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SOCIAL SECURITY
Jobseeker's Allowance
Miss Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security in how many cases involving claims for jobseeker's allowance in the Lancaster and South Cumbria district Regulation 13(b) of the Jobseeker's Allowance Regulations 1996 was applied. [85490]
Mr. Andrew Smith: I have been asked to reply.
Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service agency under its Chief Executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Richard Foster to Miss Geraldine Smith, dated 17 June 1999:
Mr. Goggins:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the additional cost to public funds of increasing the level of weekly earnings which are defined as gainful employment for the purpose of claiming invalid care allowance to (a) £55, (b) £60, (c) £65, (d) £70, (e) £75 and (f) £100. [86850]
Mr. Bayley:
It is not possible to cost any of these measures as sufficiently accurate data are not available.
Valerie Davey:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much housing benefit was paid for the tenants of housing associations, local housing companies and other registered social landlords living in the South West in 1998-99. [87614]
Angela Eagle:
The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is as follows.
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The estimated Housing Benefit paid for tenants of housing associations for the South West area in 1997-98 is £155 million.
Mr. Berry:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what the income levels are of those current incapacity benefit recipients who first made their claim after April 1995 and who have been excluded from the transitional protection provided to former invalidity benefit claimants. [87587]
Mr. Bayley:
When Incapacity Benefit was introduced transitional arrangements allowed those already in receipt of Invalidity Benefit to continue to receive their previous rate of benefit. This is standard procedure following a major change in Social Security legislation.
As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Minister of State has asked Leigh Lewis to reply direct to your question concerning the number of cases involving claims for Jobseeker's Allowance in the Lancaster and South Cumbria district where the provisions of Regulation 13(4) of the Jobseeker's Allowance Regulations 1996 have been applied. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to Mr. Lewis as Chief Executive of the Employment Service. I am replying in his absence.
I regret that the information you have requested is not available. Details of decisions given by Employment Service Adjudication Officers on labour market questions are recorded in a quarterly summary--the 'Analysis of Adjudication Officers' Decisions', a copy of which is held in the Library. The statistics include the number of decisions made in respect of jobseekers who restrict their availability to less than 40 hours a week. Unfortunately, decisions where the only consideration was whether the provisions of regulation 13(4) applied are not recorded separately. Nor are figures separately recorded for individual Employment Service Districts.
I am sorry that I cannot be more helpful.
Note:
The data used refer to Housing Association tenants only but may include data for local housing companies and other registered social landlords.
Sources:
1. Housing Benefit Management Information Systems Data (May 1997 and May 1998)
2. Local Authorities' final subsidy claims (1997-98).
| Income quintile | Number in quintile (BHC) | Percentage in quintile (BHC) | Number in quintile (AHC) | Percentage in quintile (AHC) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bottom | 330,000 | 19 | 350,000 | 20 |
| 2 | 570,000 | 34 | 550,000 | 32 |
| 3 | 390,000 | 23 | 380,000 | 22 |
| 4 | 290,000 | 17 | 300,000 | 17 |
| Top | 130,000 | 8 | 150,000 | 9 |
Notes:
1. BHC = Income quintiles calculated before adjusting for housing costs. AHC = Income quintiles calculated after adjusting for housing costs.
2. Columns may not sum due to rounding.
3. These figures are estimates for the latest year available, which was the financial year 1996-97. The data has been derived from the Department of Social Security's Households Below Average Income dataset, which in turn is based upon the Family Resources Survey for the same period.
4. The income figures are based on household income, adjusted for household size and composition. This reflects the commonsense notion that a household of five adults will need a higher income than a person living alone in order to enjoy the same standard of living. The process of adjusting income in this way is known as equalisation and is needed in order to make sensible income comparisons between households. Each income quintile contains 20 per cent. of the population of Great Britain.
5. The equivalence scales make allowance for factors such as household size and the age of any children but not for any extra costs that people with disabilities may have. Attendance Allowance and Disability Living Allowance, which are paid to help with the extra costs of disability are included as income in these estimates. Removing Attendance and Disability Living Allowance from income reduces the proportion of Incapacity Benefit recipients in the top half of the income distribution by about 5 or 6 percentage points.
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Retirement Age
Mr. Galbraith: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to equalise the retirement age for men and women; and if he will make a statement. [87421]
Mr. Timms: The Pensions Act 1995 equalised State pension age for men and women from a future date. Women's State pension age will be increased gradually from 60 to 65 between the years 2010 and 2020. State pension age will be equalised at 65 for both men and women from 6 April 2020.
CABINET OFFICE
Civil Service Appointments
Mr. Baker: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office since 1 May 1997, how many (a) Grade One, (b) Grade Two and (c) Grade Three equivalent civil servants have been appointed; how many in each category came from (i) within the Civil Service and (ii) outside the Civil Service; and if the posts were advertised in media available outside the Civil Service. [87600]
Mr. Kilfoyle: Since 1 May 1997, 19 former Grade 1 and 54 former Grade 2 equivalent appointments have been made.
At Grade 1 six appointments were filled through open competition advertised in the press (two from outside the Civil Service and four from within). The other 13 appointments were made through internal arrangements.
At Grade 2 equivalent ten appointments were filled through open competition advertised in the press (four from outside the Civil Service and six from within). One appointment was made on secondment. The other 43 appointments were made through internal arrangements.
Figures are not held centrally for all appointments made at former Grade 3 level. However, 33 appointments at this
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level were filled through open competition advertised in the press. Twenty of the appointees came from outside the Civil Service and 13 from within.
Mr. Beith:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) if he will estimate the current average age of first use of class A drugs; and if he will make a statement; [87436]
Dr. Jack Cunningham:
There are no reliable figures at this time which relate to illegal drug use specifically for Class A drugs in this age group. We are commissioning new research to establish robust baselines this year.
Mr. Beith:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what proportion of people under 25 years reported using (i) heroin, (ii) cocaine and (iii) any illegal drug in the last (a) month and (b) year for which figures are available. [87437]
Dr. Jack Cunningham:
There are no reliable figures at this time which relate to illegal drug use specifically among the under 25 age group. We are commissioning new research to establish more robust baselines this year.
(2) what estimate he made of the number of 11 to 16-year-olds who use class A drugs; and how many reported so doing in the latest year for which figures are available. [87438]
| Heroin | Cocaine | Any Drug | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Year | |||
| 16-19 | under 0.5 | 1 | 31 |
| 20-24 | under 0.5 | 2 | 27 |
| Last Month | |||
| 16-19 | 0 | under 0.5 | 19 |
| 20-24 | under 0.5 | under 0.5 | 18 |