Sessional Returns Session 1998-99 - Contents


10. SELECT COMMITTEES

33. Social Security

The Committee was nominated on 14 July 1997.
It had 11 Members and held 39 meetings. This included 7 meetings held concurrently with the Education and Employment Committee (abbreviated to 'CM' in the attendance table below).


Members
Meetings
attended

Kirkwood, Mr Archy (Chairman)
36 (including 6 CM)
Buck, Ms Karen
33 (including 5 CM)
Coaker, Mr Vernon (discharged, 1.2.99)
2
Dismore, Mr Andrew
36 (including 7 CM)
Flight, Mr Howard (discharged, 26.7.99)
11 (including 1CM)
Foster, Mr Michael Jabez (Hastings and Rye) (discharged, 25.1.99)
0
Humble, Mrs Joan
28 (including 3 CM)
Kirkbride, Miss Julie
18 (including 1 CM)
Leigh, Mr Edward
28 (including 2 CM)
Mountford, Kali
16 (including 3 CM
Naysmith, Dr Doug (added, 25.1.99)
32 (including 7 CM)
Pond, Mr Chris
36 (including 6 CM)
Shipley, Ms Debra (added, 1.2.99)
20 (including 4 CM)
Swayne, Mr Desmond (added, 26.7.99)
5

Overall attendance:
70.2%
Number of Members added:
3
Number of Members discharged:
3
Turnover of membership during the Session:
27.3 %

Staff
Committee Clerk: Mr Liam Laurence Smyth, Deputy Principal Clerk (Senior Structure Band 2)
Second Clerk: Mr Peter Shelley, Assistant Clerk (Band A3).
Committee Specialist: Ms Janet Allbeson (Band B1).
Committee Assistant: Mrs Diane Nelson, Higher Executive Officer (Band B2).
Secretary: Miss Mandy Sullivan, Secretary (Band D1).

Specialist Advisers during the Session
Professor Jonathan Bradshaw, Ms Marilyn Howard, Mr Michael O'Higgins, and Mr David Webster.

Witnesses
Oral evidence was given during the Session by the following categories of witnesses:
    Number of appearances by:
        Cabinet Ministers 1
        Other Ministers, of which 2 were by a Member of the House of Lords 5
    Number of appearances by officials from, or representatives of:
        Department of Social Security 9
        other departments 4
        comprising: Treasury 1
        Inland Revenue 1
        Department for Education and Employment 2
        executive agencies 9
        comprising: Benefits Agency 1
        War Pensions Agency 2
        Information Technology Services Agency 3
        Child Support Agency 2
        Employment Service (an agency of the Department for Education and Employment) 1
        public bodies and non-Ministerial departments 6
        comprising: Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration 1
        Independent Case Examiner for the Child Support Agency 2
        Government Actuary's Department 3
    Members of Parliament 2
    Appearances by other witnesses 78

Overseas Visits

DateDestination
Members
Staff
Purpose
Cost
9-11.12.98
Netherlands
6
3
Inquiries into the modernisation of the Welfare State
£5,929.84
24-29.10.99
Norway/Finland
5
3
Inquiry into the future of The Contributory Principle
£12,356.25(estimated outturn)

Visits to European Institutions

None

UK Visits

Date
Destination
Members
Staff
Purpose
Cost
10.3.99
Glasgow
6
3
Visit toWISE project and Glasgow Benefits Centre
£2,639.06
13.4.99
Blackpool
1*
2
Visit to the War Pensions Agency and Information Technology Services Agency
£428.50
28.4.99
Loughborough
4
2
Visit to the Centre for Research in Social Policy
£566.40
12.5.99
Lewisham
7
3
Inquiries into the modernisation of the Welfare State
£58.92
19.5.99
Camden
5
3
Inquiries into the modernisation of the Welfare State
£6.80
24-25.5.99Yorkshire
2*
3A
Gathering information on Single Work-focussed Gateway Pilots
£1,161.09

*Travel in a representative capacity
 A Includes 1 specialist adviser

Reports and Minutes of Evidence  

Title
HC No.
(1998-99)
Date of
publication
No. of
pages
Sale price
Government
reply
First Report: Tax and Benefits: Implementation of Tax Credits
29
2.12.98
175
£18.00
Received 22.1.99 published as Second Special Report, Session 1998-99
Second Report: Family Credit Fraud
217
4.2.99
30
£7.00
Not required
Third Report: Disability Living Allowance
63
10.2.99
38
£8.00
Cm 4307, 30.3.99
Fourth Report: Child Benefit
114
4.3.99
135
£15.00
Not required
Fifth Report: Pension Sharing on Divorce: Parts III and IV of the Welfare Reform and Pensions Bill
304
15.3.99
56
£9.70
Not required
Sixth Report: War Pensions Agency Business Plan 1999-2000
377
23.6.99
74
£11.50
Received 26.7.99published as FourthSpecial Report, Session 1998-99
Seventh Report: The ONE Service Pilots
412
27.7.99
11
£3.40
Received 5.10.99 published as Fifth Special Report, Session 1998-99
Eighth Report: The Modernisation of Social Security Appeals
581
2.11.99
82
£11.50
Reply awaited
Ninth Report: Social Security Implications of Parental Leave
543
2.11.99
197
19.50
Reply awaited
Tenth Report: The 1999 Child Support White Paper
798
10.11.99
291
£20.50
Cm 4536, 30.11.99
First Special Report: Government Response to Fifth Report from the Committee, Session 1997-98, Pensions on Divorce
146
14.11.98
10
£3.40
Not applicable
Second Special Report: Government Response to First Report from the Committee, Tax and Benefits: Implementation of Tax Credits
176
26.1.99
6
£2.25
Not applicable
Third Special Report: Unauthorised Receipt of Draft Report
482
26.5.99
18
£4.75
Not applicable
Fourth Special Report: Government Response to Sixth Report from the Committee, War Pensions Agency Business Plan 1999/2000
793
28.7.99
13
£2.25
Not applicable
Fifth Special Report: Government Response to Sixth Report from the Education and Employment Committee and Seventh Report from the Social Security Committee, The ONE Service Pilots
855
28.10.99
19
£4.75
Not applicable
Minutes of Evidence: Information Technology Services Agency
397-i
19.5.99
30
£7.00
Not applicable
Minutes of Evidence: The Contributory Principle
485-i
6.7.99
32
£8.00
Not applicable
Minutes of Evidence: The Contributory Principle
485-ii
28.7.99
41
£8.80
Not applicable
Minutes of Evidence: The Contributory Principle
485-iii
28.7.99
46
£8.00
Not applicable
Minutes of Evidence: The Contributory Principle
485-iv
9.8.99
16
£4.75
Not applicable
Minutes of Evidence: The Contributory Principle
485-v
1.12.99
21
£5.50
Not applicable
Minutes of Evidence: The Contributory Principle
485-vi
9.12.99
22
£4.75
Not applicable
Part of Minutes of Evidence from Session 1997-98: DSS Departmental Report 1998
614
14.7.99
7
£3.40
Not applicable
DSS Departmental Annual Report 1999
749-i
2.9.99
16
£4.75
Not applicable

Minutes of Proceedings
The Minutes of Proceedings of the Committee for Session 1997-98 were published on 7.12.98 as HC 1177, Session 1997-98. The Minutes of Proceedings of the Committee for Session 1998-99 will be published as HC 916, Session 1998-99.

Divisions

Date
Subject
25.11.98Six, amendments proposed to Chairman's draft Report on Tax and Benefits: Implementation of Tax Credits.
25.11.98One, on Question, That the Report be the First Report of the Committee to the House.
3.3.99Seven, on amendments proposed to Chairman's draft Report on Child Benefit.
26.5.99Two, on amendments proposed to Chairman's draft Report on Unauthorised Receipt of Draft Report.
20.10.99Three, on amendments proposed to Chairman's draft Report on the 1999 Child Support White Paper.
3.11.99Five, on amendments proposed to Chairman's draft Report on the 1999 Child Support White Paper.

Debates

The following Reports were referred to on the Order Paper as being relevant to debates in the House:

    First Report, 1998-99, Tax and Benefits: Implementation of Tax Credits, on the Second Reading of the Tax Credits Bill, 26.1.99.

    Fifth Report, 1997-98, Pensions on Divorce, on the Second Reading of the Welfare Reform and Pensions Bill, 23.2.99.

    Sixth Report, 1998-99, War Pensions Agency Business Plan 1999/2000, on a Government Motion for the Adjournment of the House (Armed Forces Personnel), 1.7.99.

    Ninth Report, 1998-99, Social Security Implications of Parental Leave, on a Government Motion for the Adjournment of the House (Family Friendly Employment Policies), 5.11.99.

Evidence
Oral evidence was taken at 23 of the Committee's 39 meetings. On none of these occasions was evidence taken partly or wholly in private.

Inquiry
No. of oral evidence sessions
No. of memoranda received
No. of memoranda received from
No. of memoranda published
No. of memoranda made available in the Record Office for public use and placed in the Library
       Govt. Departments executive agencies public bodies†     
Disability Living Allowance
1
3
2
0
0
2
1
Child Benefit
2
20
2
0
0
19
0
War Pensions Agency Business Plan 1999-2000
1
14
1
3
0
13
1
Information Technology Services Agency
1
2
0
2
0
2
0
The Contributory Principle
6*
34
2
0
0
9
0
The ONE Service Pilots
5**
     
  
  
    
Social Security Implications of Parental Leave
2
38
2
0
0
34
2
The Modernisation of Social Security Appeals
1
11
2
0
0
11
0
Pensions on Divorce: Parts III and IV of the Welfare Reform and Pensions Bill
0
21
0
0
0
20
1
Child Support
4
41***
4
1
0
30
4
Miscellaneous
0
19
8
0
0
2
5
Total
23
203
23
6
0
142
14

†Includes non-Ministerial Departments
*The Committee did not complete its inquiry on this subject in Session 1998-99; these figures are therefore incomplete
**Joint inquiry conducted with Employment Sub-committee of the Education and Employment Committee. See under that committee for details of memoranda submitted.
***The Committee also received copies of 19 papers submitted to the Department of Social Security in response to the Green Paper " Children First: a new approach to child support" (Cm4349).


 
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Prepared 21 December 1999