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Policy Reviews
Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what will be the total cost of her policy reviews. [7637]
Mr. Field: We are committed to modernising the structure and delivery of Social Security in order to encourage independence, social cohesion and well being; to develop an active welfare system which supports work, savings and honesty; and to help tackle effectively unjustifiable social and economic inequalities. To that end we will be examining the major components of the system. We will consult on specific issues in due course. In keeping with our commitment to manage within current cash plans, the costs of the policy reviews will be absorbed within the Department's existing running costs limits.
Council Tax Benefit
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many pensioner households will be affected by 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their council tax benefit restricted to that of band E; what is the average amount of council tax benefit that will be withdrawn; and what will be the savings in the first year arising from these changes. [7746]
Mr. Keith Bradley:
We estimate that 30,000 pensioners will be affected by this measure which was left over from the previous administration.
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The total number affected is estimated to be 65,000. The average amount of council tax benefit withdrawn will be £3.80 a week. The estimated savings in the first year are £15 million.
Mr. Swayne:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much she estimates that her campaign to persuade more elderly people to take up income support will cost to run; and what increased benefit expenditure it will produce. [7638]
Mr. Denham:
We are committed to examining the means of delivering more automatic help to the poorest pensioners. As a first step we have commissioned research to establish the reasons why pensioners do not claim their income support entitlement, and the most effective means of encouraging them to do so.
Mr. Malcolm Bruce:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what new plans she has to introduce cuts and savings in her Department as a result of the effect on her Department's budgets for 1997-98 and 1998-99 of the upward revisions to the GDP deflators in the Budget on 2 July; and if she will make a statement. [8308]
Mr. Field:
All Departments are reallocating spending within their Departmental ceilings as part of the comprehensive spending review.
Mr. Bruce:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if, following the recent Budget, she will give her estimate of the total real level of her Department's budget, in 1995-96 prices, in (a) 1997-98 and (b) 1998-99; if she will estimate what such figures were for (1) 1997-98 and (2) 1998-99 following the November 1996 Budget on the basis of the estimates of the GDP deflator contained in that Budget; and if she will make a statement. [8307]
Mr. Field:
The figures requested for this Department's spending plans within the control total are as follows:
| £ million | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1997-98 | 1998-99 | |
| Budget 1997 control total | 75,640 | 76,596 |
| Budget 1996 control total | 76,272 | 77,781 |
In addition the Department will benefit from part of the Welfare to Work expenditure which was announced in the Budget. It is also responsible for cyclical social security spending. Both of these are outside the Control Total.
Notes:
1. The Budget 1997 figures were calculated using the GDP deflator assumptions for July 1997.
2. The Budget 1996 figures were calculated using the GDP deflator assumptions for November 1996.
Sources:
1. Control Total Budget 1997--Financial Statement and Budget Report July 1997.
2. Control Total Budget 1996-Financial Statement and Budget Report 1997-98.
Advance Corporation Tax
Mr. Bernard Jenkin:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if she will place in the Library the advice
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she has sought from the Government Actuary following the Budget changes to advance corporation tax on (a) the relative attractiveness of (i) remaining in SERPS and (ii) opting out of SERPS and (b) on the estimated numbers of those who might now opt back into SERPS; and if she will make a statement. [8476]
Mr. Denham:
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow) on 7 July, Official Report, columns 376-77.
Mr. Laurence Robertson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if she will review the rates of residential allowance for which (a) residents of local authority homes and (b) residents of private nursing homes are eligible. [8548]
Mr. Keith Bradley:
A key priority of the Government is to focus on the central areas of insecurity for older people. A key element of the review process will be to listen to the views of older people on all matters which are of concern to them--including community care issues.
Radioactive Waste
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if Professor Holliday's 1984 report into radioactive waste disposal in the north Atlantic had access to correspondence between the Scottish Department, the Ministry of Agriculture and the War Office dating from October 1953 to November 1967; and if Professor Holliday had unrestricted access to documentation on the dumping of radioactive waste in Beaufort's Dyke. [7192]
Mr. Rooker: The Department has so far been unable to identify any evidence that the correspondence to which I referred in my written reply of 1 July 1997, Official Report, columns 158-60, was shown to Professor Holliday or to those supporting his enquiry, or that staff serving in the Department at that time were aware of the existence of the correspondence. The search of archive records is still in progress.
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what restrictions his Department has placed on public access at the Public Record Office to information contained in correspondence dated between October 1953 and June 1954 relating to the disposal of nuclear waste in Beaufort's Dyke; and on what precise dates correspondence on this subject dating from June 1954 to October 1954 could have been disclosed. [7193]
Mr. Rooker:
The documents to which I referred in my written reply on 1 July 1997, Official Report, columns 158-60, were contained in a file which was closed in 1960 and sent to the Public Record Office in July 1977. Under the 30-year rule, the file was made available to the public there in January 1991.
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Mr. Baker:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make it his policy to provide financial support for the Weald Meadows Initiative. [7596]
Mr. Morley:
The restoration and enhancement of species-rich grassland and other features within the High Weald, including the Weald Meadows Initiative area, have been identified as a priority under the Countryside Stewardship scheme.
Mr. Baker:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the importance of maintaining rare plants within the Sussex Weald; and what action he is taking to this end. [7597]
Mr. Morley:
The Sussex Weald is one of the target areas identified under the Countryside Stewardship scheme. These are areas which are identified as priorities in consultation with local environmental organisations and for which applications under the scheme are encouraged. Targeting statements are reviewed annually and are made available to applicants with the scheme literature. In the High Weald target area statement the restoration and improvement of species-rich grassland is listed as a high priority.
Mr. Baker:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what factors underlay his decision not to allocate funding to the Weald Meadows Initiative. [7598]
Mr. Rooker:
An application under the Marketing Development Scheme, for grant to match-fund the cost of a products co-ordinator and marketing campaign for the Weald Meadows Initiative, was made in October 1996. This faced strong competition for the limited funds available and, although the proposal had merit, other projects better satisfied the key scheme criterion of demonstrating a significant marketing development.
Mr. Baker:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to increase payments for undersowing in environmentally sensitive areas. [7608]
Mr. Morley:
The South Downs environmentally sensitive area was received last year, and new options were introduced for the management of arable land to benefit wildlife, particularly farmland birds such as finches, buntings and partridges. A payment of £110 per hectare is offered for leaving winter stubbles uncultivated until 30 November, and then sowing a spring cereal crop which is undersown with a grass and clover seed mixture. Applications for this option have been received for about 160 hectares of land. The payment rate is currently under review, and the outcome will be announced early in 1998.
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