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19 Dec 2002 : Column 998W—continued

Access to Financial Services

Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on his Department's response to the recommendations in the report of Policy Action Team 14 on Access to Financial Services on the scope of the Social Fund. [85180]

Malcolm Wicks: We are committed to reducing social and financial exclusion and have given careful consideration to the recommendation of Policy Action Team 14 on extending the scope of Social Fund loans to people in low-paid employment.

The discretionary Social Fund provides grants and loans to help some of the neediest people in our society manage a wide range of unexpected or occasional costs. Over 1.2 million budgeting loans were made last year to people with the lowest incomes, receiving income support or income-based jobseeker's allowance. We have no current plans to extend access to budgeting loans to people with higher incomes as such help would be poorly targeted and potentially very costly.

We continue to keep all aspects of the fund under review.

Ageism

Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proposals he has to tackle age discrimination in the workplace; and what options are open to older people who have been discriminated against without going to the courts. [87366]

Mr. McCartney: We have made a pledge to tackle age discrimination and we are committed to introducing age legislation covering employment, vocational training and guidance by 2006. Until the legislation is introduced there is no recourse to the courts. In the meantime older people who feel they have suffered discrimination in employment because of their age can encourage the employer to look at our website www.agepositive.gov.uk. This provides details about the business benefits of non-ageist employment practices, employer case studies, information about the forthcoming legislation and offers useful links to other organisations such as the Employers Forum on Age.

We have been vigorously promoting the benefits of age diversity and the recruitment, training and retention of older workers to employers through our Age Positive campaign. The campaign focuses on raising employers' awareness of the business case for an age diverse workforce and encourages them to use the Code of Practice on Age Diversity in Employment to inform

19 Dec 2002 : Column 999W

their employment policies. The campaign features a range of initiatives including awards events, conferences, good practice publications and guidance to promote age diversity, as well as the Age Positive website.

The Code of Practice on Age Diversity in Employment, published in 1999, sets out the standards for non-ageist approaches to recruitment, training, promotion, redundancy and retirement. An updated version of the Code of Practice was released during Age Positive week which ran from 2 to 6 December. The Code was developed with leading organisations including the CBI, TUC, the Employers Forum on Age and Age Concern. Evaluation shows that from 1999 to 2001 the number of companies using age in recruitment has already fallen from 27 per cent. to 13 per cent., and the number of companies having a policy against employing older workers has dropped from 14 per cent. to 7 per cent.

Appointments

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to which bodies his Department makes appointments; how many members there are (a) in total and (b) in each body; and how many of those appointed are (i) businessmen, (ii) businessmen in SMEs and (iii) businessmen in micro-businesses. [87401]

Mr. McCartney [holding answer 16 December 2002]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Cabinet Office, on 16 December 2002, Official Report, column 606W.

Benefits

Mr. Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people claimed (a) Jobseeker's Allowance, (b) child-related benefits, (c) winter fuel payments and (d) sickness-related benefits in (i) Somerset and (ii) South West England in each of the last five years. [82611]

Mr. Nicholas Brown: The available information is in the tables. Many benefit recipients fall within more than one category and there is therefore a degree of overlap between the figures.

Number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance

	Somerset	South West Region
May 1998	7,109	82,437
May 1999	6,401	75,624
May 2000	5,174	61,960
May 2001	4,633	52,725
May 2002	3,843	49,492

Notes:

1. Figures are unrounded.

2. Figures are not seasonally adjusted.

Source:

Jobseeker's Allowance Computer System, 100 per cent. claimant count.

Number of families receiving Child Benefit

	Somerset	South West Region
August 1999	57,295	567,910
August 2000	57,360	568,940
August 2001	57,360	568,440
August 2002	57,705	567,930

Notes:

1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 5.

2. Figures by county and region are not available prior to 1999.

Source:

Child Benefit Computer System, 100 per cent. claimant count.

19 Dec 2002 : Column 1000W

Number of families on key benefits

	Somerset	South West Region
May 1998	8,400	92,100
May 1999	7,600	90,300
May 2000	7,500	85,000
May 2001	7,300	82,700
May 2002	7,000	78,200

Notes:

1. Key benefits are Income Support and Jobseekers Allowance with a child premium, and Incapacity Benefit Severe Disablement Allowance with a child dependency increase.

2. Child premia and child dependency increases are paid for children under 16 and young adult dependents aged 16–18 for whom Child Benefit is payable.

Source:

DWP Information Centre Client Group Analysis, 5 per cent. statistical samples.

Winter Fuel Payment recipients

Winter	Somerset	South West Region
1999–2000	103,600	1,003,100
2000–01	113,700	1,098,900
2001–02	116,200	1,112,200

Note:

Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred.

Source:

Winter Fuel Payment Matching Intelligence Data Analysis Service, 100 per cent. data.

Number of people claiming sickness related benefits

	Somerset	South West Region
May 1998	15,300	166,900
May 1999	15,700	172,300
May 2000	15,700	174,700
May 2001	16,600	179,600
May 2002	17,200	182,600

Notes:

1. Sickness related benefits are Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance and Income Support with a disability premium.

2. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.

Source:

DWP Information Centre Client Group Analysis, 5 per cent. statistical samples.

Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) income support claimants and (b) incapacity benefit claimants there were in each year since 1997. [86677]

Mr. Nicholas Brown: The information is in the tables.

People claiming incapacity benefit

Date	Number
May 1997	2,370,500
May 1998	2,316,900
May 1999	2,277,500
May 2000	2,263,200
May 2001	2,327,000
May 2002	2,365,700

Notes:

1. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.

2. Figures are subject to a degree of sampling variation.

3. Figures include a number of people claiming for national insurance credit purposes only.

4. Figures include a small number of people resident overseas.

Source:

5 per cent. samples of the incapacity benefit computer system, which exclude a small number of cases held clerically.

19 Dec 2002 : Column 1001W

People receiving income support

Date	Working age	Non working age	Total
May 1997	2,425,500	1,532,600	3,958,100
May 1998	2,380,100	1,473,000	3,853,100
May 1999	2,377,700	1,436,700	3,814,400
May 2000	2,385,200	1,425,300	3,810,500
May 2001	2,401,800	1,526,100	3,927,900
May 2002	2,378,000	1,551,800	3,929,800

Notes:

1. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred

2. Figures are based on a 5 per cent. sample and are therefore subject to a degree of sampling variation

3. Working age is defined as under 60 for women and under 65 for men

Source:

Income Support Quarterly Statistical Enquiries.

Child Support Payments

Mr. Denis Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress is being made to speed up the introduction of the proposed changes to the method of calculating child support payments for (a) new and (b) current cases. [88154]

Malcolm Wicks : I refer my hon. Friend to the written answer I gave the hon. Member for Galloway and Upper Nithsdale (Mr. Duncan) on 27 November 2002, Official Report, column 317W.

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