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Jobseekers
Mr. Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what benefits are available to men aged between 60 and 65 years who are out of work and seeking employment. [109679]
Angela Eagle: There is a range of Social Security benefits available to help meet a variety of needs. Entitlement to these benefits depends upon the individual circumstances of each case.
Men in this age group may claim either Jobseeker's Allowance or Income Support, subject to the normal conditions of entitlement, to help meet day-to-day living costs. National Insurance credits may also be awarded to men aged 60-64 if they are not liable to pay contributions or do not receive credits by another route. The credits awarded will count towards Retirement Pension.
Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit, which are intended to help meet eligible rent or council tax liability, and payments from the Social Fund may also be available. Again, this would be subject to the normal conditions of entitlement. Other help may be available through the benefit system, but this would very much depend upon
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the circumstances of the individual and whether the basic conditions of entitlement to the particular benefit had been met.
People in this age group who are unemployed or economically inactive and who have been receiving certain benefits (including Income Support or Jobseeker's Allowance) for six months or more may also have access to a package of back-to-work help through the New Deal 50 plus, which was launched in nine pathfinder areas in October last year and will be available nationally from April 2000.
Mr. Jim Cunningham:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment he has made of the impact of the benefits available to severely disabled people through the provisions of the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999. [109568]
Mr. Bayley:
Our package of reforms to provision for sick and disabled people is intended to modernise the welfare system and to encourage those who are able to work to do so. Severely disabled people will benefit in particular from the provisions in the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999, which will allow those incapacitated under the age of 20, or 25 in certain circumstances, to qualify for Incapacity Benefit without having to meet the normal National Insurance contribution conditions.
In addition, the introduction of the new Disability Income Guarantee and the extension of the higher rate mobility component of Disability Living Allowance to three and four year old children will provide additional help for many severely disabled people who have the greatest needs.
Mr. Coaker:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what proposals he has to amend his Department's expenditure limit and running costs limit for 1999-2000. [110525]
Mr. Rooker:
Subject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate for Class XII Vote 3 (Department of Social Security: administration) the Department of Social Security's Departmental Expenditure Limit will be increased by £27,811,000 from £3,265,802,000 to £3,293,613,000. The Supplementary Estimate is the net effect of £20,000,000 (running costs) for expenditure associated with Welfare Modernisation activities, £526,000 (running costs) for additional pensions work, £525,000 (running costs) to meet additional costs of providing a letter forwarding service and £203,000 (running costs) to meet the costs of collecting expenses associated with road traffic accidents in Scotland and Wales.
Other changes result from an increase of £11,062,000 (running costs) arising from a number of small transfers offset by a corresponding reduction on Class I, Vote 3 (Employment Services), a reduction of £619,000 (Capital) offset by a corresponding increase on Class I, Vote 3 (Employment Services), a reduction of £53,000 (running costs) arising from the continuing effects of the transfer of responsibility for Contributions Agency and Working Families Tax Credit to Inland Revenue offset by a corresponding increase on Class XVI, Vote 4 (Inland
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Revenue: administration), an increase of £1,250,000 (running costs) for the cost of collecting expenses associated with road traffic accidents offset by a corresponding reduction on Class II, Vote 1 (Hospital, community health, family health and related services, England), a reduction of £60,000 (running costs) towards the administrative costs of the Teenage Pregnancy Unit offset by a corresponding increase on Class II, Vote 2 (Department of Health administration, miscellaneous health and personal social services, England), a reduction of £505,000 (running costs) for costs associated with the recruitment of panel members offset by a corresponding increase on Class V, Vote 1 (Lord Chancellor's Department), a reduction of £304,000 (running costs) for the London Rough Sleepers Unit offset by a corresponding increase on Class III, Vote 1 (Housing, construction, regeneration, countryside and wildlife, England), an increase of £34,000 (running costs) for access to miner's medical records offset by a reduction on Class XI, Vote 1 (Department of Trade and Industry, programmes and administration), a reduction of £20,000 (running costs) for costs associated with Better Government for Older People offset by an increase on Class XVII, Vote 1 (Cabinet Office). There is also an increase of £7,972,000 (running costs) associated with services provided to other government departments on a repayment basis, an increase of (£13,696,000) running costs arising from increased payments of Value Added Tax on contracted out services and a reduction of £10,000 (running costs) as a result of virement to capital expenditure. Appropriations in aid increase by £22,896,000.
Changes in the Welfare-to-Work provision arise from an increase of £1,204,000 in the administrative costs of measures to help people with a disability or long-term illness move into or remain in work and a net reduction of £213,000 as a result of a number of minor transfers to Class I, Vote 3 (Employment Services).
As a result of these changes the running cost limit of this Department will be increased by £32,648,000 from £3,009,854,000 to £3,042,502,000 and the running cost limit of the Welfare-to-Work programme will be increased by £991,000 from £10,968,000 to £11,959,000.
The increase will be offset by transfers from other Departmental Expenditure Limits and also a charge on the DEL Reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.
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Mr. Kaufman:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when he will reply to the letters to him dated 25 October, 2 December and 6 January from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mrs. L. Goode. [110340]
Mr. Darling:
A reply was issued to the right hon. Member on Friday 11 February 2000.
Mr. Baker:
To ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, representing the House of Commons Commission, pursuant to his answer of 7 February 2000, Official Report, column 25W, on staff, how many House of Commons Clerks are female. [109603]
Mr. Kirkwood:
There are presently 18 female Clerks employed in the Department of the Clerk of the House out of a total of 73. Of these, one is currently on secondment to the Cabinet Office.
Mr. Maclean:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what representations he has made to the New Millennium Experience Company about the newspaper reviews used in the Dome advertising campaign. [107947]
Janet Anderson:
The New Millennium Experience Company (NMEC) is responsible for all decisions connected with the marketing of the Dome. Lord Falconer of Thoroton, as NMEC's Shareholder, is kept informed by the Company of all aspects of the Dome's operations.
Mr. Sanders:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many grant applications to the National Lottery have been received from organisations within the Torbay constituency; how many have been successful; and what was the total amount awarded (a) by each distributing body and (b) in total. [109512]
Kate Hoey:
The following table shows applications for, and awards of, National Lottery funds in the Torbay constituency by distributing body. The total amount awarded (excluding awards by the New Opportunities Fund) is £1,187,107.
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| Distributing body | Number of applications | Number of awards | Amount awarded (£) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arts Council of England | (10)Not known | 3 | 22,667 |
| Film Council | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Heritage Lottery Fund | 8 | 3 | 551,200 |
| Millennium Commission | Not known | 0 | 0 |
| National Lottery Charities Board | 161 | 49 | 490,318 |
| New Opportunities Fund | (11)Not known | (11)Not known | (11)Not known |
| Sport England | 20 | 9 | 122,922 |
| UK Sport | 0 | 0 | 0 |
(10) The Arts Council of England has received 15 applications from within the area covered by Torbay Borough Council.
(11) The New Opportunities Fund (NOF) has not received any applications from the Torbay constituency for its Health Living Centre, Out of School Hours Activities, or Digitisation programmes. Funding for the ICT (information and computer technology) programme is allocated by local education authority or library authority, and NOF is unable to provide a breakdown by constituency at present. NOF has allocated £409,044 to schools in Torbay LEA.
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Mr. Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many applications for National Lottery grants have been received from organisations in (a) Gloucestershire and (b) Tewkesbury since its inception. [109554]
Kate Hoey: 1,429 applications for National Lottery grants have been received from Gloucestershire since the inception of the Lottery; 212 have been received from Tewkesbury. Both figures exclude applications to the Millennium Commission, and the figure for Tewkesbury also excludes applications to the Arts Council of England, as these bodies do not hold information in the form requested.
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