| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Winter Fuel Allowance
Mr. Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for what reason payments of winter fuel allowances have been delayed for up to 28 days. [28856]
Mr. McCartney: It is the Department's intention that winter fuel payments are received before Christmas. Because of the volumes involved they are made on a rolling programme throughout November. This year around 11 million, the overwhelming majority, were made before Christmas as we had undertaken to do.
For those customers who were required to make a claim (normally men aged 60–64) payment should be made before Christmas on claims received prior to 24 September.
30 Jan 2002 : Column 415W
Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many men over the age of 60 years who were entitled to the winter allowance in their own right have so far failed to make such a claim; and if he will make a statement. [27225]
Mr. McCartney: Those who attained age 60 before or during the qualifying week and were not in receipt of benefits which trigger automatic entitlement, have to claim. To date, 74 per cent. of claim forms that were issued to all potentially eligible people have been returned. The deadline for claiming is 30 March 2002.
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate (a) the number of households entitled to an automatic winter fuel payment this winter and (b) the number of those payments that were issued before 25 December 2001. [28181]
Mr. McCartney: The number of households entitled to an automatic winter fuel payment this winter will not be available until later in the year. However, around 11 million individual automatic payments were identified with most issued before 25 December 2001.
New Deal
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the (a) Government Departments and (b) agencies which have (i) signed national new deal employer agreements, (ii) signed employer agreements with local jobcentres and (iii) not signed new deal employer agreements. [25982]
Mr. Nicholas Brown: The following Government Departments and agencies have signed national new deal employer agreements:
- Benefits Agency
Cabinet Office
Charity Commission
Child Support Agency
Court Service
Crown Prosecution Service
Department for Education and Skills
Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Department for Work and Pensions
Department of Health
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
DSS Youth Training
Employment Service
Health and Safety Executive
HM Customs and Excise
HM Land Registry
HM Prison Service
HM Treasury
Home Office
Inland Revenue
Insolvency Service
30 Jan 2002 : Column 416W
Maritime and Coastguard Agency
Radiocommunications Agency
The Rent Service
Treasury Solicitors Department
Vehicle Inspectorate.
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many job brokers have been appointed under the New Deal for Disabled People; what the average client-base is per broker; how many brokers have a case load (a) exceeding 100 and (b) less than 10; and what proportion of job placements have resulted in long-term employment. [27670]
Mr. Nicholas Brown [holding answer 17 January 2002]: A total of 64 job brokers have been appointed under the new deal for disabled people.
Under the new deal for disabled people, long-term employment is defined as sustained employment of six months or more. As the new deal for disabled people only became operational on a national basis in July 2001, it is too early to provide figures on job placements resulting in long-term employment.
Some job brokers are area-based while others operate nationally so it is not possible to produce an "average" client base. Latest figures of job brokers in operation show that 14 have a current caseload of less than 10 clients but 15 already have a caseload of over 100.
Refurbishment
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of the cost of buildings refurbishment carried out by his Department in each of the last four years. [27969]
Mr. McCartney: The cost of buildings refurbishment in DWP for each of the last four years is as follows:
| £ | |
|---|---|
| 1998–99 | 6,923,448 |
| 1999–2000 | 9,682,536 |
| 2000–01 | 8,662,522 |
| 2001–02 | 17,613,051 |
Refurbishment of former DSS offices is the responsibility of Land Securities Trillium as the prime contractor in accordance with their Life Cycle Capital Expenditure programme. This programme is designed to maintain the required accommodation standard within our offices. The cost of this is already accounted for in the contract price that is paid for each building.
The refurbishment costs quoted are for offices in the former ES and include Jobcentre Plus Pathfinder offices from April 2001. The increase in 2001–02 over previous years is accounted for by the commencement of the roll out of Jobcentre Plus.
Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his answer of 6 November 2001,
30 Jan 2002 : Column 417W
Official Report, column 195W, on industrial injuries disablement benefit, for what reason information is not available on claims for industrial injuries disablement benefit which have been refused as a result of the applicant's condition being caused through work processes and not as a result of accident or prescribed disease; and how the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council monitors this situation. [28310]
Mr. Nicholas Brown: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 29 November 2001, Official Report, column 1145W.
Benefit Statistics
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of people in (a) the constituency of Buckingham and (b) total UK population claim (i) incapacity benefit, (ii) the children's tax credit, (iii) bereavement benefit, (iv) attendance allowance, (v) council tax credit, (vi) invalid care allowance, (vii) housing benefit and (viii) disability living allowance. [22535]
Mr. Nicholas Brown: Population figures are not available for parliamentary constituencies. The available information is in the table.
| Benefit | Great Britain(72) |
|---|---|
| Incapacity benefit | 4.2 |
| Bereavement benefit(73) | 0.5 |
| Attendance allowance | 2.2 |
| Disability living allowance | 3.9 |
| Council tax benefit | 10.0 |
| Housing benefit | 8.0 |
| Invalid care allowance | 0.7 |
(71) Children's tax credit is the responsibility of the Inland Revenue.
(72) Figures for Northern Ireland are not included. Social security matters in Northern Ireland are the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
(73) Bereavement benefit includes bereavement allowance and widowed parent's allowance which were introduced for new claims from April 2001 and widow's pension or widowed mother's allowance.
Sources:
Incapacity benefit—5 per cent. sample at 31 August 2001.
Bereavement benefit—100 per cent. count at 31 August 2001.
Disability living allowance and attendance allowance—100 per cent. count at 31 August 2001.
Housing benefit and council tax benefit—100 per cent. case load stock-count at 10 May 2001.
Invalid care allowance—100 per cent. extract of the computer system at 30 September 2001.
Population data—Office for National Statistics, Population Estimates Unit (estimated resident population mid-2000 based on the 1991 census).
Unemployment (Disabled People)
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many disabled people were on Disability Employment Service instigated training courses in each month since January 1997, expressed (a) numerically and (b) as a percentage of total unemployed disabled people (i) nationally and (ii) in the south-west. [11373]
Mr. Nicholas Brown: The information requested is not collected centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
30 Jan 2002 : Column 418W
HEALTH
Beta Interferon
Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the prescribing of beta interferon. [12550]
Ms Blears: We are currently holding discussions with the manufacturers to consider a range of options under which drugs for multiple sclerosis might be made available under the national health service. One option is a 'risk-sharing' scheme which will evaluate their clinical and cost effectiveness.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |