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Parliamentary Questions

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the average time taken by his Department to answer (a) a named day question and (b) an ordinary written question tabled by (i) all hon. Members and (ii) the hon. Member for Northavon in (A) this and (B) the previous session. [43327]

Maria Eagle: The information for this session up to 20 March 2002 is in the table. Information for previous session is not available.

	Average time to answer Parliamentary Questions (Days)
	Ordinary Written	Named Day
All honourable Members	12	6
Hon. Member for Northavon	14	5

Age Discrimination

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his Department's policy is towards age discrimination. [42580]

Malcolm Wicks: We recognise the importance of tackling age discrimination in the workplace. We have already provided voluntary guidance to help employers adopt age positive employment practices. We are consulting extensively with employers, individuals, and expert groups and, by 2006 we will legislate against age discrimination in the workplace.

As an employer, the Department is committed to equality and valuing diversity within its workforce, and specifically to age diversity and non-discrimination on age grounds. In support of this policy we are working to ensure that our practices will be compliant with future age legislation. The Departmental retirement age for all staff below Senior Civil Service level was increased from 60 to 65 with effect from 1 April 2000 and staff have the choice to retire at any time between these ages. All staff are positively encouraged to take appropriate development opportunities regardless of age including promotion and change of duties. We acknowledge the skills and experience of our staff and are committed to utilising these to provide the best possible public service.

Winter Fuel Payment

Mr. Ivan Henderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate how many pensioners in the Harwich constituency are (a) entitled to and (b) have taken up the winter fuel payment. [45116]

Mr. Nicholas Brown: I refer the hon. Member to the Written Answer I gave the hon. Member for South East Cornwall (Colin Breed) on 18 March 2002, Official Report, column 153W.

26 Mar 2002 : Column 1005W

Pension-related Benefits

James Purnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of how much money would be accrued by the delay in payment of pension-related benefits, by two years in comparison to the payment of such benefits at 65 years if the retirement age were increased to 67 years. [43649]

Mr. Nicholas Brown [holding reply 20 March 2002]: Currently state pension age is 65 for men and between 60 and 65 for women, depending on their date of birth. From 2020 state pension age will be 65 for all.

If the state pension age were increased to 67 in 2020–21, we estimate that the gross savings on state pension expenditure in that year would be around #6.2 billion, in 2002–03 prices.

Benefit Fraud

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what lessons have been learnt from the prosecution pilots in which DSS lawyers helped local authorities to prosecute people suspected of benefit fraud; and whether the scheme will be replaced. [42514]

Malcolm Wicks: The prosecution pilots showed that provision of legal services and advice to Local Authorities can help raise the profile of Local Authority prosecutions and encourage Local Authorities to pursue prosecutions and sanctions. The assistance provided through these pilots is just one aspect of the help being provided by the Department to Local Authorities to increase the professionalism of their investigation work.

From April 2002, all Local Authorities will be participating in a new incentive scheme that provides greater financial support for prosecution-related work. We are also considering afresh what help Departmental solicitors might give Local Authorities who wish to impose sanctions on and, where appropriate, prosecute those who commit benefit fraud.

Age Discrimination

Mr. MacDougall: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what plans his Department has to introduce legislation on age discrimination in employment before the EU directive is implemented; [42397]

(2) what consultations his Department is having regarding the EU directive on age discrimination in employment; [42402]

(3) what organisations his Department is having discussions with regarding the EU directive on age discrimination in employment. [42403]

Mr. Nick Brown: The introduction of the employment related age discrimination legislation, and the consultations on its development, are the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.

The Department for Work and Pensions leads in challenging ageism in employment with its Age Positive campaign that 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

26 Mar 2002 : Column 1006W

and development activities with both public and private organisations to help employers develop non-ageist employment practices that will help them prepare for the future legislation. Integral to this is the Age Positive Website (www.agepositive.gov.uk) that was launched in December.

WBS Subsidies

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the National Audit Office's comments in the Appropriation Accounts, HC335, on the fall in WBS subsidies during 2000–01; and whether the Department intends to revise the weekly benefits savings rules. [42512]

Malcolm Wicks: The Weekly Benefit Savings (WBS) scheme was introduced in April 1993 to encourage Local Authorities to undertake activity to combat benefit fraud. It is based on a system of rewards and penalties for the amount of fraud detected.

Changes were made to the scheme in 1998 following concerns from the National Audit Office and Audit Commission that WBS was being inappropriately claimed in cases where fraud had not been established or a fraud investigation had not been properly undertaken. It was therefore decided to tighten the WBS claiming criteria and limit the amount of WBS claimed in certain circumstances.

This tightening of the criteria was followed by a large reduction in the WBS savings scored by Local Authorities in 1998–99 and 1999–2000. To address this, increased rates of additional subsidy were made payable to Local Authorities and a reduced level of penalty was introduced in April 1999.

In January 2000 the Department announced that it would replace WBS with a new anti-fraud incentive scheme over two years from April 2001. Sixty three Local Authorities took up the new scheme in 2001–02 with the remainder joining in April 2002.

Households Below Average Income Survey

Mr. Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his Answer of 6 November 2000 to the hon. Member for Havant, Official Report, column 92W, if he will estimate the same data for each region and nation of the UK; and if he will also express the estimates as a percentage of the total numbers of pensioners and children the figures represent. [37885]

Mr. Nick Brown: Such information as is available is in the tables. However, estimates of year on year change at regional level should be viewed with caution, as sampling error may be large in relation to the change itself.

Percentage of children living in households below 60 per cent. of contemporary median income by region, including the self-employed

	Percentage of children 1994–951995–961996–971997–981998–99
Income before housing costs
England	22	20	25	25	24
of which
North East	29	31	28	32	33
North West and Merseyside	25	23	30	29	33
Yorkshire and the Humber	29	26	33	30	29
East Midlands	25	21	23	24	24
West Midlands	22	24	30	29	24
Eastern	21	14	20	18	17
London	23	21	24	25	25
South East	13	15	18	17	14
South West	19	16	22	22	22
Scotland	25	25	29	28	26
Wales	27	28	28	29	29
Income after housing costs
England	32	31	34	33	33
of which
North East	35	36	35	38	40
North West and Merseyside	33	33	38	37	40
Yorkshire and the Humber	35	32	37	35	36
East Midlands	31	29	29	29	30
West Midlands	28	33	34	36	31
Eastern	31	22	29	26	27
London	38	39	40	43	41
South East	24	25	28	25	24
South West	30	28	32	32	32
Scotland	27	32	34	30	30
Wales	34	36	36	36	35

26 Mar 2002 : Column 1007W

Percentage of children living in households below 60 per cent. of contemporary median income by region, excluding the self-employed

	Percentage of children1994–951995–961996–971997–981998–99
Income before housing costs
England	20	19	24	24	22
of which
North East	28	26	27	30	31
North West and Merseyside	23	22	29	29	30
Yorkshire and the Humber	27	25	32	29	27
East Midlands	23	20	21	23	24
West Midlands	20	22	27	29	24
Eastern	17	13	18	16	16
London	21	21	24	26	24
South East	10	13	16	15	11
South West	16	15	20	20	20
Scotland	23	24	28	27	27
Wales	26	25	26	28	27
Income after housing costs
England	30	31	34	34	33
of which
North East	36	31	35	37	41
North West and Merseyside	31	33	37	37	38
Yorkshire and the Humber	33	31	37	34	35
East Midlands	29	29	28	30	31
West Midlands	27	32	33	36	31
Eastern	29	22	28	24	27
London	38	41	43	45	42
South East	22	25	29	25	23
South West	27	29	32	30	31
Scotland	27	32	33	30	29
Wales	35	35	37	36	34

Percentage of pensioners living in households below 60 per cent. of contemporary median income by region, including the self-employed

	Percentage of pensioners 1994–951995–961996–971997–981998–99
Income before housing costs
England	21	21	21	22	23
of which
North East	23	28	19	21	25
North West and Merseyside	24	20	22	23	24
Yorkshire and the Humber	23	25	25	23	25
East Midlands	19	25	24	27	26
West Midlands	23	22	25	24	23
Eastern	21	21	20	20	24
London	17	16	18	18	18
South East	20	18	17	19	20
South West	19	23	22	24	24
Scotland	23	23	24	19	20
Wales	27	24	19	23	25
Income after housing costs
England	26	25	27	27	27
of which
North East	31	34	26	30	29
North West and Merseyside	26	23	28	26	27
Yorkshire and the Humber	28	26	30	30	30
East Midlands	22	26	28	29	28
West Midlands	28	24	28	27	27
Eastern	28	24	28	24	30
London	26	27	29	28	28
South East	25	24	23	24	25
South West	25	26	25	29	24
Scotland	28	25	28	25	26
Wales	26	23	22	28	23

26 Mar 2002 : Column 1009W

Percentage of pensioners living in households below 60 per cent. of contemporary median income by region, excluding the self-employed

	Percentage of pensioners1994–951995–961996–971997–981998–99
Income before housing costs
England	20	21	20	21	22
of which
North East	21	27	17	20	25
North West and Merseyside	22	19	21	23	24
Yorkshire and the Humber	23	24	24	22	23
East Midlands	17	24	23	26	26
West Midlands	22	21	24	23	22
Eastern	20	21	20	19	23
London	16	16	17	19	18
South East	20	18	17	19	19
South West	18	22	19	24	22
Scotland	21	22	22	19	19
Wales	27	24	19	23	24
Income after housing costs
England	25	25	26	27	26
of which
North East	29	32	26	30	28
North West and Merseyside	24	22	27	26	26
Yorkshire and the Humber	28	25	28	29	29
East Midlands	21	26	26	29	27
West Midlands	27	23	27	27	26
Eastern	28	24	28	24	29
London	25	26	28	28	28
South East	24	24	23	24	24
South West	25	25	25	29	23
Scotland	25	24	27	25	26
Wales	25	22	21	27	22

Notes:

1. All figures are estimates and are taken from the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) data set which is derived from the Family Resources Survey (FRS). The FRS does not include Northern Ireland.

2. The estimates are sample counts, which have been adjusted for non-response using multipurpose grossing factors that control for tenure, Council Tax band and a number of other variables. Estimates are subject to both sampling error and to variability in non-response. The income measure used is weekly net (disposable) equivalised household income (that is to say income that is adjusted to reflect the composition of the household).

3. The estimates are presented on both a Before Housing Costs (BHC) and an After Housing Costs (AHC) basis in line with HBAI conventions. Figures are also provided including and excluding the self-employed, as research suggests that, for self-employed people, income as reported in surveys is often a poor indicator of living standards.

4. Estimates for the numbers of pensioners and children living in households below 60 per cent. median income by region have not been provided as the FRS grossing regime does not permit the provision of reliable estimates of numbers, as distinct from percentages. This issue does not affect either GB level estimates of numbers nor regional estimates of percentages. The grossing methodology in the FRS is currently being reviewed with one aim being to resolve this issue.

Source:

Family Resources Survey

26 Mar 2002 : Column 1011W

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