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Carers
37. Mr. Goggins: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what progress he is making on the introduction of a citizenship pension for carers. [84030]
Mr. Timms: In December 1998, the Government published a Green Paper, "A new contract for welfare: Partnership in Pensions". This included proposals to give carers the opportunity to build up a second pension, by awarding them flat rate credits to the new State Second Pension scheme. The proposals cover recipients of Invalid Care Allowance, carers of people receiving Attendance Allowance or Disability Living Allowance who qualify for Home Responsibilities Protection and Child Benefit recipients where the youngest child is aged five or under.
The consultation period for the Green Paper ended on 31 March 1999. Since then we have been considering the responses received and will provide further details in due course.
Disabled People (Incomes)
Mrs. Fyfe: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the intended minimum weekly income for (a) a single adult who is disabled and unable to work and (b) a single adult who is considered partially disabled but who is unable to find work. [83999]
Mr. Bayley: Income Support (and income based Jobseeker's Allowance) is available to assist disabled adults who have a low income. The overall weekly amount of benefit payable will depend on the individual's circumstances, such as their age, their savings, income, the severity of their disability and so on. Our proposals for a new Disability Income Guarantee together with measures in the Welfare Reform and Pensions Bill will provide more help for disabled adults and children who need help most.
Widows (SERPS)
Mr. Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the amount which widows are due to receive under SERPS from 2000. [84019]
Mr. Timms: Legislation introduced by the previous Government in 1986 provides for widows to receive 50 per cent. of their late husbands' SERPS entitlement from April 2000. We will make an announcement in due course.
Customer Service
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what procedures are followed to ensure the delivery of a high-quality service in his Department's offices in Essex. [85252]
Angela Eagle:
Working with the Employment Services, Child Support Agency, Local Authorities and other customer representative groups, is a key element of the Benefit Agency's (BA) current modernisation programme. The standards of customer service the BA sets out to achieve is published in the BA Customer Charter. This, together with other internal agency targets, provide the clear measurable standards that BA offices in Essex are expected to provide in delivering a timely, effective and informative service to customers.
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The Child Support Agency has many improvements underway, planned specifically at improving customer service and efficiency. Greater use of the telephone is being made to improve the way information is collected. Opening hours have been extended to offer a more accessible service at evenings and weekends--this further improves service by being able to contact parents at times which suit them. Dedicated staff offer face-to-face interviews and this service is being extended during 1999-2000. The Agency is convinced that this will mean the more effective progression of cases and a better service.
Mr. Burns:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what proportion of his Department's payment books issued in Essex in the last 12 months were produced (a) manually and (b) by computer. [85253]
Angela Eagle:
The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available shows that during 1998-99 a total of 2,790,657 computer order books were issued in the East London and Anglia Area. In 1998-99 3,282 manual order books were issued in Essex.
Mr. Burns:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many complaints were received in the last 12 months by his Department's offices in Essex relating to (a) delays in payment book issue and (b) breaches of confidentiality. [85256]
Angela Eagle:
In the period 1 April 1998 to 21 May 1999, a total of 23 written complaints were received about the late issue of payment books. A further 3 complaints related to breaches of confidentiality.
Mr. John M. Taylor:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the ratio of persons working and paying income tax to persons in receipt of state Retirement Pension in (i) 1978-79, (ii) 1988-89 and (iii) 1998-99. [85286]
| Year | Number of taxpayers | Recipients of Retirement Pension | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978-79 | 25,900 | 8,600 | 3:1 |
| 1988-89 | 25,200 | 9,300 | 2.7:1 |
| 1998-99 | 26,100 | 10,000 | 2.6:1 |
Notes:
1. All figures are rounded to the nearest hundred and are in thousands. Estimates for the numbers of taxpayers are from "Inland Revenue Statistics" 1998. Figures for Retirement Pension are for those resident in Great Britain.
2. The ratios of numbers of taxpayers to recipients of retirement pension are rounded to the nearest 0.1.
3. For Retirement Pension, the figures for 1978-79 and 1988-89 do not include those who are in receipt of graduated retirement benefit. The numbers of taxpayers counts husbands and wives separately.
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Information Technology
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what action he is taking to improve IT provision in his Department's offices in Essex; [85255]
(2) what assessment he has made of the reliability of IT systems in his Department's offices in Essex; [85257]
(3) if the computer system in his Department's office in Chelmsford is compatible with that in his Department's office in Southend; [85254]
(4) if his Department's offices in Essex are linked via a Wide Area computer network. [85258]
Angela Eagle: The Department has an agreed strategy for improving its Information Technology (IT) services throughout the Department in support of its modernisation programme. This includes providing improved quality and consistent data from mainframe systems as well as improved IT tools in the office and on the desktop.
The agreement of reliability is contained within a number of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) between the Benefits Agency and Information Technology Services Agency. These SLAs also form the basis of contractual agreements between the Department and its private sector service providers.
The Department also maintains and supports a common infrastructure providing a system of computerised benefits across all Benefit Agency offices including Chelmsford and Southend and these items are compatible. Local Districts have some freedom to implement local desktop solutions, typically work management and administrative systems, to complement their main IT systems for benefit delivery.
The Department's offices in Essex are linked via a Wide Area computer network.
Mr. Boswell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the minimum pension guarantee. [84028]
Mr. Timms:
The Minimum Income Guarantee, delivered through Income Support, provides an income threshold below which most pensioners with no savings, or only a small amount saved, should not fall.
The increase in the Income Support rates for pensioners this April represents an increase above the normal prices-linked uprating, of £160 over the year for a single pensioner. Our undertaking to increase the Minimum Income Guarantee in line with earnings next April further underlines our intention that the least well-off pensioners should share in rising national prosperity.
Mr. Paul Marsden:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate how many pensioners in Shrewsbury and Atcham will benefit from the introduction of the Minimum Income Guarantee; and if he will make a statement. [84866]
Mr. Timms:
We estimate that around 2,500 pensioners were in receipt of Income Support in the constituency of Shrewsbury and Atcham in November 1998, the latest date for which this data are available. We are unable to forecast with any reliability how many will be in receipt
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from April this year in the same area, because the sample size on which the estimates are based is too small. However, we estimate that nationally, an additional 65,000 pensioners will become eligible for the Minimum Income Guarantee, through Income Support, as a result of the above-inflation increases this year, and a further 20,000 next year as a result of uprating the Guarantee in line with earnings.
Notes:
1. "Pensioners" refers to pensioner benefit units, which are single people aged 60 or over or couples where one or partners is 60 or over.
2. Figures exclude cases in residential care and nursing homes.
3. The estimate of 2,500 cases is rounded to the nearest 100 cases, and is subject to a degree of sampling error due to the small numbers involved.
4. The Parliamentary constituency data are based on constituency boundaries as of 1 May 1999.
Source:
1. Income Support Quarterly Statistical Enquiry November 1998.
2. Family Resources Survey 1996-97.
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