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Minimum Income Guarantee
38. Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the take-up of the Minimum Income Guarantee. [142148]
Mr. Rooker: I refer my hon. Friend to my earlier response to our hon. Friend the Member for Newport, West (Mr. Flynn), Official Report, column 8.
Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what his estimate is of the (a) number and (b) proportion of senior citizens in the Don Valley constituency qualifying for the minimum income guarantee; and how many have (i) submitted, (ii) applied for and (iii) already received this benefit. [142053]
Mr. Rooker: There are 2,200 pensioners receiving the Minimum Income Guarantee in the Don Valley.
Information about how many senior citizens have submitted or applied for the Minimum Income Guarantee is not available.
- Notes:
- 1. Figures are based on a 5 per cent. sample and are therefore subject to a degree of sampling error.
- 2. Pensioners are defined as where the claimant, and/or partner are aged 60 or over.
- 3. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.
- Source:
- Income Support Quarterly Statistical Enquiries, August 2000
18 Dec 2000 : Column: 78W
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will use television and radio advertisements to urge those entitled to the Minimum Income Guarantee to apply for it. [142581]
Mr. Rooker: The Minimum Income Guarantee take-up campaign included a national television advertising campaign.
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the principal reasons for the failure of applications for the Minimum Income Guarantee from those prompted to apply by the take-up campaign. [142582]
Mr. Rooker: The main reasons to date why those that applied for the Minimum Income Guarantee were unsuccessful are too much income or too much capital. Changes in income and capital limits take effect in April 2001.
Mr. Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of advertising in increasing the level of uptake for the Minimum Income Guarantee (a) nationally and (b) in Scotland. [143168]
Mr. Rooker: The full effect of the Minimum Income Guarantee take-up will not be known until it comes to a conclusion. There are thousands more claims in the pipeline, and the effects of the last stage of the campaign will impact on claims processed up to January next year.
Area Benefit Reviews
Mr. Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he plans to publish area benefit reviews every six months. [142556]
Mr. Rooker: The Department will be publishing headline figures on fraud and error in Income Support and Jobseeker's Allowance every six months, to cover October to September and April to March periods.
More detailed annual reports covering the financial year will also be published. These will also cover both ABR and QS results in full.
The publication of all of these reports will follow National Statistics guidelines and publication will be pre-announced via the Office for National Statistics.
Pensioners
Mr. Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the average income levels for pensioner households for each English region for (a) the latest date for which figures are available and (b) each of the last four years. [142302]
Mr. Rooker [holding answer 14 December 2000]: The information is given in the tables. It should be noted that, due to the small sample sizes on which these estimates are based, year-on-year comparisons and comparisons between regions should be treated with extreme caution.
18 Dec 2000 : Column: 79W
| Incomes in £ per week at July 1998 prices | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Government office region | 1995-96 | 1996-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-99 |
| North East | 106 | 113 | 113 | 114 |
| North West and Merseyside | 110 | 114 | 113 | 116 |
| Yorkshire and Humber | 109 | 110 | 108 | 111 |
| East Midlands | 108 | 111 | 113 | 116 |
| West Midlands | 111 | 110 | 112 | 116 |
| Eastern | 112 | 113 | 119 | 118 |
| London | 123 | 127 | 130 | 129 |
| South East | 117 | 121 | 126 | 126 |
| South West | 111 | 121 | 117 | 116 |
| Incomes in £ per week at July 1998 prices | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Government office region | 1995-96 | 1996-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-99 |
| North East | 175 | 195 | 198 | 192 |
| North West and Merseyside | 191 | 207 | 207 | 211 |
| Yorkshire and Humber | 193 | 190 | 207 | 200 |
| East Midlands | 183 | 195 | 197 | 193 |
| West Midlands | 187 | 194 | 211 | 201 |
| Eastern | 203 | 217 | 215 | 216 |
| London | 206 | 216 | 217 | 245 |
| South East | 212 | 237 | 230 | 238 |
| South West | 201 | 223 | 209 | 228 |
Notes:
1. Estimates are based on small sample sizes and are subject to large margins of error. Therefore estimates should be treated with extreme caution. In particular, estimates will only give a very broad indication (if any) of trends over time. Likewise, comparisons between regions in any given year should also be treated with caution.
2. Estimates relate to the median net income of pensioner units within each region, in £ per week, at July 1998 prices.
3. Pensioner units are defined as single people over State Pension age (65 and over for men, 60 and over for women) and couples (married or cohabiting) where the man is over State Pension age.
Source:
Family Resources Surveys
Child Support Agency
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he has received notice of a pending legal challenge to the process by which the contract for the new computer system for the Child Support Agency was awarded. [143089]
Benefit Forms
Mr. Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what steps he plans to simplify benefit forms. [141814]
Angela Eagle: We are determined to ensure that all those entitled to claim a benefit can do so. The Department is currently developing a new Minimum Income Guarantee claim form. The lessons learned from that work will be extended to other benefits.
18 Dec 2000 : Column: 80W
McDermott International Ltd.
Mr. David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what representations he has received about the winding up of the occupational pension plan operated by the UK section of McDermott International Ltd. [143084]
Mr. Rooker: We have received representations from my hon. Friend in relation to the distribution of surplus of this occupational pension scheme.
Occupational Pension Plans
Mr. David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many occupational pension plans were wound up by employers where a surplus was recorded, for (a) 1990, (b) 1991, (c) 1992, (d) 1993, (e) 1994, (f) 1995, (g) 1996, (h) 1997, (i) 1998, (j) 1999 and (k) 2000 to date; and what was the amount of surplus retained by each employer. [143087]
Mr. Rooker: The information requested is not available.
IT Infrastructure
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security which consortium was responsible for his Department's IT infrastructure prior to 23 November 2000; how long that consortium had been so responsible; how much money had been paid to that consortium over the period; which projects started by that consortium are not to be carried on by the Arcway consortium; for what reasons the contract was withdrawn from the previous consortium; when hon. Members were first told that a change was being considered; and if he will make a statement. [143088]
Angela Eagle: Two separate service providers--ICL and Sema--were responsible for the Department's IT network infrastructure prior to 23 November 2000, under the terms of the Focus '95 contracts. These contracts were awarded for a period of five years and had a collective value of approximately £250 million. Work in progress started during this period is being taken forward by the BT-led consortium Arcway to ensure continuity of service.
The contract with Sema has subsequently expired and has not been renewed. On current plans the contract with ICL is due to expire May 2001. The contract awarded to the BT-led consortium Arcway, through competition, will enable the Department to move forward to a secure modernised IS/IT service.
Announcements were made in 1996--at the start of the Accord procurement for the next generation of the Department's IS/IT systems--and in 1999 when overarching contracts were awarded to three competing consortia.
18 Dec 2000 : Column: 81W
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