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Ministerial Visits (North-East)
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many times since November 2000 Ministers from the Lord Chancellor's Department have visited (a) the Teesside area and (b) Middlesbrough, South and Cleveland, East constituency to meet locally based businesses. [19074]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Since November 2000, Ministers from the Lord Chancellor's Department have not met any locally based businesses from either (a) the Teesside area or (b) Middlesbrough, South and Cleveland, East constituency.
Parliamentary Ombudsman
Mr. Chope: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, pursuant to her answer of 28 November 2001, Offical Report, column 1005W on the Parliamentary Ombudsman, what the circumstances were of the cases which gave rise to (a) a period of 91 working days and (b) a period of 55 days being taken by the Court Service to respond. [20185]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information given was in calendar days rather than working days as had been requested. Those cases were dealt within 64 and 38 working days. I attach a copy of the amended statistical table. (a) The case of Lavender was sent to the Court Service on 7 August. The PCA asked for comments by 17 September. A reply was sent to the PCA on 6 November. There was a delay of 34 working days. The
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delay was due to the file being mislaid. The PCA was kept informed of the progress in locating the file at all times. (b) The case of Glasser was sent to the Court Service on 6 July. The PCA asked for comments by 23 August. A reply was sent to the PCA on 5 September. There was a delay of eight working days. A meeting has been arranged between the Court Service and the PCA to address the problems that occurred in these matters and to avoid any future difficulties.
| Department | Number received | Number responded to | Working days to respond to each notice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lord Chancellor's Department(31) | 2 | 2 | 16, 17 |
| Court Service | 10 | 10 | 8, 9, 24, 12, 17, 17, 24, 33, 38, 64 |
| Public Guardianship Office | 2 | 1 | 26 |
| HM Land Registry | 1 | 1 | 19 |
| Northern Ireland Court Service | 0 | 0 | — |
| Public Record Office | 0 | 0 | — |
(31) Letter of 27 February 2001 not received until 30 April 2001
Parking (Royal Family)
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what special arrangements (a) the Royal family and (b) spouses of the Royal family have for parking in London when not on official business. [18374]
Mr. Wills: Subject to security considerations, there are no special parking arrangements for members of the Royal family, including spouses, when not on official business.
Referral Fees
Mr. Burnett: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what assessment he has made of the proposal by the Law Society to enable solicitors to pay referral fees. [19557R]
Mr. Wills: While the Lord Chancellor has noted the consultation document "Solicitors Introduction and Referral Code" issued by the Law Society in January 2001, he has yet to see any firm proposals from the Law Society. The Lord Chancellor will consult the designated judges on any application that requires his approval under the provisions of Schedule 4 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990. He will also consider whether to consult with the Legal Services Consultative Panel and the Director General of Fair Trading.
Employment Tribunals (North Wales)
Gareth Thomas: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what plans he has to provide a permanent location for Employment Tribunals in North Wales. [18868]
Alan Johnson: I have been asked to reply.
The Employment Tribunals Service is actively seeking to establish a permanent location for hearings in North Wales as soon as possible.
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WORK AND PENSIONS
Incapacity Benefit
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the proportion of total claims for incapacity benefit paid in respect of the main relevant medical conditions. [11322]
Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 31 October 2001]: The information requested has been placed in the Library.
Ageism
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) if he will make a statement on recent measures he has introduced to tackle age discrimination; [19362]
- (2) what measures there are to get more people in their 50s and 60s into work. [19366]
Mr. Nicholas Brown: This Government recognise the importance of tackling age discrimination in the workplace. We have already provided voluntary guidance to help employers. By 2006, we will legislate against age discrimination in the workplace. This timescale will allow us to consult extensively with employers, individuals, and expert groups on age positive practices, and on all aspects of the legislation.
We are committed to employment opportunity for all, regardless of age. For those over 50, there is a comprehensive range of back to work programmes, including new deal 50 plus, new deal 25 plus and the new deal for disabled people. Government support has ensured that the employment rate for the over 50s has increased each year for the last four years. Through new deal 50 plus alone, which was launched in April 2000, more than 51,000 people have been helped into work.
The Department also leads with its AgePositive campaign, which is vigorously promoting the business benefits of employing an age diverse workforce. The campaign focuses on the Code of Practice on Age Diversity in Employment and a wide range of research and promotional activities. On 3 December we launched a new AgePositive website and a range of new research studies.
Benefits (Birmingham, Northfield)
Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many people in Birmingham, Northfield claim (a) both disability living allowance and income support and (b) a disability premium as part of their income support applicable amount; [19384]
- (2) how many over 60-year-olds in Birmingham, Northfield have the (a) disability and (b) higher pensioner premium added to their income support applicable amount; [19385]
(3) how many single parent families in Birmingham, Northfield are in receipt of (a) working families tax credit and (b) income support. [19388]
Malcolm Wicks: The information is in the table.
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| Thousand | |
|---|---|
| Income support (IS) recipients receiving disability living allowance | 1.1 |
| IS recipients with a disability premium | 2.8 |
| Pensioners receiving MIG with a disability premium | 0.8 |
| Pensioners receiving MIG with a higher pensioner premium | 1.9 |
| Lone parents receiving IS | 1.8 |
| Lone parents receiving working families tax credit | 1.3 |
Notes:
1. All figures are for May 2001.
2. Figures are based on 5 per cent. sample data and are therefore subject to a degree of sampling error.
3. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.
4. IS recipients with DLA are cases where DLA is paid to the benefit recipient. Cases where DLA is paid to the partner only are not included.
5. Disability premiums are classed as severe disability premium, disability premium and enhanced disability premium.
6. Pensioners are cases where the benefit recipient and/or partner are aged 60 or over.
7. IS lone parents are single parents aged under 60 who do not receive a disability premium.
Sources:
Income Support Quarterly Statistical Enquiry August 2001.
Working Families' Tax Credit Statistics Quarterly Enquiry May 2001.
Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many benefit claimants in Birmingham, Northfield are not in receipt of income support but are in receipt of (a) housing benefit and (b) council tax benefit. [19386]
Malcolm Wicks: The available information is in the table.
| Local authority | Number of cases |
|---|---|
| Birmingham | |
| Total housing benefit cases not in receipt of income support/jobseeker's allowance(32) | 23,390 |
| Total council tax benefit cases not in receipt of income support/jobseeker's allowance(32) | 34,400 |
(32) Income based
Notes:
1. The data refer to benefit claims, which may be a single person or a couple
2. The figures have been rounded to the nearest 10 cases
3. The table also includes people not receiving jobseeker's allowance (income based), due to insufficient data we are unable to exclude these cases
4. Figures are only available by local authority area
Source:
Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information System Quarterly 100 per cent. case load stock-count taken in May 2001
Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners in Birmingham, Northfield claim the minimum income guarantee. [19387]
Mr. McCartney: As at May 2001 there were 3,000 minimum income guarantee recipients in the Birmingham, Northfield constituency.
Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households in Birmingham, Northfield have children in receipt of free school meals. [19383]
Mr. Timms: I have been asked to reply.
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Information on free school meals is not available in the form requested.
The number of children known to be eligible for free school meals in maintained nursery, maintained primary, maintained secondary and special schools in the parliamentary constituency of Birmingham, Northfield as at January 2000 was 4,305.
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