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Personal Capacity Assessment

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on progress with the pilots for Personal Capacity Assessment. [118242]

Mr. Bayley: The Personal Capability Assessment replaced the All Work Test on 3 April. From that date, and initially only for people in the 12 ONE pilot areas, the examining doctor will produce not only a report on the claimant's incapacity, to inform the decision on benefit entitlement, but also a separate "capability report" with advice on what the person can do despite their medical

10 Apr 2000 : Column: 24W

condition and about assistance, such as workplace adaptations, that may enable them to work. These reports will be used by Personal Advisers to help claimants who want to plan a return to work. The new process is still at a very early stage but some feedback is available from the initial voluntary pilots that began last December, where claimants who wished to participate had a Capability Report prepared. The early indications are that the information in the reports is helpful to claimants and their Personal Advisers.

Family Statistics

Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many adults living in poverty are (a) unmarried mothers and (b) divorced women. [117569]

Mr. Bayley: Poverty is a multi-dimensional problem which cannot be defined solely on the basis of a particular level of income. One indicator which may be used, however, is whether the income of the household is below 60 per cent. of median. The following table provides this information for unmarried and divorced women.

Number of unmarried mothers and divorced women living in households below 60 per cent. of median income, 1997-98Million

	Before housing costs	After housing costs
Unmarried mothers	0.3	0.5
Divorced women with children	0.2	0.3
Divorced women without children	0.1	0.2

Notes:

1. All estimates are subject to sampling error or response biases.

2. Estimates of household income are presented both before and after housing costs in line with HBAI conventions.

Source:

Households Below Average Income (HBAI). Figures are drawn from the Family Resources Survey.

We are determined to tackle poverty and its causes. Work is the best route out of poverty. That is why we have introduced Welfare to Work programmes such as the ONE pilots and New Deals to advise all groups of working age people, including unmarried mothers and divorced women, about the options available to them and to help them into work. And through the introduction of the National Minimum Wage and tax and benefit reforms we are making sure that work pays. These programmes are working, producing results. For example, up to December 1999, 103,000 lone parents had volunteered to participate in the New Deal for Lone Parents and 35,000 had found work.

Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many divorced women without dependent children were in receipt of social security benefits in (a) 1970, (b) 1980 and (c) 1999; and what was the cost of such benefits in each of those years. [117532]

Angela Eagle: The information is not available.

The Department does not routinely collect information on the marital status of benefit recipients.

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Lawyers

Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many lawyers are employed by his Department; and how many were employed in 1995. [117808]

Mr. Rooker: The information is not available in the format requested as records are held for two years only. Such information as is available is as follows.

As at 1 April 2000, this Department employed 111 Lawyers and in addition has seven Legal Trainees.

Minimum Income Guarantee

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he plans to use local authority Housing Benefit data in order to identify pensioners who should receive letters as part of his Minimum Income Guarantee take-up campaign. [117871]

Mr. Bayley: As part of the Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) take-up campaign we will be writing to around two million pensioners whom our records suggest are most likely to have underlying entitlement. This targeted group will be pensioners who our pension records suggest have incomes below the MIG level. We will also be using information from other available sources including Housing Benefit data.

Stakeholder Pensions

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his oral statement of 27 March 2000, Official Report, column 47, concerning the number of people who will benefit from stakeholder pensions, if he will set out the basis for the figure of five million. [118223]

Mr. Rooker: Our estimate of the target group of five million people for stakeholder pension schemes is based on the number of people earning between around £10,000 and £20,000 who are not in an occupational pension scheme. Some of those initially in this group will have personal pensions and will therefore be unlikely to take up stakeholder pensions when they are first introduced. But the majority are making no personal contributions to a private pension scheme.

People outside this target group will also benefit from stakeholder pension schemes. We expect that some people on higher earnings will want to join a stakeholder scheme and our decision to relax the rules linking earnings and pension contributions will mean that, for example, carers, women taking breaks from work, students and children will also be able to contribute.

The number of people actually taking out a stakeholder pension scheme will depend on how stakeholder and other pensions are marketed by providers, and on individual choices by savers.

Organophosphates

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many claims have been allowed for Disability Living Allowance to persons suffering from the toxic effects of the use of organophosphates in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [118400]

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Mr. Bayley: This information is not available. Entitlement to Disability Living Allowance is based on the effects of disability on a person's care and mobility needs. The Department does not seek information about what has caused claimants' disabilities.

Minimum Wage

Mr. Swinney: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the impact on benefit payments in the next financial year of a single minimum wage for all age groups of (a) £4.00 per hour, (b) £4.20 per hour and (c) £4.50 per hour. [108674]

Angela Eagle [pursuant to her reply, 8 February 2000, c. 131W]: The information is in the table.

Estimated savings in 2000-01 on benefit payments of a National Minimum Wage of £4.00, £4.20 and £4.50£ million

	£4.00	£4.20	£4.50
Income Support/JSA (IB)	-30	-50	-70
Housing Benefit	-50	-70	-100
Council Tax Benefit	-10	-15	-20
Total	-90	-135	-195

Notes:

1. Estimates based on 1996-97 Family Resources Survey data, uprated to 2000-01 prices and benefit rates.

2. Estimates rounded to the nearest £5 million. Totals may not sum due to rounding.

3. Estimates assume no secondary effects on employment or wages.

Housing Benefit

Mr. Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the cost of the Debt Accounting and Management System for Housing Benefit; and when was the installation cancelled. [118208]

Angela Eagle: Administration of benefits and recovery of overpayments are a matter for the Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency, Peter Mathison. He will write to my right hon. Friend.

Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Frank Field, dated 7 April 2000:

The Secretary of State has asked me to respond to your recent question asking what was the cost of the Debt Accounting and Management System for housing benefit; and when the installation was cancelled.
The Debt Accounting and Management System (DAMS) was to provide integrated debt management and accounting capability for the Benefits Agency's programme debt. Housing Benefit is administered by local authorities and therefore was not part of the DAMS development.

Correspondence

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when the hon. Member for Cunninghame, South will receive a reply to his letter of 8 November 1999 (Reference: C/ST/5638/RB/BHD). [117820]

Angela Eagle: A reply was sent on 3 December 1999.

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Hospital Downrating

Mr. David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people have had their state pensions reduced as a result of hospital downrating; and what the total benefit savings were in (i) 1979, (ii) 1984, (iii) 1989, (iv) 1994 and (v) 1999. [117872]

Mr. Rooker: Information is not available in the form requested. Such information as is available is in the table.

It is estimated that in 1999, the total reduction in benefit as a result of downrating was £60 million (to nearest £10 million). Figures for the earlier years are not available.

The number of people whose state pensions were reduced by hospital downrating on a specific date during each of the requested yearsThousand

Date	All cases
30 November 1979	90
31 March 1984	85
31 March 1989	66
31 March 1994	39
31 March 1999	32

Notes:

1. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand

2. The benefit savings estimate assumes a constant stock of pensioner in-patients throughout the year

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