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Mercenaries
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will bring forward proposals in the UN for the drafting of a UN Convention on banning the use of mercenary soldiers. [116890]
Mr. Hain: The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs has no plans to bring forward proposals in the UN on this subject. The Government are committed to issuing a Green Paper on mercenary activity by November 2000. We will consider the way ahead in the light of the public response to that Green Paper.
Workplace Parking
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many workplace car parking spaces are available at the buildings used and controlled by his Department. [116759]
Mr. Battle: My Department has a total of 1,018 car parking spaces--88 in London and 930 at Hanslope Park, near Milton Keynes.
EU Legislation
Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what arrangements exist for regulatory impact assessments to be made for prospective items of European Union legislation. [116317]
Mr. Stringer: I have been asked to reply.
The Government take the same approach to prospective European legislation as to our own national proposals. We assess and scrutinise proposals in line with the requirements set out in our "Better Regulation Guide and Guide to Better European Regulation", copies of which are in the Libraries of the House. Government Departments carry out regulatory impact assessments (RIAs) for prospective European legislation where this imposes additional costs or savings, or has an impact on
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business, charities, or voluntary bodies. Subject to the expectations set out in the "Guide to Better European Regulation", an RIA must accompany any Explanatory Memorandum (EM) on prospective European legislation submitted to Parliament for its consideration.
The European Commission has its own internal rules for evaluating prospective European legislation to take account of costs and benefits, called the fiche d'impact or business impact assessment. It is applied only to a limited range of legislative proposals.
Housing Benefit
Mr. Field:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what are the estimated total savings to date for each month during which the non-redirection of benefit post scheme has been running; and how many local authorities have been running the scheme during each of those months; [114001]
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Angela Eagle
[holding answer 10 March 2000]: The figures given are based on a series of estimates and assumptions set out in the notes to the table. They do not include the deterrent effect of the Royal Mail "do not redirect" scheme.
The table shows the number of local authorities (LAs) using the Royal Mail "do not redirect" service in each month since it became available in February 1999. It also shows the estimated number of frauds identified and total savings achieved on the assumption that each fraud case saved an average of £1,600.
On the basis of these estimates and assumptions the average weekly benefit savings achieved by each LA using this service would be around £250, which equates to £13,000 per authority per year. This means that on current information, were all local authorities to use this service, we would expect it to realise total savings of around £5.3 million per year.
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(2) what the average savings per local authority per week have been to date from the non-redirection of benefit post scheme. [114002]
| Month | Number of LAs using the service (17) | Number of LAs that are in their second or subsequent calendar month of using the service (18) | Estimated number of fraudulent cases identified (18) | Estimated savings (£000) (19) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | ||||
| February | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| March | 16 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| April | 31 | 16 | 11 | 18 |
| May | 76 | 31 | 22 | 35 |
| June | 101 | 76 | 53 | 85 |
| July | 104 | 101 | 71 | 113 |
| August | 112 | 104 | 73 | 116 |
| September | 169 | 112 | 78 | 125 |
| October(20) | 194 | 169 | 118 | 189 |
| November(20) | 211 | 194 | 136 | 217 |
| December | 213 | 211 | 148 | 236 |
| 2000 | ||||
| January | 248 | 213 | 149 | 239 |
| February | 256 | 248 | 174 | 278 |
(17) Data are provided by Royal Mail HQ based on information supplied by Delivery Offices.
(18) Assumes that LAs identify an average of 0.7 fraudulent case per month in all months other than the first month that they use the service when it is assumed that no fraudulent cases are identified (based on data collected in a telephone survey of LAs).
(19) Assumes that the saving from identifying a fraudulent case is £1,600 (based on data supplied by a sample of LAs).
(20) Data supplied by Royal Mail listed some LAs as using the scheme but gave no date. These LAs are assumed to have started between October and November 1999.
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Mail (Non-redirection)
Mr. Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate what proportion of the savings from the non-redirection of mail accrue from claims made by (a) landlords, (b) private tenants and (c) local authority or housing association tenants. [114672]
Angela Eagle
[holding answer 14 March 2000]: While estimates can be made of the average and total savings to date for local authorities from the non-redirection of benefit post scheme, the level of data available is insufficient to assess what proportion accrues from different types of tenancies.
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Mr. Webb:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if the benefits of lone parents will in future be administered by the new agency dealing with people of working age. [115850]
Angela Eagle:
The new organisation will administer benefits including Jobseeker's Allowance, Income Support for people of working age, Incapacity Benefit, Widow's Benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance, Invalid Care Allowance and industrial injury disablement benefits. This will therefore include benefits for lone parents of working age. It will also administer the New Deal for Lone Parents, and other employment-focused programmes.
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Mrs. Lait:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when he plans to announce his conclusions on pensions for the self-employed. [115909]
Mr. Rooker:
In our Green Paper, "A new contract for welfare: PARTNERSHIP IN PENSIONS", we invited views on the proposal to bring self-employed people into the State Second Pension. The results of that exercise were inconclusive.
We also asked the independent Pension Provision Group for their views. We are now considering their report, which we intend to publish shortly.
Ms Buck:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many households currently in receipt of the child care tax credit component of the working families tax credit will gain from the amendment of housing benefit regulations introducing a disregard of the child care component; what will be the average gain; and what is the total cost. [116076]
Angela Eagle:
We made changes in Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit to take account of the introduction of the working families tax credit in October 1999. These changes included an increase in the amount deducted from earnings for child care costs. The effect of this change is minimal.
| Housing Benefit | Council Tax Benefit | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost (£ million per annum) | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Gainers | 1,000 | 1,000 | n/a |
| Average gain (£ per week) | 18 | 16 | n/a |
Notes:
1. Based on data taken from 1998 HBMIS datasets.
2. Costs are quoted in millions and are rounded to the nearest million.
3. Gainers are rounded to the nearest 1,000. Gainers cannot be added together because some people will benefit in both Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.
4. Average gains are rounded to the nearest pound.
Widowers
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many men have been widowed and left with children under 16 years of age in each year since 1995. [116670]
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Angela Eagle:
The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the table.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Spring 1995 | 15,000 |
| Spring 1996 | 15,000 |
| Spring 1997 | 15,000 |
| Spring 1998 | 20,000 |
| Spring 1999 | 20,000 |
Note:
Estimates rounded to nearest 5,000
Source:
Labour Force Survey
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