| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
SOCIAL SECURITY
Work-focused Interviews
Kali Mountford: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what proposals he has to extend the use of work-focused interviews for working age claimants to benefits. [160873]
Mr. Darling: My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education and Employment and I are establishing, later this year, Jobcentre Plus, an Agency for people of working age. This will bring together labour market and benefit services for people of working age and enable us to provide a more integrated approach for our customers.
As we announced on 14 March this year, as the first stage in the launch of Jobcentre Plus, we will be introducing around 50 Pathfinder offices. Additionally, we will be introducing work-focused interviews for everyone of working age making a claim to benefit in around a further 40 offices to the same time scale. A provisional list of the locations in which these offices are based is set out in the table. People of working age making a claim for benefit in these offices will be required
9 May 2001 : Column: 178W
to participate in a work-focused interview as an integral part of the benefit claims process and will be offered specialist support to help them into work. I will shortly by laying regulations under the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999 for this purpose.
- Jobcentre Plus Work Focused Interview Sites
- City of Aberdeen
- Livingston
- Bridgend
- Telford
- Wallasey
- Manchester Openshaw
- City of Derby
- Gateshead
- Essex.
Pensioners
Kali Mountford: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his written answer to the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field) on 15 March 2001, Official Report, column 716W, if he will update his estimates of the number of pensioner units with an income of (a) under £50, (b) £50 to £99, (c) £100 to £149, (d) £150 to £199, (e) £200 to £210, (f) £211 to £221 and (g) £221 and above who are in receipt of (i) Housing Benefit, (ii) Council Tax Benefit, (iii) Council Tax Benefit and Housing Benefit and (iv) one or more of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit. [160872]
Mr. Rooker: The information is in the tables.
9 May 2001 : Column: 179W
| Total income | Housing Benefit for Great Britain | Council Tax Benefit for Great Britain | Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit for Great Britain | Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Benefit for Great Britain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Cases | 1,769,000 | 2,542,000 | 1,640,000 | 2,670,000 |
| Under £50 | 162,000 | 204,000 | 150,000 | 220,000 |
| £50-£99 | 720,000 | 1,042,000 | 690,000 | 1,070,000 |
| £100-£149 | 628,000 | 895,000 | 570,000 | 960,000 |
| £150-£199 | 187,000 | 288,000 | 170,000 | 300,000 |
| £200-£210 | 19,000 | 30,000 | 20,000 | 30,000 |
| £211-£220 | 12,000 | 21,000 | 10,000 | 20,000 |
| £221 and above | 40,000 | 62,000 | 40,000 | 70,000 |
| Total income | Housing Benefit for Great Britain | Council Tax Benefit for Great Britain | Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit for Great Britain | Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Benefit for Great Britain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All cases | 1,769,000 | 2,542,000 | 1,640,000 | 2,670,000 |
| Under £50 | 36,000 | 79,000 | 30,000 | 90,000 |
| £50-£99 | 130,000 | 438,000 | 120,000 | 450,000 |
| £100-£149 | 821,000 | 1,097,000 | 760,000 | 1,150,000 |
| £150-£199 | 536,000 | 642,000 | 500,000 | 680,000 |
| £200-£210 | 61,000 | 69,000 | 60,000 | 70,000 |
| £211-£220 | 42,000 | 50,000 | 40,000 | 50,000 |
| £221 and above | 142,000 | 167,000 | 130,000 | 180,000 |
Notes:
1. All income that has been used is the income prior to any subtraction of disregards, except for earned income, which is all net income.
2. The data refer to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple.
3. The figures for cases in receipt of Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit have been rounded to the nearest thousand, however due to the estimation procedure to produce the figures for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit, or Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Benefit, these figures need to be rounded to the nearest ten thousand due to the collection procedures in Scotland.
4. Pensioners have been identified by either the claimant or the partner being aged 60 and over.
5. In the first table, the bands of income have been reached by looking at the total income excluding any housing benefit or council tax benefit but including income assumed from any savings.
6. In the second table, the bands of income have been reached by looking at the total income including any housing benefit or council tax benefit as well as any income assumed from any savings.
7. The totals may not sum due to rounding.
Source:
Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information System, Annual 1 per cent. sample, taken in May 1999.
Mr. Blizzard: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much additional expenditure on pensioners there has been since May 1997 over and above the cost of annually uprating the state pension in line with prices. [160640]
Mr. Rooker: Including forecast expenditure for the current year, the Government will have spent an additional £8.9 billion on new measures over and above inflation increases in the state pension since April 1997.
9 May 2001 : Column: 180W
Roland Riggs
Mr. Colman: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when the hon. Member for Putney will receive a reply to his letter of 17 April about the reclaiming of benefit from the war disablement pension of his constituent, Mr. Roland Riggs. [160527]
Mr. Bayley: An initial reply was sent on 8 May 2001 to my hon. Friend's letter of 17 April 2001, on behalf of Mr. Roland Riggs, and I expect to follow this up with a full reply as soon as possible.
Mrs. Mary McCreadie Harrison
Mr. Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when he will reply to the letter of 29 March, from Mrs. Mary McCreadie Harrison, a constituent, concerning her pension entitlement. [160789]
Mr. Rooker: A reply was issued on 4 May 2001.
Child Support Agency
Ms Drown: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what the (a) earliest and (b) latest date is on which the new CSA rules will be applied to existing CSA cases; and if he will make a statement on how the new CSA arrangements will be phased in for existing cases. [160683]
Angela Eagle: The new child support scheme will be introduced for new cases by April 2002. Existing cases will be moved on to the new scheme when it is seen to be working well and maintenance is being paid regularly and reliably to new cases.
To give parents who have existing child support assessments time to adjust to the new amounts, child support liability will be phased over a period of five years and in stages of £2.50, £5 or £10, depending on the non-resident parent's net weekly income.
ENVIRONMENT, TRANSPORT AND THE REGIONS
GM Crops
Mrs. Lawrence: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what consultations were held with (a) the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, (b) the Wild Life Trust West Wales, (c) Pembrokeshire county council and (d) the National Assembly for Wales on environmental sensitivity, prior to a decision being made to allow genetically modified farm scale trials to go ahead at Mathry, Pembrokeshire. [157570]
Mr. Meacher [holding answer 9 April 2001]: No consultations on environmental sensitivity were held with the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, the Wild Life Trust West Wales, Pembrokeshire county council or the National Assembly for Wales, prior to a decision being made to propose genetically modified farm scale evaluations at Mathry, Pembrokeshire.
The genetically modified (GM) maize to be grown at Mathry has European Union wide approval for unrestricted cultivation. The fields at Mathry were offered by Aventis CropScience on behalf of the industry body SCIMAC and selected by the research consortium
9 May 2001 : Column: 181W
undertaking the evaluations in accordance with the criteria set by the independent committee of scientists overseeing the Farm Scale Evaluations. It is not a decision Ministers take. As soon as DETR officials were notified of the site locations by SCIMAC they informed National Assembly officials about the three sites in Wales. DETR issued a press release on 3 April listing the proposed sites and on the same day also wrote to Pembrokeshire county council and the local community council to inform them of the sites and to provide information about the Farm Scale Evaluation programme. This received extensive local and Welsh media coverage. DETR officials and experts were then available to discuss any environmental concerns arising from the proposed evaluation in Mathry.
Mrs. Lawrence: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what environmental impact assessments have been carried out on the proposed genetically modified farm scale trial sites at Mathry, Pembrokeshire, before the decision to grant a licence was made. [157568]
Mr. Meacher [holding answer 9 April 2001]: The genetically modified (GM) maize to be grown in the Farm Scale Evaluations at Mathry has been subject to detailed risk assessments as part of the requirement for its authorisation under EU Directive 90-220, which controls releases of GM organisms. These risk assessments showed that it could safely be cultivated anywhere within the EU. Accordingly it was granted consent for commercial cultivation in 1998. This consent applies throughout the European Union. Directive 90-220 requires that the use of GM crops with commercial approval may not be prohibited or impeded except on sound scientific grounds, in particular, risks to human health or the environment. Any such action would need to be agreed by other Member States. This is in keeping with such crops having passed a robust risk assessment at EU level and being assessed as safe for use. No additional environmental impact assessment is therefore required under EU legislation. Equally there is nothing to prevent such an assessment being carried out, though none in practice has.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |