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Benefits Agency Inspectors
Mr. John Cryer: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many inspections of building sites have been made in the past 12 months by Benefits Agency inspectors to check on the employment status of construction workers. [115053]
Angela Eagle: This information is not kept centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Benefits Agency Delays
Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many (a) national insurance number applications and (b) benefit applications are awaiting processing due to delays in clarification being received by the Benefits Agency from the Immigration and Nationality Directorate; and if he will make a statement. [116078]
Angela Eagle: The administration of benefits is a matter for Peter Mathison, the Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Edward Davey, dated 30 March 2000:
The Secretary of State has asked me to respond to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many (a) national insurance number (NINO) applications and (b) benefit applications are awaiting processing due to delays in clarification being received by the Benefits Agency (BA) from the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND).
BA allocate, when necessary, a NINO to a benefit applicant. The process rarely requires any contact with or information from the IND.
Information on the number of benefit applications awaiting clarification from IND is not held. Collation of these statistics would involve a sift of files held at over 400 offices and would entail disproportionate cost.
Retirement Pensions
Mr. Wigley: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will amend the regulations relating to the date from which retirement pensions are payable to persons reaching retirement age, to ensure that such people receive their full entitlement, including any part-weeks, from the date of the relevant birthday; and if he will estimate the cost in the next financial year of such changes to the Exchequer. [116830]
Mr. Rooker:
We do not intend to amend the present regulations which provide for payment of retirement pension in whole weeks in advance.
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There would be no costs to the Exchequer for part weeks because it would follow that recovery of overpaid benefit would take place upon the death of the pensioner. It is because we are not prepared to countenance this recovery that we plan no change.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the number of men who will be eligible for bereavement benefit when the relevant provisions of the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999 are implemented. [116882]
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Bereavement Payment | 15,000 |
| Widowed Parent's Allowance | 25,000 |
| Bereavement Allowance | 10,000 |
Notes:
1. Figures provided by the Government Actuary's Department.
2. Rounded to nearest 5,000 for each benefit.
Social Fund
Mrs. Humble: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what gross budget will be set for the Social Fund in 2000-01. [117673]
Angela Eagle: The gross discretionary Social Fund budget for 2000-01 will be £596 million. This represents an increase of £60.8 million over the total gross budget for 1999-2000 made possible by improved loan recovery performance.
As part of this allocation we have increased the Community Care Grant budget by £2 million to £100 million. All Benefits Agency Districts will receive an increase. This will provide more help to grant applicants, in particular families with children and the disabled.
The loans budget will be £494 million; an increase of £57.3 million. To improve the fairness of the scheme this increase will be allocated to Benefits Agency Districts in a way that will, over time, achieve greater consistency of outcome for applicants wherever they live.
£2 million will be retained centrally as a contingency reserve to provide additional help to any Benefits Agency Districts that face unexpected and unplanned expenditure as a result of a local emergency or disaster.
Details of individual District budget allocations will be placed in the Library today.
Miss McIntosh:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what representations he has received on the proposed merger of the Benefits Agency and the Employment Service; and if he will make a statement. [115878]
Angela Eagle:
My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced on 16 March our intention to create a new, modern organisation for people of working age helping
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more people on welfare towards independence and into work. Ministers have had discussions with representatives from a range of interested groups in the short period since the announcement. The response to date has been a widespread welcome of this move and a positive reaction to creating a single agency focused on work for those who can and ensuring proper support when they cannot.
Mr. Field:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate his Department has made of the cost to public funds arising from compensation to those who were misinformed about SERPS entitlement, other than the cost of postponing the change to surviving spouses entitlement to SERPS. [117104]
Mr. Rooker:
It is not possible to estimate with confidence how many people will apply successfully to the Inherited SERPS scheme and therefore no estimate has been made of the cost to the National Insurance fund. I refer my right hon. Friend to the estimates made by the National Audit Office in the recently published report.
Mr. Field:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many families have been in receipt of (a) Family Credit but not the Working Families Tax Credit, (b) Working Families Tax Credit but not Family Credit and (c) Family Credit and Working Families Tax Credit for each month since February 1999. [117105]
Angela Eagle:
Family Credit was replaced with Working Families Tax Credit from 5 October 1999.
| Month | Family Credit | WFTC | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 1999 | 789 | -- | 789 |
| March 1999 | 792 | -- | 792 |
| April 1999 | 793 | -- | 793 |
| May 1999 | 791 | -- | 791 |
| June 1999 | 801 | -- | 801 |
| July 1999 | 797 | -- | 797 |
| August 1999 | 784 | -- | 784 |
| September 1999 | 758 | -- | 758 |
| October 1999 | 625 | 253 | 878 |
| November 1999 | 464 | 466 | 930 |
| December 1999 | 365 | 566 | 931 |
| January 2000 | 249 | 701 | 950 |
| February 2000 | 109 | 849 | 958 |
Notes:
1. These figures, and in particular the WFTC figure for February, exclude awards made after February and backdated.
2. Figures are for Great Britain only.
3. Sample size 5 per cent., therefore subject to sampling error.
4. Figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand.
Source:
Family Credit/Working Families' Tax Credit 5 per cent. sample of awards.
Departmental Properties
Mr. Don Foster:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what (a) number and (b) percentage of properties in his charge are empty; and what steps are
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being taken by his Department to reduce the numbers of such properties. [116922]
Mr. Rooker:
In early 1998, all of the Department's properties were transferred to the private sector under two separate Private Finance Initiative contracts. We no longer hold or own any property. Instead, serviced accommodation is purchased from our two private sector partners, Trillium plc and the Newcastle Estate Partnership.
The deal that we negotiated with Trillium, the PRIME contractor, allowed us to hand back all of our "surplus" space, in both wholly and partly occupied buildings. On 1 April 1998, 134,991 sq m of vacant space transferred to Trillium so that there is now no continuing cost to the Department. The Department also has the flexibility to vacate and hand back further space over the period of the contract, at nil cost.
As a result of the PRIME contract there are now no vacant properties still being paid for by the Department.
Mr. Burstow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will lay the necessary regulations to amend the standard rate for income support mortgage interest payments. [117038]
Mr. Bayley:
Regulations were laid before Parliament on 24 March 2000.
Mr. Burstow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much it would have cost his Department if he had amended the standard rate for paying mortgage interest in January when the January rate of 6.29 per cent. was more than the 0.25 per cent. point change required to trigger a change. [117028]
Mr. Bayley:
The Office for National Statistics informed the Department on 8 March 2000 that a change in the standard interest rate had been triggered. Regulations were laid on 24 March 2000 and will come into force on 16 April 2000. There was no delay.
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