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Child Support Agency
19. Mr. Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many men have been required by the Child Support Agency to take a second blood test to determine the paternity of a child. [124965]
Angela Eagle: The CSA cannot require non-resident parents to take a blood test. In cases of disputed paternity, the CSA will offer a DNA test as a means of resolving the issue, but the alleged parent is not required to take the test. Under our child support reforms, alleged parents who refuse to take a DNA test will be presumed to be the parent of the child in question and child support action will follow.
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Community Orders
22. Mr. David Heath: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what safeguards he will introduce to ensure the welfare of dependants of individuals who have had benefit withdrawn for non-compliance with community orders. [124968]
Angela Eagle: Hardship payments will be available for people in vulnerable groups and others at risk of hardship who have had their Jobseeker's Allowance or Training Allowance withdrawn. Similar arrangements already exist for making hardship payments where Jobseeker's Allowance is withdrawn as a result of employment sanctions. Income Support will not be withdrawn altogether, but will be reduced by 40 per cent. or 20 per cent. of the single person's adult rate, subject to their circumstances; premiums for children, other members of the family, disability etc. are not affected. JSA hardship payments are calculated in a similar manner. All claimants entitled to Housing Benefit when sanctioned would continue to receive it.
Invalid Care Allowance
25. Mr. McWalter: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what proposals he has to up-rate the £50 earnings limit for those who claim Invalid Care Allowance. [124972]
Mr. Bayley: We have no plans to do so. However we understand the need to ensure that financial support for carers remains adequate. Our National Strategy committed us to keeping financial support for carers, including Invalid Care Allowance, under review and we will continue to do that.
Minimum Income Guarantee
26. Ms Rosie Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the progress of the campaign to increase take-up of the minimum income guarantee. [124973]
Mr. Bayley: Since the launch of the Minimum Income Guarantee Take-Up Campaign was announced at the end of March, there have already been around 50,000 calls to the tele-claim centre and 24,000 Minimum Income Guarantee claim packs have been sent to pensioners.
28. Mr. Pike: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many pensioners are in receipt of the minimum income guarantee in the North-West region. [124975]
Mr. Bayley: There are 226,000 pensioners receiving the minimum income guarantee in the North-West Government Office Region.
34. Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment he has made of the effect of the minimum income guarantee take-up campaign. [124982]
Mr. Bayley: The minimum income guarantee take-up campaign is central to our strategy for tackling pensioner poverty.
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what indicator he will use to judge the success of his Department's efforts to increase take-up of the minimum income guarantee. [124960]
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Mr. Bayley: We will carry out a comprehensive evaluation of the minimum income guarantee take-up campaign early next year.
Pensioners Tax Credit
29. Mr. Hope: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on proposals to develop a pensioners' tax credit. [124976]
Mr. Rooker: We believe that pensioners who have worked hard to provide for their own retirement should be rewarded rather than penalised. We intend to consult later in the year on proposals for a pensioner credit that will reward those who have succeeded in building up modest pensions or other savings.
Child Poverty
31. Mr. Pond: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what steps he is taking to alleviate poverty among children in lone parent families. [124978]
Angela Eagle: Children of lone parent families are benefiting from the additional £7 billion we are spending on tax and benefit measures to help all families with children.
The best route out of poverty is through work. The New Deal for Lone Parents, combined with other tax and benefit measures to make sure work pays, will mean more children get the best possible start in life. These measures are a major step in achieving the Government's commitment towards eradicating child poverty, and include:
- Child Benefit (CHB): 36 per cent. increase in rate for eldest child over the period 1997 to 2000. Further above inflation rise from April 2000--CHB now worth £15 pw for eldest child and £10 for subsequent children.
- Income-related benefits: under-11 allowance up by £4.70 from last October, and equalised with allowances for children aged 11-16 from April 2000. Support for children under 11 in the income-related benefits has gone up by over 50 per cent. in two years. From October 2000, the child allowance will rise again by £4.35, helping over 3 million children whose parents are on Income Support or Jobseeker's Allowance (Income Based).
- Income Support run-on: to be paid for the first two weeks of work to help lone parents make the transition from benefits to work.
- Earnings disregards: April 2001, the amount that lone parents on Income Support can earn before loosing part of their benefit increases from £15 to £20 per week.
- Sure Start Maternity Grant: April 2000, payments doubled to £200, and rise again this autumn to £300.
- Working Families Tax Credit: under-11 credit increased by £1.10 over and above indexation from April 2000. Credit for all children under 16 will rise by £4.35 from June 2000. Child maintenance is completely disregarded.
- Childcare Tax Credit: part of WFTC, 70 per cent. of child care costs up to a maximum of £100 for one child and £150 for two or more.
- Child Support Maintenance: reform legislation for child support currently before Parliament. New arrangements will allow lone parents on IS to keep up to £10 a week of any maintenance received.
- Child Tax Credit: to be introduced from April 2001, worth up to £442 a year.
19 Jun 2000 : Column: 82W
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list for (a) Great Britain and (b) each region, the number of children who live in households with income below half of the UK average, for each year since 1979. [126327]
Mr. Bayley: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is contained in the Department's Household Below Average Income series which is available in the Library.
Winter Fuel Payments
32. Mr. Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many pensioners are eligible for winter fuel allowance. [124980]
Angela Eagle: Last winter around 10 million pensioners received a winter fuel payment. As a result of extending the scheme to eligible households containing someone aged 60 or over, the number of people who can benefit will increase by up to 1.5 million. We will also make backdated payments to up to 1.9 million people from the start of the scheme in the 1997-98 winter.
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 13 June 2000, Official Report, columns 608-09W, for what reason the date of birth of a person as recorded on the NIRS2 computer system is not regarded as sufficient proof of age for purposes of a claim for a winter fuel payment. [126574]
Angela Eagle: The Departmental Central Index (DCI) has information about all people who have a National Insurance number.
The NIRS computer system is not used directly by Benefits Agency (BA) staff for Winter Fuel purposes. Any information held on the NIRS system is, however, automatically transferred to DCI, and so once this transfer has taken place the information available to Benefit Agency staff on DCI will be the same as that held on NIRS.
Where the date of birth held on DCI has been verified, then this is used as proof of age when considering entitlement to a Winter Fuel Payment (WFP).
There are a considerable number of records on DCI where although the date of birth is recorded, it is not verified. In these instances it will be necessary for the Agency to obtain verification of the date of birth from the person applying for a WFP.
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