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Long-term Unemployed

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his statement of 28 November, what estimate he has made of the cost of (1) administering his proposals for the long-term unemployed; [20274]

(2) the implementation of his proposals for the long-term unemployed. [20276]

Mr. Nicholas Brown: We estimate that our proposals for the long-term unemployed will cost £40 million to implement and administer in 2002–03 and 2003–04.

Post Office Charges

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the transaction charges agreed with the Post Office are for handling a benefit payment at a post office counter; and how these charges have changed since 1997. [20300]

Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 5 December 2001]: The average transaction fee payable by this Department to the Post Office for order book foil encashment since 1997 are as follows:

Year	Average encashment cost per foil
1997–98	44p
1998–99	47p
1999–2000	53p
2000–01	60p

The Post Office have a contract with Girobank for girocheque encashment services at post office counters, and these transaction charges are not known to the Department.

Social Security Spending

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of the level of social security spending for each year from 1996–97 to 2003–04; and if he will make a statement. [20308]

13 Dec 2001 : Column: 997W

Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 6 December 2001]: Social security spending is under control. The rate of growth under this Government is around half that under the previous Government. Indeed, without the extra spending of around £3 billion on families and £7.5 billion on pensioners, forecast spending in 2003–04 would be lower in real terms than it was in 1996–97. We can spend more on priority groups because we have reduced the costs of social and economic failure. For example, spending on benefits for unemployed people this year will be around £4 billion less than in 1996–97.

Expenditure on social security benefits in Great Britain is shown in the table ¹ .

Expenditure on social security benefits in Great Britain£ billion

Year	2001–02 prices(7)
1996–97	104.5
1997–98	102.6
1998–99	102.2
1999–2000	103.5
2000–01	103.5
2001–02	107.2
2002–03	108.4
2003–04	110.9

⁽⁶⁾ Figures show total expenditure on social security benefits. This includes all spending on housing and council tax benefits funded by central and local Government. The figures do not include spending on tax credits, which are the responsibility of Inland Revenue. Spending on family credit and disability working allowance, which are superseded by tax credits, is included: £2.4 billion in 1996–97, £2.6 billion in 1997–98, £2.6 billion in 1998–99 and £2.0 billion in 1999–2000 (2001–02 prices).

⁽⁷⁾ Real terms figures in 2001–02 prices are calculated using the GDP deflator published by the Office for National Statistics on 24 September 2001.

13 Dec 2001 : Column: 998W

New Deal

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his answer of 28 November 2001, Official Report, column 901W, on the new deal, to the hon. Member for Chatham and Aylesford (Mr. Shaw), if he will give a breakdown by year of the new deal starts in the Government Departments and agencies concerned and indicate what proportion of total recruitment was represented by New Deal starts (a) in each case and (b) for all Government Departments and agencies. [21266]

Mr. Leslie: I have been asked to reply.

The table sets out the number of new deal starts by Government Department (including their agencies) by financial year. Information on the proportion this represents of the total number of employees recruited by Departments over the relevant period is not held centrally. It could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001(8)	Total
Cabinet Office	9	4	13	6	32
Privy Council Office	0	0	1	0	1
Charity Commission	5	13	13	7	38
Department for Culture, Media and Sport	1	1	2	0	4
Ministry of Defence	7	88	43	8	146
Department for Education and Skills(9),(10)	12	77	51	6	146
Office for Standards in Education	1	0	0	0	1
Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs(11)	5	33	35	24	97
Intervention Board	2	1	1	0	4
Export Credits Guarantee Department	4	0	0	0	4
Foreign and Commonwealth Office	3	1	5	2	11
Government Communications Headquarters	0	0	2	0	2
Department of Health	8	19	30	15	72
Home Office(9)	1	72	26	21	120
Department for International Development	0	1	6	0	7
Law Officers' Departments	0	10	11	2	23
Lord Chancellor's Department	0	21	34	9	64
National Assembly for Wales	5	28	3	3	39
Northern Ireland Office	0	11	3	0	14
Scottish Executive (includes Scottish Office)	12	19	33	34	98
Registers of Scotland	1	0	0	0	1
Department of Trade and Industry	22	21	26	3	72
Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions(11)	6	5	57	44	112
Health and Safety Executive	0	6	12	10	28
Office of the Rail Regulator	0	0	0	1	1
Office of Water Services (OFWAT)	0	0	1	0	1
Ordnance Survey	0	1	0	0	1
Shadow Strategic Rail Authority (NDPB with effect from 1 February 2001)	0	0	1	0	1
HM Treasury	2	0	2	3	7
Office of Government Commerce	1	0	0	0	1
HM Customs and Excise	1	34	77	17	129
Inland Revenue (includes NICO and Valuation Office Agency)	4	252	145	62	463
Office for National Statistics	0	10	1	0	11
Royal Mint	3	0	0	0	3
Department for Work and Pensions(10)	356	1,758	1,177	397	3,688
Total	471	2,486	1,811	674	5,442

⁽⁸⁾ To 1 October 2001

⁽⁹⁾ One New Dealer transferred from DfES to the Home Office

⁽¹⁰⁾ Five New Dealers transferred from DfES to DWP

⁽¹¹⁾ Four New Dealers transferred from DTLR to DEFRA

Note:

This table monitors the number of starts and does not reflect transfer of staff under recent machinery of government changes (see above)

13 Dec 2001 : Column: 999W

TREASURY

Child Poverty

Mrs. Lawrence: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the Government's strategy for tackling child poverty. [23530]

Mr. Gordon Brown: As I said at the Treasury Committee hearing on 11 December, I am today publishing a pre-Budget report document on child poverty, "Tackling Child Poverty—giving every child the best possible start in life", which will inform next year's Budget and Spending Review 2002.

The Government's strategy involves:

helping to ensuring a decent family income, with work for those who can and support for those who cannot;


delivering excellent public services for all neighbourhoods and targeted interventions for those with additional needs;


supporting parents so that they can provide better support for their children; and


harnessing the power and expertise of the voluntary and community sectors, providing support for innovation and good practice and building strategic partnerships with these sectors to fight child poverty.

Copies of the document have been deposited in the Library of the House and are also available in the Vote Office.

London Underground

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 3 December 2001, Official Report, column 54W, on London Underground, for what reason he is unable to state what involvement officials from HM Treasury have had in the value for money assessment of the London Underground PPP; and for what reason the Office of National Statistics has not made an assessment of the accounting treatment of the London Underground PPP; and if he will make a statement. [22288]

Mr. Andrew Smith: The value for money assessment of the London Underground PPP will be carried out by London Transport in line with the relevant guidance produced by HM Treasury and the Treasury Taskforce. Treasury, DTLR and London Underground officials are in regular contact about various aspects of the PPP.

The accounting treatment of the London Underground PPP is a matter for London Underground's own auditors.

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what involvement members of the Council of Economic Advisers have had in the value for money assessment of the London Underground PPP; and if he will make a statement. [22255]

Mr. Andrew Smith: The Council of Economic Advisers has had no involvement in the value for money assessment of the London Underground PPP. The value for money assessment of the London Underground PPP will be carried out by London Transport in line with the relevant guidance produced by HM Treasury and the Treasury Taskforce.

13 Dec 2001 : Column: 1000W

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