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Minimum Income Guarantee
Mr. Swinney: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the cost of increasing the rate of the basic state pension to the level of the minimum income guarantee in (a) the UK and (b) Scotland in each of the next five years. [146088]
Mr. Rooker [holding answer 18 January 2001]: The information is in the table.
| Great Britain | Scotland | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross | Net | Gross | Net | |
| 2001-02 | 8.2 | 6.3 | 0.7 | 0.5 |
| 2002-03 | 8.6 | 6.7 | 0.8 | 0.6 |
| 2003-04 | 9.3 | 7.3 | 0.8 | 0.6 |
| 2004-05 | 10.2 | 8.1 | 0.9 | 0.7 |
| 2005-06 | 11.1 | 8.8 | 1 | 0.7 |
Notes:
1. Costs are given in £ billion to the nearest £0.1 billion in constant 2000-01 prices.
2. Gross costs are estimated by GAD.
3. Net costs are given after income related benefit savings as estimated by the Policy Simulation Model.
4. Costs for Northern Ireland are not included.
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many retired pensioners living in the Tooting constituency qualify for the minimum income guarantee. [146497]
Mr. Rooker: I refer my hon. Friend to the Written Answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Knowsley, South (Mr. O'Hara) on 18 January 2001, Official Report, column 386W.
23 Jan 2001 : Column: 507W
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when the minimum income guarantee take-up campaign will come to an end; and when the final results will be made public. [146350]
Mr. Rooker: We expect to have the results form the 2000 campaign in the spring.
Industrial Injuries
Mr. Nicholls: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what the average duration in each of the last three years was of the (a) industrial injuries disablement benefit tribunal cases and (b) appeals against tribunal decisions; and if he will make a statement on trends in the length of cases in years. [145753]
Mr. Bayley: The information is not available.
Stakeholder Review
Mr. Caplin: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what changes he proposes to make to the stakeholder pensions regulations. [147207]
Mr. Rooker: The Stakeholder Pension Schemes (Amendment) Regulations 2001 (SI2001/104) have been laid today. Copies are available in the usual way and the regulations will also be available on the internet at www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk. The regulations include changes needed to allow certain types of scheme to register with the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority. A further set of amendments to the Stakeholder Pension Schemes Regulations 2000 will follow shortly.
Pension Rights (Part-time Workers)
Mr. David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the time scale for the House of Lords judgment on the back-dating of part-time workers' pension rights. [146897]
Mr. Rooker: The House of Lords considered the case relating to time limits for granting retrospective membership of occupational pension schemes on 24 July 2000. However, we do not know the precise date when their judgment will be handed down.
Income Support
Mr. Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if levels of Income Support limits for people in care homes will be uprated in line with increased Department of Health limits for charges. [146990]
Mr. Bayley: No. Local authority support is not relevant for the purposes of setting Income Support (IS) entitlement. From 2002, those cases which remain on IS will transfer to local authority responsibility.
Mr. Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many claimants at the latest available date have preferred rights under the Income Support scheme; and if this trial can be broken down on a (a) regional and (b) constituency basis. [145694]
Mr. Bayley [holding answer 16 January 2001]: Information on Income Support claimants in residential care or nursing homes with "Preserved Rights" by Government Office Region is in the table.
23 Jan 2001 : Column: 508W
It is not possible to quote figures for Preserved Rights at constituency level from the 5 per cent. sample as the numbers concerned are too small.
| Government Office Region | Number of claimants |
|---|---|
| All Great Britain | 71.9 |
| North East | 2.7 |
| North West | 9.6 |
| Yorkshire and Humberside | 6.7 |
| East Midlands | 5.1 |
| West Midlands | 5.7 |
| East | 5.0 |
| London | 4.8 |
| South East | 13.4 |
| South West | 10.7 |
| Wales | 3.3 |
| Scotland | 4.9 |
Notes:
1. Government Office Region figures are based on a 5 per cent. sample and are therefore subject to a degree of sampling error.
2. Government Office Region figures are rounded to the nearest hundred and are expressed in thousands. Total may not sum due to rounding Constituency data are rounded to the nearest five cases.
Source:
Income Support Quarterly Statistical Enquiry, August 2000 which is a point-in-time survey based on a 5 per cent. sample of Income Support claimants.
Motability
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much funding the Government provided to Motability in each year since it was founded, broken down into (a) the equipment fund, (b) the administration fund and (c) any other payments. [146346]
Mr. Bayley: The information is as follows:
| Mobility equipment fund/drivers fund | Administration | Other | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977-78 | -- | 12 | -- |
| 1978-79 | -- | 168 | -- |
| 1979-80 | -- | 229 | -- |
| 1980-81 | -- | 290 | -- |
| 1981-82 | -- | 310 | -- |
| 1982-83 | -- | 333 | -- |
| 1983-84 | -- | 336 | -- |
| 1984-85 | -- | 348 | -- |
| 1985-86 | -- | 517 | -- |
| 1986-87 | -- | 660 | -- |
| 1987-88 | -- | 682 | -- |
| 1988-89 | -- | 780 | -- |
| 1989-90 | -- | 516 | (3)5,000 |
| 1990-91 | -- | 1,112 | -- |
| 1991-92 | 1,000 | 1,797 | -- |
| 1992-93 | 1,000 | 1,835 | -- |
| 1993-94 | 2,000 | 2,085 | -- |
| 1994-95 | 3,000 | 3,940 | -- |
| 1995-96 | 3,000 | 4,069 | -- |
| 1996-97 | 3,000 | 4,488 | -- |
| 1997-98 | 3,000 | 4,646 | -- |
| 1998-99 | 3,000 | 4,646 | -- |
| 1999-2000 | 4,000 | 3,897 | -- |
| 2000-01 | 5,700 | 2,200 | -- |
(3) Interest-free loan to establish the Tenth Anniversary Trust
23 Jan 2001 : Column: 509W
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what extra resources he will make available to Motability as a result of the extension of higher rate mobility to three and four-year-olds. [146358]
Mr. Bayley: About 6,000 children are estimated to gain from the extension of the higher rate Motability component to three and four-year-olds at annual cost of £15 million. They will be able to take the cash benefit or use it to pay for a standard vehicle through the Motability main scheme. Those that require an adapted vehicle will be able to make application to the Motability Equipment Fund (MEF), administered on behalf of the Government by Motability.
From a base of £2 million per annum, an additional £2.4 million was made available to the MEF from 2000-01, and from 2001-02 an extra £1 million per annum is being provided which, with additional contributions from Motability's Tenth Anniversary Trust, is expected to meet overall demand over the next three years.
Pensioner Poverty
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many (a) male and (b) female pensioners living in poverty there were, broken down by five-year age group, in the latest year for which figures are available. [146313]
Mr. Rooker: There is no single measure of poverty. The annual "Opportunity for All" reports include a range of indicators we are working to.
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