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Child Poverty
25. Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what measures he is taking with other Government Departments to meet the Government's objective of eliminating child poverty. [107213]
Mr. Bayley: We are making real progress in tackling poverty. We are the first Government to be committed to eradicating child poverty in a generation, and halving it within 10 years.
In all, we will provide an additional £6 billion a year in new tax and benefit measures for families with children by the end of this parliament. 800,000 children will be lifted above half average income through measures in the last two Budgets. All families will be, on average, £740 a year better off.
Later this year we will be publishing our second annual report on tackling poverty and social exclusion, monitoring progress so far.
26. Mr. Andrew George:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what discussions he has had with banks regarding the proposed transfer of benefit payments to automated credit transfer between 2003-05. [107214]
Mr. Rooker:
I refer the hon. Member to the Written Answer I gave the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) on 7 December 1999, Official Report, column 494W.
27. Mr. Wigley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make it his policy to ensure that every man and woman who reaches retirement age during the course of each winter will be entitled to a fuel payment. [107215]
Angela Eagle:
We want to ensure that people receive their payments in good time to contribute towards winter fuel bills. To ensure the payment process is completed in time it is necessary to put in place a qualifying week during which eligible people can be identified.
Under these arrangements, those who reach their 60th birthday after the qualifying week will not receive a payment until the following winter. Our policy of making payments at the earliest opportunity ensures that the very
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elderly, who will include the vast majority of those who are most frail, have their payment in their hands when they need it.
28. Dr. Gibson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to speed up the payment of benefits to claimants in Norwich. [107216]
Angela Eagle:
We have no specific plans to speed up the payment of benefit to claimants in Norwich. The Benefits Agency has published targets for the clearance of benefits and every effort is made to clear claims within that period. There are, however, always a number of cases where further investigation is required and payment of the full rate of benefit cannot be made from the date of entitlement.
Published clearance targets for claims to contributory benefits are as follows:
29. Mr. Goggins:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the number of north-west pensioners who are entitled to but not claiming the minimum income guarantee. [107217]
Mr. Bayley:
Estimates of numbers of pensioners entitled to but not claiming the Minimum Income Guarantee are not available at regional level.
30. Mr. Simon Hughes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what safeguards he will introduce to protect the welfare of the dependants of those who have had their benefit withdrawn. [107218]
Angela Eagle:
Under proposals contained in the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Bill, offenders who are referred back to Court for an alleged breach of a Probation Order, Community Service Order or a Combination Order will be subject to a benefit sanction. The measure will initially be piloted in England and Wales; during the pilots the period of the sanction will be four weeks.
In the case of Jobseeker's Allowance and certain Training Allowances, benefit will be withdrawn. The welfare of the claimant and any dependants will be safeguarded by hardship payments. These will be available for vulnerable groups and others at risk of hardship. The conditions for receiving a hardship payment will be broadly similar to those currently applied to people who are subject to an employment sanction. Income Support will not be withdrawn, but will be reduced by 40 per cent. or 20 per cent. of the single person's adult rate, depending on their circumstances.
The best safeguard for dependants is for the offender to comply with the terms of the community sentence. Providing there is no breach of the sentence, then no benefit sanction will be applied and the question of hardship payments will not arise.
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31. Mr. Gordon Marsden:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what representations he has received in the past 12 months from (a) voluntary organisations and (b) others on the impact of single room rent restrictions on young people aged under 25 years. [107219]
Angela Eagle:
The representations we have received from voluntary organisations and others suggest that the single room rent restriction is causing localised difficulties for some young people under 25 years in that the accommodation to which the restriction relates is not readily available.
32. Mr. Healey:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the implementation of the ONE Service pilots. [107220]
34. Kali Mountford:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement about the ONE Service pilots. [107222]
Angela Eagle:
The ONE service is a radical new initiative designed to streamline the operation of the benefit system and help claimants move from welfare into work. The first four ONE pilots were launched in June last year and a further eight commenced in November.
The changeover to the new system was achieved with minimum disruption to services and all of the pilots are settling in well. While it is too early to measure the degree of success we have had in helping people move into sustainable employment, the improved level of customer service and the focus on individual needs have been well received by our clients.
35. Helen Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make it his policy to ensure that the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance is paid directly to those in residential care and not into the bank account of organisations running residential homes. [107223]
Mr. Bayley:
Benefits Agency (BA) normal practice is to ensure that the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance is paid directly to the beneficiary, and that remains the case whether a person lives at home or in residential care.
Regulations provide, however, that if a person is unable to act, for example because of senility or mental illness, the Secretary of State can appoint a suitable person, the Appointee, to act on that person's behalf. In such cases, the Appointee will be empowered to receive and deal with, subject to the discretion of the Secretary of State, any sums of mobility component payable to the beneficiary. BA instructions allow a proprietor of a residential care home to be made Appointee but only if no other suitable person (for example, a relative) can be found.
36. Mr. Rowlands:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will review the proposed clawback of benefits relating to the compensation payments being made to miners and miners' widows. [107224]
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Mr. Bayley:
No. The provisions of the compensation recovery scheme apply to miners and miners' widows in the same way as they do for other victims of accident, injury or disease. The compensation recovery scheme is intended to ensure that victims do not receive double compensation for the same need.
Compensation paid in respect of loss of past earnings, cost of past care or loss of past mobility is therefore reduced to take account of benefits paid, but only for a maximum period of five years from the date of claim to benefit in respect of the disease. Whether miners see a reduction in the amount of compensation they actually receive, therefore, will depend on the make-up of their compensation payment. However, compensation awarded to miners and miners' widows in respect of pain and suffering will be paid at the full amount awarded under the terms of the handling agreement and is not subject to any deduction.
Mr. Matthew Taylor:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much his Department, its agencies and associated public bodies spent in total on extra bonuses above usual payments for staff working over the New Year period; what were the (a) maximum and (b) minimum bonuses paid; how many people received the (i) maximum and (ii) minimum payments; and if he will make a statement. [104485]
Mr. Rooker:
The information requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Retirement Pension--60 days
Incapacity Benefit--30 days
Job Seekers Allowance--21 days
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