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Rural Awareness
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) when his Department will establish rural targets and monitoring as part of overall rural proofing measures as set out in the Countryside Agency's report, "Rural Proofing in 2001–02"; [54413]
- (2) when his Department will implement proofing and checklist measures as part of overall rural proofing measures set out in the Countryside Agency's report, "Rural Proofing in 2001–02"; [54425]
(3) when his Department will introduce measures to raise rural awareness through staff (a) training, (b) development and (c) secondments as part of overall rural proofing measures set out in the Countryside Agency's report, "Rural Proofing in 2001–02". [54437]
Mr. Nicholas Brown: I refer the hon. Member to the answers given by the Minister for Rural Affairs on 9 May 2002, Official Report, columns 273–75W.
Disability Living Allowance
Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people are in receipt of higher rate disability living allowance on the basis of autism-related disruption during the night. [57561]
Maria Eagle: Information is not available in the form requested. The most recent available information, which relates to 30 November 2001, is that there are about 39,300 recipients of the maximum rate of the disability
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living allowance care or mobility component, who have learning difficulties recorded as their principal disabling condition and whose needs include care during the night.
This information is based on 5 per cent. data and rounded to the nearest hundred.
Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people are in receipt of disability living allowance in respect of autism. [57560]
Maria Eagle: Information is not available in the form requested. The most recent available information, which relates to 30 November 2001, is that there are about 226,700 disability living allowance recipients with learning difficulties as their principal disabling condition.
This figure is based on 5 per cent. data and rounded to the nearest hundred.
Property Protection
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what new measures his Department took in 2001–02 to protect its property from theft or damage. [47251]
Mr. McCartney [holding answer 10 April 2002]: The Department takes its responsibility for the security of its people, physical property, and information very seriously. We continually evaluate the trend in fraud and theft and introduce appropriate systems of security. However, in order to ensure the effectiveness of these measures, it is the Department's policy not to disclose the details of these actions (part 2, paragraph 4 Code of Practice on Access to Government Information).
Unpaid Advisers
Mr. Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the names of the unpaid advisers appointed by him and his predecessor since June 1997, stating in each case (a) the date of their appointment, (b) the duration of their appointment and (c) the project or projects on which they have been engaged. [43381]
Mr. McCartney [holding answer 25 March 2002]: Since June 1997, there have been no unpaid advisers appointed in line with the requirements of Paragraph 51 of the Ministerial Code.
For details of appointments made by this Department to task forces, review groups and other ad hoc advisory groups, I refer the hon. Member to the answer provided by the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Mr. Leslie), on 16 November 2001, Official Report, column 958W.
Savings Credit
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether it is his intention that pensioners receiving the savings credit should receive the same amount of housing benefit and council tax benefit as they would if the savings credit were not introduced. [41196]
Mr. McCartney: The Government are investing £450 million a year in the housing benefit and council tax benefit schemes to ensure that people who gain from pension credit do not lose those gains because of knock-on effects. As a consequence, almost 1.9 million
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pensioner households will be entitled to more help, or entitled to help for the first time, with their rent or council tax from October 2003.
Parliamentary Advisers
Mr. Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the (a) names and (b) responsibilities are of parliamentary advisers appointed to serve his Department. [56900]
Mr. McCartney: Ministers in this Department have made no such appointments.
Pensions
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will place in the Library a copy of the script used by staff at Pensions Service call centres to respond to new telephone claims for retirement pensions. [57512]
Mr. McCartney [holding answer 20 May 2002]: There is no formal script used when making telephone application for retirement pension. Our agents have an "interactive" electronic claim form that prompts them to ask for the relevant information, but does not specify the words they use to do this.
As part of our commitment to provide a first class service to our customers, we will provide all of our customer agents with a two-week "customer experience" training programme. This will equip them with the tools they need to deal sensitively with our customers.
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Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many prospective pensioners have received combined pensions forecasts to date; and what his target number is of recipients for each of the next three years. [54240]
Mr. McCartney: To date state pension information has been provided to pension scheme providers to enable the issue of 33,662 combined pension statements.
A further 15,000 records have recently been provided to enable the issue of combined pension statements by the scheme provider in the near future.
The on-going recruitment of providers will build to a service that enables the private sector to issue up to 15 million forecasts by 2005–06. Precise volumes are difficult to predict year-on-year as this is dependent on take-up levels within the industry.
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will update his estimates based on the Family Resources Survey 1999–2000 of (a) median pensioner incomes, excluding means-tested benefits, by age, sex and marital status, on the basis of his answer of 16 November 2000, Official Report, column 790W, on pensions, and (b) the size of each group. [53009]
Mr. McCartney: The information requested is in the table. It should be noted that the "median income" represents the income of the person or family exactly in the middle of the range of ranked incomes of the age group. For each age group there is a wide range of incomes.
| Age 60–64 | Age 65–69 | Age 70–74 | Age 75–79 | Age 80+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single males | |||||
| Median income (£) | n/a | 136 | 138 | 126 | 118 |
| Number | n/a | 240,000 | 230,000 | 230,000 | 270,000 |
| Single females | |||||
| Median income (£) | 132 | 119 | 106 | 110 | 103 |
| Number | 380,000 | 540,000 | 610,000 | 700,000 | 900,000 |
| Couples | |||||
| Median income (£) | n/a | 281 | 233 | 216 | 178 |
| Number | n/a | 1,010,000 | 780,000 | 580,000 | 320,000 |
Notes:
1. The data are from the Family Resources Survey 1999–2000 and are rounded to the nearest £1 or 10,000.
2. Estimates are for pensioner units. Pensioner units are defined as single (non-cohabiting) people over state pension age (65 and over for men, 60 and over for women) and couples (married or cohabiting) where the man is over state pension age.
3. Pensioner units are allocated to age categories according to the age of the head. The head of a couple is defined as the man.
4. Estimates have not been split by gender for couples as the extent of income sharing within pensioner units is not known.
5. Means-tested benefits refer to minimum income guarantee, working families' tax credit, housing benefit, council tax benefit and social fund grants.
6. These results are based on survey respondents' identification of different elements of benefit income, and are therefore subject to misreporting.
Benefit Claimants
Tony Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many claimants of (a) disability living allowance and (b) incapacity benefit in (i) West Dunbartonshire and (ii) the UK have taken up work and remained in employment for longer than a year since the introduction of the linking rule. [51577]
Mr. Nicholas Brown: Disability living allowance is payable regardless of whether or not the recipient is in work, providing that the qualifying criteria continue to be met. No linking rules therefore apply.
Information on the number of people who have stopped receiving incapacity benefit to take up work, and have remained in employment for longer than a year since the extension of the linking rule to 52 weeks is not available.
Tony Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many claimants of (a) disability living allowance and (b) incapacity benefit in (i) West Dunbartonshire and (ii) the United Kingdom have taken
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up work and subsequently been able to reclaim and receive those benefits within a year owing to the linking rule. [51576]
Mr. Nicholas Brown: Disability living allowance is payable regardless of whether or not the recipient is in work, providing that the qualifying criteria continue to be met. No linking rules therefore apply.
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From 5 October 1998 we extended the linking rules for incapacity benefit to 52 weeks to allow disabled people to try out work safe in the knowledge that they can return to the same rate of benefit if the job does not work out.
The available information in respect of incapacity benefit is in the table.
| 1 December 1998 to 30 November 2000 | |
|---|---|
| People in Great Britain | |
| Who stopped claiming incapacity benefit to start work(5) | 48,400 |
| Who returned to incapacity benefit from full-time work or employment training within 52 weeks | 9,500 |
| People in West Dunbartonshire | |
| Who stopped claiming incapacity benefit to start work | (6)2,003 |
| Who returned to incapacity benefit from full-time work or employment training within 52 weeks | (7)— |
(5) Figure refers only to people leaving incapacity benefit who declare that they are moving into work within seven days and protect their rate of benefit in payment for the following year. It does not represent all people who leave incapacity benefit.
(6) This figure is taken from a small number of sample cases and is subject to a high degree of sampling error. It should therefore only be used as an indication of the current situation.
(7) Denotes a negligible figure.
Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.
2. Social Security matters in Northern Ireland are the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
3. The 52-week linking rule was introduced from 5 October 1998 for people who leave incapacity benefit to go into paid work or employment training. Information on the number benefiting from the change is available on the incapacity benefit computer system from 1 December 1998.
Source:
Figures are taken from 5 per cent. samples of the incapacity benefit computer system in Great Britain and exclude a small number of cases held clerically.
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