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Departmental Spending

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the total amount of spending by his Department was in each nation and region of the UK, in the last year for which figures are available; what proportion of his Department's total spending this constitutes; and if he will make a statement. [6851]

Mr. Nick Brown: The information is in the tables:

Benefit expenditure for 1999–2000 by country

	Benefit expenditure (£ million)	Proportion of GB total (Percentage)
Great Britain	98,241	—
England	83,081	85
Scotland	8,689	9
Wales	6,470	7

Benefit expenditure for 1999–2000 by English Government office region

	Benefit expenditure (£ million)	Proportion of GB total (Percentage)
North East	5,145	5
North West	12,973	13
Yorkshire and Humberside	8,809	9
East Midlands	6,805	7
West Midlands	9,165	9

1 Nov 2001 : Column: 844W

Benefit expenditure for 1999–2000 by Government office region

	Benefit expenditure (£ million)	Proportion of GB total (Percentage)
South West	8,445	9
Eastern	8,314	8
London	11,509	12
South East	11,916	12

Notes:

1. Figures are consistent with Departmental Report 2001, but do not include some overseas expenditure and War Pensions Northern Ireland.

2. Figures may not sum due to rounding.

New Deal

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of those leaving the New Deal for Lone Parents left to enter (a) jobs lasting less than 13 weeks, (b) sustained jobs and (c) jobs lasting more than 26 weeks. [9681]

Mr. Nick Brown: The New Deal for Lone Parents has already helped over 100,000 Lone Parents move into work. More detailed analysis of the length of time people leaving the programme for work remain in their jobs will be included in the evaluation of the New Deal for Lone Parents National programme, which is due to be published in spring 2003.

1 Nov 2001 : Column: 845W

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many persons (a) were eligible and (b) entered the New Deal for the Long-Term Unemployed under the early entry provisions in each year since its inception. [9333]

Mr. Nick Brown: The monthly New Deal Statistical First Releases, which are placed in the Library, give information on the numbers joining the New Deal under the early eligibility criteria. Early entry to the programme is voluntary and no estimates are available of the total number of people who would have been eligible to join the programme early.

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many of those entering (a) the environmental task force option and (b) the voluntary sector option in the New Deal for young people obtained a qualification through day release education or training in each year since 1998. [9329]

Mr. Nicholas Brown: The monthly New Deal Statistical First Releases, which are placed in the Library, give information on the numbers of young people starting each of the New Deal options. Information on qualifications gained is not available.

Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what discretionary payments can be made from the Advisers Discretionary Fund; and if he will make a statement. [8098]

Mr. Nicholas Brown: New Deal Personal Advisers can make an award from the Advisers Discretionary Fund, up to a maximum of £300 for any goods and services needed to support a jobseeker with jobsearch, or to help them overcome barriers which prevent them applying for or taking up a job.

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of (a) personal advisers and (b) senior advisers in the new deal for young people are members of an ethnic minority, broken down by ethnic minority; and if he will give the same breakdown for the members of the new deal for young people. [7978]

Mr. Nicholas Brown: The Employment Service collected data on the ethnic breakdown of Personal Advisers across all the New Deals at the end of February 2001 as part of a one off exercise.

The results of that exercise are in the table.

Percentage

Ethnic group	Proportion of Personal Advisers at end of February 2001
White	78
People from ethnic minority groups(25)	7
No data held	15

⁽²⁵⁾ No data held on specific ethnic minority groups

Source:

Employment Service Head Office Personnel Division

The ethnic breakdown of clients on the New Deal for Young People programme are in the table.

1 Nov 2001 : Column: 846W

Percentage

Ethnic group(26)	Proportion of new deal for young people clients at the end of July 2001(27)
White	79.6
Black-Caribbean	3.2
Pakistani	3.0
Black-African	2.1
Black-Other	1.6
Indian	1.4
Bangladeshi	1.0
Chinese	0.2
Other	3.0
Prefer not to say	4.9

⁽²⁶⁾ Providing ethnicity information is voluntary, we cannot compel individuals to specify their ethnic origin.

⁽²⁷⁾ The proportions shown are of those New Deal clients who completed an Employment Service form which requests information about ethnic origin. 95 per cent. of clients completed the form.

Source:

New Deal Evaluation Database

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many personal advisers in the new deal for young people have left in each year since its inception; how many of these have left as a result of promotion in the Employment Service; and what estimate he has made of the average length of service of such personal advisers. [7979]

Mr. Nicholas Brown: The information is not available.

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average cost per place on each of the four options in the new deal for young people in the last 12 months was. [7976]

Mr. Nicholas Brown: The information is in the table.

£

Option	Unit costs for the year ending August 2001
Subsidised employment	1,638
Full time education and training	1,358
Voluntary sector	2,360
Environmental Task Force	2,478

Source:

Employment Service Management Information on New Deal for Young People

Winter Fuel Payment

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the number of women who in 2001 will reach the age of 60 years after the qualifying week for Winter Fuel Payment eligibility but before 25 December; how the qualification for automatic Winter Fuel Payments is triggered; and if he will make a statement. [7575]

Mr. McCartney: It is estimated that 70,000 women will attain the age of 60 between the qualifying week (17 to 23 September) and 25 December 2001.

Automatic entitlement to a Winter Fuel Payment is determined by identifying those people who meet the qualifying criteria, including age and household composition, from official records.

1 Nov 2001 : Column: 847W

Civil Servants (Retirement Age)

John Cryer: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if his Department can invite staff to remain in post beyond the normal retirement age; and what is the final age at which such staff must retire. [10148]

Mr. Nicholas Brown: In the Department, the final age at which all staff in grades below the Senior Civil Service must retire is 65. Staff have the flexibility of choosing to retire at any time from the minimum retirement of 60 up to the age of 65.

The retirement age for Senior Civil Servants is 60.

Stakeholder Pensions

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Northavon (Mr. Webb), on 26 October 2001, Official Report, column 438W, on stakeholder pensions, what income range in pounds sterling per annum is the target group for stakeholder pensions. [11622]

Mr. McCartney: The Green Paper "Partnership in Pensions" identified moderate earners as people earning between £9,000 and £20,000. The Green Paper went on to explain that people earning above £20,000 were in most cases already making additional pension provision. However, it did make clear that higher earners without access to a good quality pension scheme would still be able to take advantage of the new stakeholder regime.

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