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WORK AND PENSIONS
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many named day parliamentary written questions were tabled to his Department between 15 October and 5 November; and what proportion of these have received holding answers; [13306]
- (2) what proportion of those named day parliamentary written questions to his Department that received a holding answer between 15 October and 5 November received the substantive answer (a) within three parliamentary days, (b) within seven parliamentary days, (c) within 10 parliamentary days, (d) within 15 parliamentary days and (e) over 15 parliamentary days after the holding answer was issued. [13325]
Mr. Darling: We received 106 named day parliamentary questions for answer between 15 October and 5 November and we issued holding replies in respect of 18 (17 per cent.).
Substantive replies were subsequently issued to one question within three parliamentary days, 10 questions within seven parliamentary days, three questions within 10 parliamentary day and two questions over 15 parliamentary days. One question was subsequently transferred to another Department and one remains unanswered.
Benefits
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was recovered, in the last year for which information is available, of the benefits paid to those ineligible to receive such benefits by reason of (a) fraud and (b) mistake; and how much is estimated to remain uncollected. [7960]
Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 16 October 2001]: It is not possible to separate the total amount of overpaid benefit recovered into overpayments due to fraud and those due to other reasons. At the end of September 2001, the total amount of overpayments remaining uncollected was estimated to be £1,040 million.
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much a person must have in savings to receive interest equal to the value of (a) the average income support entitlement and (b) the average housing benefit entitlement, if interest is paid according to the base rate of the clearing banks. [7920]
Malcolm Wicks: The information is in the table.
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| Benefit | Average amount payable per week (£) | Amount of savings needed to earn the equivalent amount in interest |
|---|---|---|
| Income Support | 70.21 | Between £70,000 and £90,000 |
| Housing Benefit | 51.20 | Between £50,000 and £65,000 |
Notes:
1. Calculations are based on a bank base rate of interest of 5.25 per cent.
2. The range given reflects the extent to which interest is gross or net of basic rate income tax.
3. Average benefit rates taken from Housing Benefit Quarterly Summary Statistics May 2001 and the Income Support Quarterly Statistical Enquiry, 5 per cent. sample, May 2001.
4. Interest rate taken from Bank of England information on bank base rate appropriate to end of May 2001. This interest rate is arrived at through information provided by selected clearing banks. It has been assumed for the purposes of the calculations that interest can be obtained on a weekly basis without loss compared to the annual rate.
5. The amounts of savings have been rounded to the nearest five thousand pounds.
Winter Fuel Payment
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many winter fuel payment claims for winter 2000 have been received since the deadline of 31 March; how many of these claims have been allowed; how many have been disallowed; and how many have yet to be processed. [7921]
Mr. McCartney: For the winter of 2000–01, claims needed to be made before 31 March 2001. To date, there have been 5,379 claims which did not meet this deadline. Some 3,445 of these claims have been allowed. 1,379 have been disallowed, and 573 have still to be processed.
New Deal (Young People)
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many former participants in the new deal have become (a) personal advisers and (b) senior advisers in the new deal for young people. [7980]
Mr. Nicholas Brown: The information is not available as the Employment Service does not hold details of the programmes in which all employees were previously engaged.
Pension Credit
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much he has forecast for expenditure on the pension credit in its first full year. [7795]
Mr. McCartney: The Government will publish estimates of the costs of the Pension Credit when the Bill is introduced.
Mr. Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many responses to the pension credit consultation document he has received; who they are from; and if he will make them available in the Library. [14312]
Mr. McCartney: Over 400 responses were received to the formal consultation exercise (The Pension Credit: A Consultation Paper, Cm4900, November 2000), many welcoming our proposals. We continue to consider views and work closely with groups representing older people
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to deliver a modernised and dedicated service to meet pensioner needs. We will be announcing our response to the Pension Credit consultation in due course.
SEMA
Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how he monitors compliance by SEMA with its latest guidelines; and if he will make a statement. [11902]
Malcolm Wicks: Medical quality standards, including compliance with training and guidelines, are monitored monthly by SchlumbergerSema Medical Services. Doctors in the Department's Corporate Medical Group are regularly involved in validation of Medical Services' medical quality audit system and its application.
The Department takes a keen interest in Medical Services' performance against quality targets. Monitoring outcome reports are analysed by the Department's contract management team (IMPACT) and Corporate Medical Group, and stringent requirements are placed on Medical Services to develop and deliver action plans to improve performance where this fails to reach an acceptable standard. Failure to improve may result in service credits being applied.
Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the service credit arising from SEMA's performance against targets up to 31 March. [11906]
Malcolm Wicks: SchlumbergerSema Medical Services' performance against service levels and quality targets is reviewed monthly. Service credits are applied when performance falls below target. The Department aims to apply service credits in a manner which acts as an incentive to improve performance, therefore the decision to apply service credits takes into account any mitigating factors, and the effectiveness of action being taken to improve performance.
In the period to March 2001 the Department has claimed service credits from SchlumbergerSema on several occasions where there has been failure to deliver the required service or improvements.
Details of the amount involved are not in the public domain, as commercially sensitive information.
Job Losses
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the numbers of (a) jobs lost and (b) jobs under threat by the events of 11 September; and if he will make a statement. [12552]
Mr. Nicholas Brown: Because normal labour market turnover is so large, it is difficult to assess how much is due to particular changes or events.
Benefit Fraud
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in the West Chelmsford constituency have been caught involved in (a) social security benefit fraud and (b) housing benefit fraud in each of the last five years for which figures are available;
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what action was taken against them; and what was the total amount of money calculated to have been lost to the Treasury as a result of the fraud. [14961]
Malcolm Wicks: The information requested is not available.
Benefit Claimant Count
Mr. Howard: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent estimate he has made of the impact on Government expenditure of a change in the claimant count of 50,000. [12797]
Malcolm Wicks: The impact on Social Security expenditure of either an increase or decrease in unemployment of 50,000 is estimated to be either a saving or additional cost of approximately £250 million, for a full year.
Child Benefit
Mr. Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what plans he has to award maximum child benefit to all siblings of a multiple birth; [13655]
- (2) if he will review the provision of child benefit for siblings of a multiple birth. [13656]
Malcolm Wicks: There are no plans to award the higher rate of Child Benefit to siblings of a multiple birth.
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