| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Attendance Allowance (Scotland)
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions where he allocated the money for attendance allowance in Scotland following the decision of the Scottish Executive to implement free personal care for older people. [67151]
Maria Eagle: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer given to the hon. Member for Perth (Annabelle Ewing), on 21 January 2002, Official Report, column 633W.
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the section of his Department's guidance note on replying to written parliamentary questions requiring parliamentary questions to be answered fully, and pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire (Mr. Kirkwood) on 22 January 2002, Official Report column 808W, for what reason the information requested on 10 June 2002, Official Report, columns 872–73W, was not held in the format requested. [66475]
Mr. McCartney: The answer to the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire (Mr. Kirkwood) on 22 January 2002, Official Report, column 808W, was in response to his question regarding the cost of administering child benefit and working families tax credit. The estimated cost of administering child benefit was taken from the 1998–99 financial year. The estimated cost of administering working families tax credit was provided by Inland Revenue.
The answer provided on 10 June was in response to the hon. Member's request for a variety of individual items, including some sub-components of retirement benefit. The estimated cost of administering benefits is not maintained at such a detailed level. Consequently, it was not possible to provide a reply covering every item listed.
However, in an attempt to be as helpful as possible, the answer given on 10 June 2002, Official Report, columns 872–73W also explained that the Department for Work and Pensions now accounts for its administrative and programme expenditure in accordance with its key objectives, which are published in the Department's
15 Jul 2002 : Column 113W
Public Service Agreement (PSA), and the individual Requests for Resources (RfRs), which are published in the Department's Main Estimate.
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many written parliamentary questions to his Department have been tabled in each month since May 1997. [68481]
Maria Eagle: Such information as is available is in the tables.
| Month | Written questions tabled |
|---|---|
| 2001 | |
| June | 108 |
| July | 291 |
| September | 9 |
| October | 371 |
| November | 579 |
| December | 294 |
| 2002 | |
| January | 432 |
| February | 337 |
| March | 453 |
| April | 249 |
| May | 239 |
| June | 240 |
15 Jul 2002 : Column 114W
| Parliamentary session | Written questions tabled |
|---|---|
| 2000–01 | 1,097 |
| 1999–2000 | 2,593 |
| 1998–99 | 1,980 |
| 1997–98 | 3,384 |
Appeals
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his answer of 26 June 2002, Official Report, columns 941–42W, on appeals, (a) how many appeals were heard, (b) how many appeals were found in favour of the appellant and (c) what percentage of appeals were found in favour of the appellant, in each of the last four years for (i) attendance allowance, (ii) disability living allowance and (iii) incapacity benefit. [66837]
Maria Eagle: This is a matter for Neil Ward, Chief Executive of the Appeals Service. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Neil Ward to Mr. Paul Holmes, dated 11 July 2002:
The Secretary of State has asked me to respond to your recent parliamentary questions on the subject of appeals against attendance allowance, disability living allowance; and, incapacity benefit. The available information is as follows:
| Year (ending April) | Case load as at 30 November (thousand) | Number of appeals cleared at hearing | Number of appeals found in favour of the appellant | Percentage of appeals found in favour of the appellant |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (i) Attendance Allowance | ||||
| 2000 | 1,291.3 | 7,640 | 3,420 | 44.8 |
| 2001 | 1,295.4 | 10,830 | 5,030 | 46.4 |
| (ii) Disability Living Allowance | ||||
| 2000 | 2,197.7 | 62,815 | 30,090 | 47.9 |
| 2001 | 2,298.0 | 86,325 | 45,150 | 52.3 |
| (iii) Incapacity Benefit | ||||
| 2000 | 2,310.4 | 42,285 | 16,660 | 40.4 |
| 2001 | 2,342.9 | 33,910 | 14,185 | 41.8 |
Figures are not available prior to 2000, as a change in the method of recording the type of appeal in the Generic Appeals Processing System as part of the introduction of Decision Making and Appeals regulations resulted in certain benefits being mapped incorrectly.
I hope this is helpful.
Asperger's Syndrome
Valerie Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to support and develop the work of Prospects, the employment scheme for people with Asperger's syndrome. [68190]
Maria Eagle: The Department has a contract with the National Autistic Society's Prospects service to develop and test ways of helping people with Asperger's syndrome into work.
This project provides us with a valuable opportunity to support a group of disabled people with entrenched problems resulting from their disabilities, and to learn about the provision of a specialist employment service for people with disabilities by a small voluntary organisation working in partnership with the public services.
Evaluation of the project will improve our knowledge of how to support people suffering from this condition and will help the National Autistic Society in further developing the service for its clients.
State Pension
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his answer of 19 June 2002, Official Report, columns 407–08W, why the Government decided that the higher uprating of the basic state pension should apply to basic state pension increments from April 2002. [68607]
Mr. McCartney: The decision was taken in order for the increments to maintain their proportionate value.
Mr. Barnes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many self-employed people receive the full basic State Pension; and what percentage of the total this is. [69196]
15 Jul 2002 : Column 115W
Mr. McCartney: We do not collect information on the number of formerly self-employed people who have given up work and now receive a State Pension.
The number of people working in a self-employed capacity and aged above State Pension age (60 for women; 65 for men) is in the table.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Females over the State Pension age | 94,000 |
| Males over the State Pension age | 120,000 |
| Total | 214,000 |
Notes:
1. Figures in the table are from the Labour Force Survey—Winter 2001.
2. The latest total number of people in Great Britain in receipt of a State Pension is 10.3 million—September 2001 administrative data.
The total of 214,000 represents about 2 per cent. of the total number of people receiving a State Pension.
Mr. Barnes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of (a) men and (b) women had contributed to national insurance for under 25 per cent. of the years required to receive the full basic State Pension in the latest 12 months for which figures are available. [69197]
Mr. McCartney: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the table.
| Proportion of single people and couples over State Pension age and receiving a State Retirement Pension 2000–01 | ||
|---|---|---|
| All single pensioners and pensioner couples | ||
| Pensioner couples | 99 | |
| Single male pensioners | 98 | |
| Single female pensioners | 98 | |
| Total | 98 | |
| Recently retired single pensioners and pensioner couples(28),(29),(30),(31) | ||
| Pensioner couples | 98 | |
| Single male pensioners | 96 | |
| Single female pensioners | 94 | |
| Total | 97 | |
(28) It is possible to defer claiming State Pension for up to five years. Therefore, particularly among the recently retired pensioners, there will be people with entitlement to a State Pension who do not yet receive an income from their pension.
(29) These results are based on Table 8 of the Pensioners' Incomes Series 2000–01.
(30) Figures for Retirement Pension also include the other contributory benefits for the elderly, Widows' Benefits and Incapacity Benefit.
(31) Recently retired pensioner units are defined as: single women aged 60–64; single men aged 65–69; and couples in which the man is aged 65–69.
Mr. Barnes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of (a) men and (b) women receive the full basic State Pension. [69198]
Mr. McCartney: The percentages of males and females who are entitled to a Basic State Pension and who receive the full basic State Pension are as set out in the table.
15 Jul 2002 : Column 116W
| Percentage of males and females who are entitled to a basic State Pension and who receive the full basic State Pension | |
|---|---|
| Male | 91 |
| Female | 83 |
Notes:
1. The figures are rounded to the nearest percentage point.
1. The figures are taken from administrative data on 30 September 2001.
2. Figures are for Great Britain.
3. The table includes everyone in receipt of a Category A, AB, ABL, B, BL, or D State Pension.
4. Full pension refers to people in receipt of the maximum amount of basic State Pension that applies to the category of pension they receive.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |