| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
"Europe Day"
Mr. Spring:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the oral answer
14 Mar 2000 : Column: 145W
of 15 February 2000, Official Report, column 759, if he will set out the terms of reference and budget for "Europe Day" on 9 May. [114147]
Mr. Vaz:
The FCO will mark "Europe Day" this year with a Europe-focused open day on 9 May. This will launch a series of 12 open days, on successive Tuesdays between May and June of this year. Each will focus on a different aspect of the FCO's work.
The FCO's series of "open days" form part of the London String of Pearls Millennium Festival, a year long event involving 60 historic buildings along the Thames. These will open their doors to the public in order to celebrate the social, political and cultural achievement of the last Millennium.
The FCO's "Europe Day" event aims to make the UK public more aware of the culture of our European neighbours, and of Britain's place in Europe.
The budget for this event is £40,000.
Mr. Spring:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the criteria used by his Department to decide the number of people travelling to Iraq on the flight organised by the hon. Member for Glasgow, Kelvin (Mr. Galloway). [114134]
Mr. Hain:
The hon. Member for Kelvin applied for clearance for a humanitarian flight carrying medical supplies to Iraq. On receipt of a passenger list containing 207 names, I advised the hon. Member that the practice of the UN Sanctions Committee indicated that a humanitarian flight with this number of passengers was unlikely to receive Sanctions Committee approval. The hon. Member reduced the number of passengers to 29 on 6 March. The flight application was then submitted to the UN Sanctions Committee, which approved the flight on 8 March.
Mr. Spring:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the hon. Member for Glasgow, Kelvin (Mr. Galloway) was told that his original plans for the flight to Iraq were not acceptable to his Department. [114133]
Mr. Hain:
On receipt of a passenger list containing 207 names, I advised the hon. Member for Kelvin on 4 March that, because of the large number of passengers on what was a humanitarian flight, it was unlikely that the UN Sanctions Committee on Iraq would approve the flight application. The hon. Member reduced the number of passengers to 29 on 6 March. The application for the flight and its cargo of medicine was then submitted to the UN Sanctions Committee, which approved the flight on 8 March in time for it to proceed.
Mr. Spring:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the (a) meetings and (b) discussions which have taken place between the hon. Member for Glasgow, Kelvin (Mr. Galloway) and (i) Ministers and (ii) officials in his Department, regarding the proposed flight to Iraq. [114232]
14 Mar 2000 : Column: 146W
Mr. Hain:
I and my officials have been in regular contact with the hon. Member for Kelvin since January regarding the proposed flight to Iraq. On my recommendation it was given clearance by the UN Sanctions Committee. But for reasons best known to himself, the hon. Member decided not to proceed.
Mr. Spring:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the oral answer of 15 February 2000, Official Report, column 759, when the Minister of State, the hon. Member for Leicester, East (Mr. Vaz) will visit Loughborough; and what other towns and cities he plans to visit and on what dates. [114145]
Mr. Vaz:
I plan to visit several cities in the next few months, including Reading on 26 May. I have also written to local councils in Liverpool, Norwich, Leeds and Southampton to ask for their support in organising Europe Days during May and June. I hope to visit a number of other towns and cities, including Loughborough, later in the year.
Ms Kelly:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the cost to the Exchequer of increasing Statutory Maternity Pay at 90 per cent. of earnings to 18 weeks, but restricting the additional entitlement to those women not paying the higher rate tax. [113660]
Mr. Bayley:
The estimated cost of increasing Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) at 90 per cent. of earnings to 18 weeks but, restricting the additional entitlement to women not paying higher rate tax, is an additional full year cost of £460 million.
Mr. Pike:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what changes he plans to make with regard to (a) savings and (b) capital held by claimants applying for means-tested benefits. [113962]
Mr. Bayley:
The Pensions Green Paper outlined our commitment to looking at ways to better reward savers. We will bring forward our proposals later in the Parliament.
Mr. Sanders:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the (a) local authorities which have contracted out the administration of Housing Benefit and (b) companies contracted by each authority for this work. [112651]
Angela Eagle:
As there is no formal requirement on local authorities to inform the Department that Housing Benefit administration has been contracted out, comprehensive data are not available. Such information as is available is set out in the table:
14 Mar 2000 : Column: 147W
Note:
This estimate is based on the Government Actuary's Department projection of 2000-01 average case load of SMP.
| Local authority | Contractor |
|---|---|
| Barrow-in-Furness | CSL |
| Bexley | Capita Business Services |
| Brent | Electronic Data Services Ltd. |
| Bromley | Capita Business Services |
| Broxbourne | W. S. Atkins |
| Croydon | CSL |
| Ealing | Vertex Datasciences Ltd. |
| East Cambridgeshire | Capita Business Services |
| Hackney | ITNet |
| Havant | Capita Business Services |
| Horsham | Seimens Business Services |
| Hounslow | ITNet |
| Islington | ITNet |
| Lambeth | Capita Business Services |
| Mendip | Capita Business Services |
| North Somerset | CSL |
| Rother | CSL |
| Sheffield | CSL |
| South Bucks | ITNet |
| South Oxfordshire | CSL |
| Southwark | CSL |
| Taunton Deane | CSL |
| Westminster | Capita Business Services |
| West Devon | Capita Business Services |
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what has been the total estimated saving from Single Room Rent restrictions (a) in total and (b) in London for each year since 1996; and how many people have been subject to these restrictions in each year. [114099]
Angela Eagle: When the Single Room Rent restriction was introduced, the estimated yearly savings, which took little account of behavioural changes, for 1996-97, 1997-98 and 1998-99 were £13/£57/£62 million respectively. However, we are unable to provide actual savings because there is insufficient quantitative information to assess how this group as a whole responded to the change.
Because of the number of reasons which could limit the contractual rent, on which data are not held, it is not possible to estimate the savings from Housing Benefit restrictions.
The measures which limit the rent for Housing Benefit purposes are:
certain service charges included in the contractual rent which are not generally eligible for Housing Benefit, for example, charges for cleaning, laundry, fuel, meals and personal care and nursing;
the range of determinations, including determinations of single room rents, made by rent officers in respect of most claims from tenants living in the private rented sector; and
where local authorities consider that the rent is unreasonably high or the accommodation overlarge or the eligible rent is none the less too high in respect of a particular case.
Such information as is available is contained in the table:
| Date | Numbers assessed under the Single Room Rent restriction rules |
|---|---|
| May 1997 | 30,000 |
| May 1998 | 32,000 |
Source:
Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Annual Summary Statistics May 1998.
14 Mar 2000 : Column: 148W
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what was the total estimated savings from Housing Benefit restrictions (a) in total and (b) in London for the period 1994-95 to 1998-99; [114098]
- (2) how many households with children were subject to Housing Benefit restrictions as a consequence of rent restrictions in 1997, 1998 and 1999; [114095]
(3) how many households on income support were subject to restrictions of Housing Benefit entitlement (a) in total and (b) in each London borough in 1997-98 and 1998-99. [114097]
Angela Eagle: Because of the number of reasons which could limit the contractual rent, on which data are not held, it is not possible to estimate the savings from Housing Benefit restrictions.
The measures which limit the rent for Housing Benefit purposes are:
Mr. Lepper:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what research his Department has (a) carried out and (b) commissioned on the effects of single room rent restriction on the accessibility of housing for those aged 18 to 24 years; and if he will make a statement on the findings of such research. [114517]
Angela Eagle:
In 1997, the Department of Social Security and the Department of the Environment Transport and Regions (DETR) commissioned the London Research Centre to explore the role of Housing Benefit in the private rented sector. In particular, the study sought to investigate the impact of the single room rent and local reference rent. The study included interviews with young people who had their Housing Benefit restricted under the single room rent rules, as well as with other tenants, landlords, Housing Benefit Officers and Rent Officers. The report was published by DETR in April 1999, with the title 'Housing Benefit and the Private Rented Sector'.
The findings of the report concluded that the single room rent restriction is causing difficulties for some young people under 25 years in accessing and maintaining accommodation. We are considering the future of the single room rent as part of our wider review of housing. We will be taking account of all the available research which will include the localised reports we received from a variety of organisations on the effects of the single room rent.
14 Mar 2000 : Column: 149W
Mr. Willetts:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the cost of implementing the housing benefit verification framework; and what estimates have been made of the savings in housing benefit costs through fraud reduction. [114103]
Angela Eagle:
The Government have made available £100 million to enable all local authorities to implement the Verification Framework. By the end of 1999-2000 we expect to have spent over £34.5 million funding the implementation of the Verification Framework in 229 local authorities. Some authorities will have received set-up costs, some will have received continuing costs and some will have received both set-up and continuing costs.
Although it is too early to draw firm conclusions about the impact of the implementation of the Framework on savings in Housing Benefit costs the increasing number of authorities implementing the Framework will make an important contribution towards reducing the estimated £840 million lost each year through fraud and error in Housing and Council Tax Benefit claims. A robust approach to checking at the outset and during the life of a claim will prevent fraudulent claims from entering the system and will detect fraud at the earliest point during the life of a claim. Initial views from local authorities that are fully compliant with the Framework indicate that its implementation has already led to the prevention and detection of a considerable amount of fraudulent claims.
Mr. Willetts:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what evidence he has assessed and what monitoring is being undertaken, of the impact of the housing benefit verification framework on (a) the overall level of housing benefit claims, (b) the level of housing benefit claims from pensioners and (c) the time taken to process new and repeat claims for housing benefit. [114102]
Angela Eagle:
All local authorities are required to provide Housing Benefit management information. In addition, local authorities fully compliant with the Framework provide Verification Framework management information. This information will enable us to measure the impact of the introduction of the Framework. At present we only have initial views and anecdotal information concerning a limited number of local authorities.
certain service charges included in the contractual rent which are not generally eligible for Housing Benefit, for example, charges for cleaning, laundry, fuel, meals and personal care and nursing;
the range of determinations, including determinations of single room rents, made by rent officers in respect of most claims from tenants living in the private rented sector; and
where local authorities consider that the rent is unreasonably high or the accommodation overlarge or the eligible rent is none the less too high in respect of a particular case.
Under the current arrangements, Rent Officers are required to make rental determinations in respect of claims from most tenants living in the deregulated private rented sector. These determinations restrict the rent for a variety of reasons. We do not centrally collect information on individuals' contractual rent and are unable to provide the information for specific household compositions.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |