and expected departure. [3199]

Dr. Reid: The 1st Battalion Scots Guards was posted to Windsor in July 1993.

The battalion of the Scottish Division are stationed as follows:


On security grounds I am withholding information on the future movement of the battalions under exemption of 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Contracting Out

Mr. Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what decisions his Department has made about contracting out the administration of service (a) pay, (b) personnel and training records and (c) pensions; on what dates these decisions were made; when they will come into operation; which companies have been awarded these contracts; and if he will make a statement about the (i) cost savings, (ii) future quality of administration and (iii) security implications of these decisions. [3138]

Mr. Spellar: The Armed Forces Personnel Administration Agency was launched on 1 April this year. Its tasks include record-keeping and the processing of pay and pensions for all Service personnel. The Agency's objectives and key targets are set out in its Corporate Plan, a copy of which was placed in the Library of the House. These require new IT systems to be developed to enable improvements in efficiency and performance.

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Plans to appoint a commercial partner to provide most of the Agency's services, and to develop and operate the new systems, are continuing. This would be a private finance arrangement. Two companies remain on the short-list as a result of the competitive process. They are EDS (Defence) Ltd., and Siemens Business Services Ltd. Negotiations are nearing completion and final bids are expected to be invited by the end of this month. These will be evaluated against the cost of the Agency undertaking the work through normal in-house methods. A decision on the results of the evaluation is expected by the end of September. A partnering contract will be awarded only if one of the companies' bids offers the best value for money. Transfer of responsibility to the successful company, including most of the Agency's staff and capital assets, would then follow after 2 to 3 months.

The security implications of appointing a private sector partner have been a particular concern since the competitive process began in April 1996. It has been the subject of full consideration by the relevant security authorities and by the Services themselves. The two companies remaining in competition are the only ones to have demonstrated, amongst other fundamental matters, that they could meet and maintain the very rigorous standards required. The Agency's services will continue to be delivered from existing, secure MOD installations.

SOCIAL SECURITY

Jobseeker's Allowance

Mrs. Ray Michie: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans she has to amend the jobseeker's allowance to enable school cleaners to claim during the summer holidays. [1289]

Mr. Bradley: The Social Security Commissioners are currently considering a case in this area. We will review the position in the light of their conclusions.

Benefits Agency

Dr. Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what indicators are incorporated into Benefits Agency district managers' performance targets; and if she will introduce a target for service delivery to local authorities; [625]

Mr. Field: There are no current Secretary of State performance targets for Benefits Agency District Managers relating specifically to service delivery to local authorities. We have received no representations to introduce Benefits Agency service targets for Housing Benefit but are aware that the Local Authority Associations have expressed concern in the past about liaison between the Benefits Agency and local authorities. We will be reviewing the business relationship between the Benefits Agency and local authorities and within that review, we will consider the need for such a target over the coming months.

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Performance targets for Benefits Agency District Managers are set every year. Current targets are in the tables.

Benefits Agency Secretary of State's targets for 1997-98
Accuracy targets Percentage of cases

Benefit1997-98 our targets are to pay the correct amount in
Income Support87
Incapacity Benefit(12)94
Family Credit91
Jobseekers Allowance87
Disability Living Allowance96

(12) Includes Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance and Maternity Allowance.


Financial recovery targets

1997-98 our target is
Recovery of Social Fund loans£333 million
Security(13)(14)£2,100 million
Unemployed register sign-offs160,000 claims withdrawn in 10 days 185,000 claims withdrawn in 28 days
Recovery of benefit overpayment(15)£120 million

(13) Security Savings--target relates to weekly benefit savings from activity in the year. It includes activity funded through the new Spend to Save fraud and evasion package announced in the 1996 budget.

(14) This level of saving will reduce programmed expenditure by £1.6 billion in 1997-98.

(15) Overpayment of recovery target--now includes recoveries arising from security and control activities, and reflects an increase of 31.15 per cent. from 1996-97.


Claims clearance times targets

1997-98 our target is to clear
Jobseekers Allowance65 per cent. in 10 days
90 per cent. in 21 days
Faster Family Credit90 per cent. in 5 days



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