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10 Feb 2003 : Column 515W—continued
Vaccines
Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many personnel have volunteered to receive (a) anthrax vaccines and (b) other vaccines; and what percentage of those offered the injections this represents. [92144]
Dr. Moonie: According to centrally held records, as at 21 January 2003, 16,538 personnel had been offered immunisation against anthrax, of whom 8,103 had accepted, an uptake rate of 49 per cent. Information on the uptake of other vaccines is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what impact vaccines administered to Her Majesty's armed forces have been found to have on fertility; and if he will make a statement. [93470]
Dr. Moonie [holding answer 28 January 2003]: We are not aware of any clinical evidence to suggest that the vaccines offered to Service personnel have any impact on fertility.
Warship Hull Design
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the value of passive defence principles in warship hull design since the attack on the USS Cole. [95879]
Mr. Ingram: The Ministry of Defence has an ongoing pro-active research and development programme to address the value of all aspects of warship hull survivability, including passive defence principles, from potential external threats, including munitions, explosive devices and biological and chemical agents.
The result of this work is used to inform the operation of, and improvements to, existing warships and made available to Industry in the context of contracting for the designs of new warships.
Whitehall
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his latest estimate is of the value of Ministry of Defence buildings in Whitehall, London; what the value is of each building; and if he will make a statement. [95789]
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Dr. Moonie: The information is as follows:
| Building | £ million |
|---|---|
| Great Scotland Yard | 2 |
| Old War Office | 170 |
| Horseguards | 3.207 |
| Main Building | 85 (but projected to be circa 350on completion in April 2004) |
| Northumberland House | 12 |
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Ministry of Defence staff work in buildings in Whitehall, London; and if he will make a statement. [95790]
Dr. Moonie: There are approximately 3,400 Ministry of Defence staff working in six MOD buildings in the Whitehall area. It should be remembered that of these three, Main Building is currently undergoing a major redevelopment.
WORK AND PENSIONS
Employment (Autism)
18. Dr. Ladyman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to support people with autism who want to work. [96335]
Mr. Nicholas Brown: People with autism can access the full range of Jobcentre Plus employment programmes aimed at helping people with disabilities to find work, including Workstep and Access to Work.
The Department also has a contract with the National Autistic Society's Prospects service to develop and test ways of helping people with autism and Asperger syndrome into work.
Pensions
21. Angela Watkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the most recent Office for National Statistics estimates of the value of private pension funds. [96338]
Mr. McCartney: The Office for National Statistics estimate that the total assets of self-administered pension funds were as shown in the table. The latest year for which data are available is 2000. Since then the total will have been affected by a number of factors, including movements in asset prices. Until later data are available we cannot assess their impact. These figures exclude personal and some occupational pension schemes. Figures for 2001 are expected to be available from ONS around spring 2003.
| £ billion | |
|---|---|
| 1997 | 656.9 |
| 1998 | 699.2 |
| 1999 | 812.2 |
| 2000 | 765.2 |
The caveats to note are as follows:
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This data are provided by The Office for National Statistics (ONS series code AHVA).
The ONS statistics are based on sample surveys which are grossed to a population drawn from the National Association of Pension Funds Yearbook. The resulting figures are raised by a further uplift factor to allow for pension funds which are not members of the trade association. This factor reflects information from the Share Ownership Survey conducted by ONS and information from the Occupational Pensions Supervisory Authority. The data are subject to errors inherent in survey-based data.
The data cover self-administered pension funds only. A self-administered pension scheme is defined as an occupational pension scheme with units invested in one or more managed schemes or unit trusts. The trustees of these types of schemes can employ either an in-house fund manager to take the day-to-day investment decisions or they can opt to use an external manager to manage the investment. The data exclude personal pensions, unfunded and notionally funded schemes and fully insured schemes. An insured scheme is one where the scheme's trustees hold, as a sole asset, an insurance policy contract or an annuity contract.
Unfortunately data are not available on the value of pension fund assets which are excluded from the figures quoted in the PQ answer.
Poverty
22. Shona McIsaac: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the effects of recent Government policy on benefits upon families with children at (a) average and (b) below average household income. [96339]
Malcolm Wicks: A full analysis of the income distribution is published annually in the Households Below Average Income series, and analysis of Government action to alleviate poverty is published annually in the Opportunity for all series. Both are available in the Library.
As a result of our personal tax and benefit measures, by April this year, all families with children will be on average £1,200 a year better off. Moreover, increases have been targeted so that families with children in the poorest 20 per cent. of the population will be on average £2,400 a year better off.
Occupational Pension Schemes (Compensation)
23. Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will introduce legislation to create a compensation fund for pensioners affected by the wind-up of occupational pension schemes following company failure. [96340]
Mr. McCartney: A compensation scheme already exists to provide compensation for losses caused by dishonesty where the employer is insolvent. Proposals to increase the amount of compensation payable to 100 per cent. of actual loss are set out in the Pensions Green Paper "Simplicity, security and choice: working and saving for retirement" (Cm 5677).
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Proposals to introduce some form of insurance, perhaps a Central Discontinuance fund, are also set out in the Pensions Green Paper. These proposals would provide all scheme members with greater protection in cases where their company winds-up with insufficient funds to meet their pension liabilities.
But before deciding what changes to implement, we will take into account responses from the consultation process.
The protection that people receive if their pension scheme is wound up is very important. That is why we are looking carefully at proposals that would: share out scheme assets more fairly, introduce a centralised "clearing house" or some form of insurance, increase the compensation payable to members in the case of fraud or dishonest; and strengthen the protection for members whose solvent employer chooses to wind-up a scheme.
The Government want to ensure that when a scheme winds up, the assets are divided among scheme members as fairly as possible. Through the Green Paper we are consulting on whether people who are approaching retirement age should be given a higher priority when scheme assets are distributed on wind-up, than at present. Or whether people who have been members of their pension scheme for a number of years should be given a higher priority.
We are also consulting on whether there should be a fairer sharing of assets between those with larger and smaller pensions when a scheme winds up. Possibly setting a cap on the level of pension that those with the highest pensions might receive, if there are limited assets available in the scheme.
We are considering moving pension schemes up the order of priority for payment. Possibly creating a new category of creditor, which would give pension schemes higher priority than at present.
We are also seeking views on other approaches to dealing with under-funded defined benefit schemes that are wound up because their sponsoring employer becomes insolvent:
- A form of insurance (possibly a central discontinuance fund) that enables members to be more confident that, if their employer becomes insolvent with an under-funded pension scheme, they will receive the benefits promised.
A centralised arrangement or "clearing house" into which people whose employer became insolvent could pay the funds that they receive on wind-up. The "clearing house" would seek to buy the best available deferred annuity from an insurance company and should be able to negotiate better annuity rates.
A compensation scheme already exists to provide compensation for losses caused by dishonesty where the employer is insolvent. Proposals to increase the amount of compensation payable to 100 per cent. of the actual loss are set out in the Green Paper.
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When solvent employers start winding up their under-funded defined benefit pension schemes, this also leaves many scheme members in financial difficulty. So, we are also seeking views on changes to the debt on the employer provisions that might result in more funds being put into a scheme when a solvent employers chooses to wind it up.
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