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Child Support
Shona McIsaac: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what powers the CSA possesses to follow up cases in respect of absent parents who have moved to a different country; and what plans he has to review them. [63395]
Angela Eagle: The Child Support Act only applies where both parents and the child are habitually resident in the UK. In some circumstances a person can be regarded as habitually resident in more than one country. In such cases, child support liability may still exist even though a non-resident parent is living abroad.
If there is no child support liability the parent with care has recourse to the courts to obtain maintenance. The Lord Chancellor's Department administers reciprocal
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enforcement arrangements with a number of other countries. Under these provisions many foreign courts can enforce a British order for maintenance.
The outcome of the consultation process on the Green Paper, "Children First: a new approach to child support", together with our detailed proposals for reforming the Child Support system, will be announced in due course.
Mr. Quentin Davies:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many incapacity benefit paper appeals relating to the all-work-test were processed in the last four quarters for which figures are available; and what percentage was decided in the claimant's favour. [63958]
Angela Eagle:
The information is not available in the form requested. Such information as is available is in the table.
| Paper breakdown | ||
|---|---|---|
| All appeals | Percentage in appellant's favour | |
| Q2 1998 | 2,880 | 11.9 |
| Q1 1998 | 4,036 | 12.2 |
Notes:
Q2 April-June 1998
Q1 January-March 1998
Source:
100 per cent. computer extract from Independent Tribunal Service (ITS) systems
Mr. Quentin Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many incapacity benefit appeals relating to the all-work-test were heard in the last four quarters for which figures are available; and what percentage were decided in the appellant's favour where the appellant (a) attended the hearing but was not represented, (b) was represented but did not attend, (c) attended and was represented and (d) did not attend and was not represented. [63957]
Angela Eagle: The information is in the table.
| Q2 1998 | Q1 1998 | Q4 1997 | Q3 1997 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appellant only attended | ||||
| All appeals | 4,100 | 4,226 | 3,714 | 3,793 |
| Percentage in appellant's favour | 52.6 | 52.2 | 54.1 | 51.4 |
| Representative only attended | ||||
| All appeals | 260 | 240 | 237 | 220 |
| Percentage in appellant's favour | 50.8 | 57.5 | 45.1 | 43.2 |
| Both attended | ||||
| All appeals | 4,281 | 3,723 | 4,249 | 4,094 |
| Percentage in appellant's favour | 67.5 | 68.2 | 70.2 | 69.2 |
| Not attended | ||||
| All appeals | 3,998 | 3,485 | 4,834 | 5,005 |
| Percentage in appellant's favour | 24.2 | 25.3 | 14.5 | 10.9 |
Notes:
Q2 April-June 1998
Q1 January-March 1998
Q4 October-December 1997
Q3 July-September 1997
Source:
100 per cent. computer extract from Independent Tribunal Service (ITS) systems
Mr. Quentin Davies:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many incapacity benefit claimants have (a) failed the all-work test, (b) appealed against
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disallowance of the test, (c) had their benefit re-instated prior to the hearing of the appeal and (d) had their appeals upheld. [63956]
Mr. Timms:
Between April 1995 and 31 August 1998, 321,791 claims for Incapacity Benefit were disallowed following examination under the all work test.
Up to 31 August 1998, 169,247 appeals had been lodged with the Independent Tribunal Service. In the cases appealed, 2,797 decisions were reversed on review by the adjudication officer and 49,951 by an appeal tribunal.
Mr. McDonnell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to include Irish as a category in his Department's ethnic monitoring of staff recruitment. [63882]
Mr. Denham:
Civil Service recruitment is based on the principle of fair and open competition and that selection should be on merit at each stage.
Monitoring in this area is based on ethnic origin and not nationality. The nine ethnic origin categories monitored by this Department are those used in the 1991 census, which did not include an Irish category. They will be reviewed in the light of any suggested changes for the 2001 Population Census.
Mr. Quentin Davies:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what the annual savings are to date, including administrative costs, arising from the replacement of invalidity benefit by incapacity benefit; and what estimate he made of the savings which would arise from the change. [63955]
Mr. Timms:
The information is not available in the form requested. Such information as is available is set out in the table.
| £ million | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995-96 | 1996-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-99 | |
| Initial savings estimates (September 1993) | 415 | 1,185 | 1,720 | -- |
| Latest available savings estimates (November 1996) | 280 | 790 | 1,350 | 1,830 |
Notes:
1. No further estimates have been made and it is not possible to quantify the effects on administrative costs.
2. Actual savings figures arising from the replacement of Invalidity Benefit by Incapacity Benefit are not available as it is not possible to say whether an individual found capable of work following application of the all work test would have been found capable under the old Invalidity Benefit medical controls.
Source:
DSS. All figures cash prices.
Mr. Quentin Davies:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people between the ages of 20 and 25 years do not have the required national insurance contribution record to qualify for incapacity
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benefit (a) under the current system and (b) under the changes proposed in Support for Disabled People (Cm 4103). [63949]
Mr. Timms:
The main change proposed is that people should be required to have paid National Insurance contributions on earnings equivalent to 25 times the lower earnings limit in one of the two tax years preceding their claim, rather than in any tax year.
The latest available figures show that there are about 2,470,000 people aged 20 to 25 who have not paid the contributions in any tax year necessary for entitlement to Incapacity Benefit under the current system and about 2,530,000 who have not paid the contributions in the two most recent tax years for entitlement under the proposed system. It is not known how many of these would actually claim Incapacity Benefit.
Mr. Quentin Davies:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what the current average SERPS enhancement to the widow's pension and to widowed mother's benefits is for those whose husbands have remained contracted into SERPS; and what the average widow's benefit is for contracted-out occupational pension schemes. [63951]
Angela Eagle:
The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is as follows.
The average additional pension paid to a widow, resident in Great Britain, whose husband had never contracted out of SERPS is £10.75 per week.
Where the husband contracted out of SERPS at some point in his working life, the average additional pension paid is £21.70 per week.
The average additional pension for all widows resident in Great Britain is £16.09.
Mr. Quentin Davies:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many new claimants there have been since July for (a) state pension, (b) state pension with a SERPS enhancement, (c) contribution-based jobseeker's allowance, (d) incapacity benefit and (e) widow's benefit. [63953]
Mr. Timms:
The information is in the table.
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Notes:
1. The information refers to the number of people without the required National Insurance contributions in 1997 (the most recent information available). The qualifying tax years for the new condition are therefore tax years 1994-95 and 1995-96.
2. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10,000.
Source:
DSS: Lifetime Labour Market Database which contains a 1 per cent. sample from the National Insurance Recording System (NIRS) taken at February 1997.
Source:
5 per cent. sample of the Pensions Strategy computer system at 31 March 1998.
| Benefit | Number of claims July-October 1998 |
|---|---|
| Retirement Pension | 194,000 |
| Retirement Pension with SERPS(15) | 97,000 |
| Jobseekers Allowance(16) | 1,100,000 |
| Incapacity Benefit | 316,000 |
| Widows Benefit including Widows Payment(17) | 13,000 |
| Widows Pension/Widowed Mother's Allowance included in above(18) | 10,000 |
(15) Exact numbers not known but about half of all Retirement Pension claims have SERPS entitlement
(16) A claim for Jobseeker's Allowance has to be made before it can be established whether the contributory element of Jobseeker's Allowance is payable. To date no figures are available for the number of individuals who are paid the contributory element of Jobseeker's Allowance.
(17) All widows can claim the £1,000 Widow's Payment Widows.
(18) Widows Pension or Widowed Mothers Allowance entitlement is examined after consideration of the £1,000 payment. The figures quoted are those where there is prima facie entitlement to Widows Pension or Widowed Mothers Allowance.
Source:
Central Data Unit
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