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Pension Service
Kali Mountford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on progress to establish the new Pension Service. [2392]
Mr. Darling: The new Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will bring together the Government's drive to help people get into work as well as to provide a better service for pensions and pensioners.
The new Department will have two core operations to enable it to do this: Jobcentre Plus and the Pension Service.
The Pension Service will offer a local service working in partnership with local authorities and voluntary organisations. To support the local service network, we will bring together the backroom processing in about 20 locations rather than over 400 at present, allowing frontline staff to concentrate on dealing with customers. For example, they will undertake outreach activity such as home visiting, private interviews in locations that suit pensioners and drop-in services.
As we already process much of our pensions work for the whole of the UK in Newcastle, centralising processing work is a logical next step to support the national frontline network. Staff are being consulted and kept informed as plans develop.
The proposed phase 1 locations are to be sited in Bath, Birmingham, Blackpool, Burnley, Cwmbran, Dundee, Glasgow, Leicester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Norwich, Nottingham, Plymouth, Stockton, Swansea, Walsall, Warrington, Wolverhampton, and Wrexham. Phase 2 locations will be announced in due course.
State Pension
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of the total net cost, taking into account all offsetting benefit adjustments, of increasing the single person's basic state pension to (a) £90 per week, (b) £100 per week and (c) £110 per week, assuming the matching adjustments to pensions for couples; and if he will make a statement. [1378]
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Mr. McCartney: We are providing significant extra help for all pensioners, including a £200 winter fuel payment and a minimum income guarantee of more than £92 a week for single pensioners. We have increased the basic state pension by £5 a week for single people and £8 a week for couples. In total, we are spending £4.4 billion more on pensioners in 2001–02 alone as a result of the changes that we have introduced.
The table gives the cost of the options set out in the question in 2001–02 after income related benefit savings including linked benefits.
| Basic state pension | Net cost (£ billion) |
|---|---|
| £90 per week | 6.7 |
| £100 per week | 10.7 |
| £110 per week | 14.8 |
Notes:
1. Costs are rounded to the nearest £0.1 billion.
2. Costs are given in current price terms.
3. Net costs were estimated using the Policy Simulation Model.
Winter Fuel Payments
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to extend entitlement to the winter heating allowance to people below retirement age who are unable to work because of disability; and if he will make a statement. [1370]
Mr. McCartney: Winter Fuel Payments are made to people aged 60 or over, so disabled people who fall into this age group are already eligible for the payments. There are no plans to extend the scheme to disabled people below age 60.
Disabled people have available disability benefits in recognition of their extra costs. The care and mobility components in Disability Living Allowance are used as broad indicators of all the extra costs of a disabled person. These could include heating, laundry or special diets.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Antisocial Behaviour Orders
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many anti-social behaviour orders have been (a) applied for and (b) made in each police force area in England and Wales to date. [1254]
Mr. Denham: The available information is given in the table.
(1) Based on data collected from ACPO and GLA trawls covering period 1 April 1999 to 31 May 2000
(2) Data collected centrally from magistrate courts committees as from 1 June 2000 onwards
(3) Includes City of London
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4 Jul 2001 : Column: 199W
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement about the Government's plans to establish anti-social behaviour units in each local authority; and what the cost to public funds will be. [1245]
Mr. Denham: The report of policy action team 8, published in March 2000, recommended that a named person in each local authority district should co-ordinate action on anti-social behaviour and also encouraged the setting up of specialist teams to focus on anti-social behaviour. This second point has been reiterated in our manifesto. We think it important that each local authority district should have an effective means of tackling anti-social behaviour. The precise level of resources will vary from area to area depending on local need.
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