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Absent Parents
Mr. Pearson: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 24 June, Official Report, column 490, in what circumstances child support assessments may exceed 30 per cent. of an absent parent's net income. [6051]
Mr. Keith Bradley:
An absent parent may be required to pay more than 30 per cent. of his net income, as assessed under the maintenance formula, if he is subject to an interim maintenance assessment because he has not co-operated with the Child Support Agency or if he owes arrears. Any absent parent who has co-operated with the
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Agency will retain at least 70 per cent. of his net income. In exceptional circumstances, an assessment may also exceed 30 per cent. of an absent parent's net income where the £1 de minimis rule on a change of circumstances applies and assessment is not immediately revised; or where the absent parent is required to pay the minimum amount (currently £5 a week) and his total income is £16.66 or less a week.
Mr. Opik:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if she will make a statement on the rules governing Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit for the prescribed disease occupational deafness. [6084]
Mr. Denham:
Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit can be paid if a person has worked for an employer for 10 years in certain jobs where noise is a hazard, and they have suffered a hearing loss of at least 50 decibels in both ears due to damage in the inner ear, and in at least one ear this damage was due to noise at work. A person must have worked in one of the specified jobs at some time during the five years before they make their claim. A wide range of jobs is specified in the regulations, and the Government are advised by the independent Industrial Injuries Advisory Council about those jobs which they consider are particularly at risk and should be added to the regulations. The Council is currently reviewing the list of diseases for which benefit can be paid, including occupational deafness.
The rules for claiming Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit for occupational deafness, and the jobs which are covered, are clearly set out in leaflet NI 207 produced by the Benefits Agency which is widely available.
Mr. Burgon:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if she will make a statement on Her Department's spending plans. [6787]
Ms Harman:
My main priorities are to tackle social division and worklessness. Work is the best form of welfare and our New Deal will be an investment in the future of lone mothers, the young jobless and the long-term unemployed. We will also bring forward proposals to extend the New Deal to sick and disabled people. My Department's spending will no longer be used as an alternative to the proper strategy of ensuring that all of our people share in our economic prosperity.
Spending plans for the immediate future, 1997-98 and 1998-99, assume that a number of measures announced in the November 1996 Budget will be taken forward. I have undertaken a rigorous review of this unwelcome legacy and have made some changes. The details of the New Deal for lone mothers and the changes to the proposals I inherited are as follows:
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Mr. Burstow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many of her Department's publications have been available in (a) Braille, (b) audio tape and (c) large print in each year since 1992; and what percentage of the total number of publications this represents in each case. [3604]
Mr. Field
[holding answer 17 June 1997]: I am sorry that the information requested by the hon. Member is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is reproduced in the table.
Lone mothers
We have today announced our New Deal for Lone Parents to help them take-up work. We will offer help and advice on jobsearch, childcare and training to 40,000 lone parents this year and half a million next year.
Childcare
The allowance for childcare costs in Family Credit, Housing Benefit, and Council Tax Benefit will be extended and improved to make it easier for lone parents and breadwinners with disabled partners to return to work.
From April 1998 the disregard for childcare costs will be increased from a maximum of £60 to £100 a week where there are two or more children in the family and the maximum eligible age will be increased from 11 to 12.
These measures will be financed from the windfall levy and will cost some £200 million over this Parliament.
Child Support Agency
An additional £15 million a year will be invested from 1998-99 to assist lone mothers. This funding will help them by raising an extra £120 million in maintenance and will ensure that absent parents face up to their obligations.
Housing Benefit
The extension of the single room rent to those aged 25 to 59 will not now proceed in October. The cost of this will be met in part by adjusting the level of non-dependent deductions from next April. We intend to protect the position of those in greatest need.
Jobseeker's Allowance
The previous Government decided that the waiting days before Jobseeker's Allowance becomes payable will be increased from 3 days to 7 days from April 1999. However, by managing the cycle of Jobseeker's Allowance payments, we will ensure that nobody will have to wait more than the current maximum time before they receive their first payment of benefit.
I am committed to keeping my spending within the ceiling for social security expenditure already announced. I am also committed to modernising the social security system. The following measures will ensure that overall spending is contained and represent a step forward in modernising the system.
The time limit of three months for claiming social security benefits will be reduced to one month, in line with the current backdating rules where there is a change of circumstances. These limits will apply to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.
The intention is that the new provisions will come into force from June 1998, except for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit which is subject to necessary legislation and has a planned date of introduction from October 1998.
The alignment of the time limits will be an integral part of modernising and streamlining the social security system and underlines the importance of people making their claims promptly.
In addition improved Social Fund loan recoveries allow for the planned level of gross funding to be delivered with £3 million less net budget, releasing these savings to be used elsewhere. The discretionary Social Fund gross budget for this year remains at £467.5 million, an increase of £27.5 million over 1996-97.
Other measures announced in the November 1996 Budget but not implemented by the time of the General Election will go ahead as planned. They are as follows:
new arrangements for Compensation Recovery;
the abolition of the 50 per cent. top-up which allowed certain rents above the average to be met in Housing Benefit;
restricting Council Tax Benefit so that claimants with property in Bands F, G and H, have their Council Tax Benefit restricted to that of Band E;
removing the right to claim Disability Living Allowance for those aged between 65 and 66;
standardising the date on which child allowances are reviewed in Family Credit and Disability Working Allowance.
Withdrawal of entitlement to Lone Parent Family Premium in Income Support for new claimants will take effect in April 1998. Withdrawal of the lone parent rate of Child Benefit is subject to necessary legislation, and is now expected to come into effect from June 1998.
These measures are necessary to ensure that social security expenditure remains within the previously announced ceilings. The re-prioritising of expenditure in this package is the beginning of an urgent and long overdue reform of the social security system. We have no illusions about the size of the task, but the rewards for getting it right for individuals, for society and for public expenditure are enormous.
| Year | Braille | Audiotape | Large print |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | n/a | 4 | n/a |
| Percentage of total publications | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| 1993 | 21 | 4 | 4 |
| Percentage of total publications | 13 | 2 | 2 |
| 1994 | 31 | 10 | 4 |
| Percentage of total publications | 17 | 6 | 2 |
| 1995 | 44 | 16 | 15 |
| Percentage of total publications | 22 | 8 | 7 |
| 1996 | 53 | 23 | 17 |
| Percentage of total publications | 26 | 11 | 8 |
| 1997 | 52 | 28 | 16 |
| Percentage of total publications | 24 | 13 | 7 |
1. n/a = not available.
2. A full list of Departmental information that is available in alternative formats is listed in CAT 1. A Catalogue of leaflets, posters and information.
Benefits Agency
Mr. Pond: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the performance of the Benefits Agency in 1996-97 against its targets for processing claims from newly unemployed people. [5444]
Mr. Field: Our objective is to reduce poverty and welfare dependency and to promote work incentives. We will streamline services to provide better, simpler more efficient services to clients within this framework. Operational matters of the Benefits Agency are the responsibility of Peter Mathison, its Chief Executive. I have asked him to write directly to the hon. Member and for his reply to be published with the answer. Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Chris Pond, dated 1 July 1997:
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what was the performance of the Benefits Agency in 1996-97 against its target for processing claims from newly unemployed people.
The information is not available in the format requested. Claims made by unemployed people between 1 April 1996 and 6 October 1996 would have been for Income Support and Unemployment Benefit. Performance data on Income Support is not broken down into individual client groups and Unemployment Benefit was administered by Employment Services.
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However JobSeekers Allowance was introduced on 7 October 1996. This replaced Unemployment Benefit and Income Support for unemployed people. Details of JSA performance against targets are shown in the attached tables.
I hope you find this reply helpful.
| Per cent. | |
|---|---|
| Percentage of claims to be cleared in 6 days | 65 |
| 1996-97 performance | 84 |
| Percentage of claims to be cleared in 14 days | 90 |
| 1996-97 performance | 96 |
(6) Measures performance from the date the claim was received by the BA from the Employment Service to the date the decision on the claim was notified to the customer.
| Per cent. | |
|---|---|
| Percentage of claims to be cleared in 10 days | 65 |
| 1996-97 performance | 70.2 |
| Percentage of claims to be cleared in 21 days | 90 |
| 1996-97 performance | 94.7 |
(7) Measures performance from the date the claim was received by the Employment Service to the date the decision on the claim was issued to the customer by the BA.
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