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Correspondence

Mr. Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he intends to reply to the letter to him dated 12 June from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Ms S. B. Mqwayi. [4501]

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Mr. Nicholas Brown: Never. The right hon. Member's letter is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and has been transferred accordingly.

Child Poverty

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of children were living in workless households during the spring quarter of 2001, using the Labour Force Survey. [4804]

Malcolm Wicks: The information requested is not available. The information taken from the spring quarter of the Labour Force Survey in 2000 was that 15.8 per cent. of children were living in workless households.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress has been made in reducing the number of children in the United Kingdom living in poverty; and if he will make a statement. [5713]

Malcolm Wicks: Poverty and social exclusion are multi-faceted problems. Therefore we do not use a single definition of poverty, but instead use a range of indicators to monitor the progress of our strategy. Information relating to the indicators can be found in the second Government "Opportunity for all" report on tackling poverty and social exclusion, "One year on: making a difference" (Cm 4865). The report also describes and monitors the impact of policies we have already introduced and sets out our plans for the future.

Student Loans

Mr. Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what plans his Department has to reform the benefits system in order to ensure families are not penalised through the reduction in benefits as a result of one partner applying successfully for a student loan; [4579]

(2) if he will estimate the impact on long-term family income of one partner receiving a repayable student loan and the family experiencing a consequential loss in non-repayable benefit payment; [4658]

(3) what analysis his Department has made of the number of (a) married and (b) unmarried students, in full-time education in receipt of a student loan who have experienced a consequential reduction in benefit payment. [4659]

Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 18 July 2001]: The information is not available.

Student loans and most allowances are taken into account in the assessment of income-related benefit entitlement because primary financial support for students comes from the education maintenance system.

If student loans were not taken into account, the benefit system would be supporting students rather than the educational maintenance system. This would operate unfairly against the majority of students who are not entitled to benefits, as well as being contrary to the whole basis on which the income-related benefits are paid. We have no plans to change the current arrangements.

Absence

David Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many days on average were lost

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per employee in his Department because of sickness; and how many officials retired early from his Department in each of the past 10 years. [R] [5054]

Mr. McCartney: Information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the tables.

Average days lost per employee due to sickness

Year	DSS Group	ES Group
1993	12.2	11.8
1994	12.1	11.0
1995	12.6	11.9
1996	12.2	11.8
1997	12.2	12.6
1998	10.8	10.7
1999	10.9	11.0

Notes:

1. Machinery of Government changes:

1996 figures do not include the Resettlement Agency;

1999 figures do not include the Contributions Agency.

2. As the Department for Work and Pensions is a new Department, the information is only available under the former categories of the DSS Group and the Education and Employment/Employment Group (DFEE). It is not possible to separate out information for the parts of the employment group which are now the responsibility of the Department for Work and Pensions.

3. For consistency, the data on sick absence are taken from the reports on the Analyses of Sickness Absence in the Civil Service 1993–99. Data for 2000 are not available at this time.

4. DSS Group comprises: DSS HQ, Resettlement Agency, Information Technology Agency, Contributions Agency, Child Support Agency and War Pensions Directorate.

5. ES Group comprises DfEE, Health and Safety Executive, ACAS and Employment Services.

Numbers of staff retiring early

Year	DSS Group	DSS Group(62)	Employment Service	Employment Service(62)
1996	1,046	570	n/a	n/a
1997	811	447	n/a	n/a
1998	904	403	184	n/a
1999	39	278	172	n/a
2000	61	195	134	n/a

⁽⁶²⁾ Ill Health Retirement

Notes:

1. Table does not include figure for DfEE.

2. Data for staff retiring early for the Department of Education and Employment Services (Employment Group) are not held centrally. Information would need to be sourced from 'Paymaster', formerly the Paymaster General's office. The question cannot be answered due to disproportionate cost.

Departmental Events

David Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what (a) national and (b) international awareness events his Department and its predecessors have participated in since June 1997 in the form of (i) sponsorship, (ii) departmental attendance, (iii) similar departmental activities and (iv) a message of support. [5040]

Mr. Nicholas Brown: I will write to the right hon. Member.

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Housing Benefit

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much housing benefit was paid by each London borough in the last year for which figures are available. [5414]

Malcolm Wicks: The information is in the table.

Housing Benefit expenditure 1999–2000

			£000
London boroughs	Rent rebate	Rent allowance	Total
City of London	3,353	1,240	4,593
Camden	58,640	55,442	114,082
Greenwich	50,054	32,496	82,550
Hackney	51,513	66,789	118,302
Hammersmith	29,238	44,382	73,620
Islington	68,740	36,998	105,738
Kensington & Chelsea	22,848	44,825	67,673
Lambeth	66,983	62,234	129,217
Lewisham	50,851	43,388	94,239
Southwark	75,175	44,539	119,714
Tower Hamlets	66,332	41,616	107,948
Wandsworth	44,638	48,995	93,633
Westminster	46,495	69,363	115,858
Barking	33,662	14,264	47,926
Barnet	26,904	50,226	77,130
Bexley	253	37,754	38,007
Brent	34,995	89,033	124,028
Bromley	1,862	53,340	55,202
Croydon	37,070	55,946	93,016
Ealing	35,247	59,650	94,897
Enfield	38,209	38,340	76,549
Haringey	56,348	78,083	134,431
Harrow	15,747	30,435	46,182
Havering	16,682	12,873	29,555
Hillingdon	29,711	26,845	56,556
Hounslow	27,296	25,291	52,587
Kingston-upon-Thames	14,000	11,165	25,165
Merton	13,172	22,986	36,158
Newham	40,278	81,877	122,155
Redbridge	16,744	40,944	57,688
Richmond-upon-Thames	18,249	16,296	34,545
Sutton	15,403	14,680	30,083
Waltham Forest	27,863	47,050	74,913
Total London	1,134,555	1,399,385	2,533,940

Note:

The data are the latest available and may be subject to change at a later date. All figures are rounded to the nearest thousand.

Source:

Rent allowance and non-housing revenue account rent rebate information is from returns submitted to DWP by local authorities.

Housing revenue account rent rebate information is from returns submitted to DTLR by local authorities.

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent estimates he has made of performance of ITNet in the delivery of Housing Benefit to claimants in Islington; and if he will make a statement. [5361]

Malcolm Wicks: The Benefit Fraud Inspectorate's report on the London borough of Islington's administration of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit was published in December last year. The report revealed problems with the quality of Islington's benefit service as provided by its contractor ITNet.

We have received the council's response to the report, which includes a comprehensive action plan to achieve improvements in the service provided to people in

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Islington. We are considering the council's response and what future action is appropriate to monitor the authority's performance.

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when the proposed amendment to the Housing Benefit Regulations will be brought into force. [5816]

Malcolm Wicks: The amendment to regulation 7(l)(h) of the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 1987, which allows benefit to be paid to people who let property they previously owned if five years or more have elapsed since the original sale, came into force on 21 May 2001.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to review the arrangements whereby Housing Benefit is not available to an adult who is paying rent to a blood relative living in the same property. [5561]

Malcolm Wicks: We have no plans to review existing arrangements.

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