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27 Mar 2003 : Column 366W—continued
PRIVY COUNCIL
External Reports
Mr. Maude: To ask the President of the Council if he will list (a) the title and subject, (b) the total cost to his Department and (c) the commissioned author or organisation of each external report commissioned by his Department in each year since 1997. [103722]
Mr. Bradshaw: My Department has not commissioned any external reports from 2000 to date. The additional information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
WORK AND PENSIONS
Benefit Payment Methods
Mr. David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the use of the (a) post office card account, (b) basic bank account and (c) direct payment into personal bank account of pensions and benefits in (i) 2003–04, (ii) 2004–05 and (iii) 2005–06. [104574]
Malcolm Wicks: At the start of the main move to direct payment in April 2003, there will be some 13 million benefit recipients paid by order book or giro.
At present 85 per cent. of our customers (including 90 per cent. of pensioners) already have access to a suitable account for direct payment and we expect the majority of our customers will choose to use that account. For this reason our operating assumption is that about three million customers will open a post office card account.
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners draw their benefits at (a) post offices and (b) banks or building societies in the Havant constituency. [104578]
Malcolm Wicks: Some customers who are paid direct into an account can also collect their benefit in cash at post offices through network banking arrangements at the post office. There is no data available on the number of benefit claims collected in this way. Girocheques can be cashed either over-the-counter at a post office or through a bank account. For the purposes of this answer, girocheques have been treated as an over-the-counter method of payment.
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Figures have been compiled from those living in the Havant constituency from the data available on the 25 January 2003, and will include an overlap where some pensioners are receiving some benefits at the post office and some into a bank or building society. The number of pensioners in the Havant constituency are shown in the following table:
| Number of pensioners | |
|---|---|
| Total pensioners receiving benefit | 20,032 |
| Drawing benefits solely at a post office | 8,410 |
| Benefits solely paid direct into a bank or building society | 10,832 |
| Pensioners on more than one benefit, paid by combination of post office and direct into a bank or building society | 790 |
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners in the Northavon constituency collect benefits from post offices; and how many have migrated from over-the-counter payments to direct bank transfers in the last 12 weeks. [105297]
Malcolm Wicks: From data available at 25 January 2003 the number of pensioners in the Northavon constituency that collect benefits from post offices is approximately 8,300.
The information is not available in the format requested for the second part of the question.
A comparison of the data available at 25 January 2003 with the same records available at 2 November 2002 indicates that just over 50 pensioners have
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migrated at least one benefit from payments at a post office to payments directly into a bank or building society account. These figures will be influenced by people who may have moved away from, or into the area during the period of the comparison.
Benefit-based Statistics
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what impact he expects the move from benefit-based statistics to ones focused on client groups will have on the information available via written parliamentary questions. [100791]
Mr. Andrew Smith: The move away from publishing individual benefit statistics towards a greater focus on client group based releases will have no effect on the information available via written parliamentary questions.
Company Pension Funds
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many company pension funds have been (a) closed and (b) closed to new entrants in each of the last five years. [103911]
Mr. McCartney: Information on pension schemes is held by the Pension Schemes Registry that is maintained by the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority. Some data on the number of occupational pension schemes recorded by the Registry are provided in the table. The figures relate to the position as at 19 March 2003.
| Closed(15) | Frozen(16) | Winding up(17) | Wound up(18) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 April 1998 to 31 March 1999 | 243 | 297 | 154 | 7,427 |
| 1 April 1999 to 31 March 2000 | 286 | 425 | 4,521 | 8,185 |
| 1 April 2000 to 31 March 2001 | 341 | 555 | 1,702 | 6,119 |
| 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002 | 525 | 558 | 2,206 | 4,731 |
| 1 April 2002 to 19 March 2003 | 414 | 658 | 1,471 | 3,599 |
(14) The Pension Schemes Registry (PSR) is not designed or intended to provide a comprehensive or continuous statistical record of the status of schemes. The PSR registers schemes for tracing purposes and collects the levy from pension schemes, including those in the process of winding up. New scheme data is being reported to the PSR on a continuous basis. Therefore, the figures are subject to continuous revision. When a scheme has changed status, the previous status of the scheme is not recorded on the registry. Schemes have up to 12 months to notify OPRA of any status change so the data for the current year are particularly provisional. The data in the table do not include any schemes that may have changed their benefit type (money purchase, salary related or hybrid) but not their status code (open, closed, frozen, winding up, or wound up).
(15) A closed scheme is a registerable scheme to which no new members may be admitted, but existing members can continue to make contributions and accrue benefits.
(16) A frozen scheme is a registerable scheme under which benefits continue to be payable to existing members, and to which no new members may be admitted, no further contributions can be made by existing members, and no further benefits accrue to existing members (although benefits which have already accrued to them may be increased).
(17) A winding up scheme is one which has notified OPRA that it has commenced winding up procedures.
(18) A wound up scheme is one which has notified OPRA that it has completed winding up procedures.
Note:
The data in the table relate to private sector occupational pension schemes. In addition to data on occupational schemes, the registry also collects data on personal pension and public sector schemes. These schemes are not included in the table.
Source:
OPRA.
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when the hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam will receive replies to his questions (a) 101909 and (b) 97567. [105294]
Maria Eagle: Replies were given to the hon. Member on 25 March 2003.
Construction Industry
Mrs. Roe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will require statutory bodies that place orders with the construction industry for the improvement of public services to be required to ensure through main contractors that all sub- and specialist-contractors hold employers' liability compulsory insurance. [104851]
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Mr. Nicholas Brown: The Department for Work and Pensions maintains standard clauses in contracts with its direct contractors to ensure that required insurance policies, including employers' liability compulsory insurance, are taken out and maintained.
The Department does not have any specific procedures to ensure that main contractors in the construction industry working for statutory bodies also ensure that all their specialist and sub-contractors have the required insurance policies in place. However there is a general requirement on all suppliers specified within the contracting arrangements to ensure that they meet all their legal obligations in this area.
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We will consider the introduction of specific procedures within the context of the review of employers' liability compulsory insurance.
Departmental Staff (Pension Age)
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) male and (b) female employees of his Department, its predecessor and its executive agencies have been over state pension age in each year since 1997. [104580]
Mr. McCartney: The information for men aged 65 and over and women aged 60 and over working in the Department is in the following table.
| Department of Social Security | Employment Service | Department for Work and Pensions | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | |||
| 31 December 1997 | 0 | 746 | 0 | 62 | — | — | |||
| 31 December 1998 | 0 | 654 | 1 | 81 | — | — | |||
| 31 December 1999 | 1 | 431 | 0 | 84 | — | — | |||
| 31 December 2000 | 1 | 426 | 0 | 121 | — | — | |||
| 31 December 2001 | — | — | — | — | 3 | 700 | |||
| 31 December 2002 | — | — | — | — | 0 | 1,214 | |||
| 20 March 2003 | — | — | — | — | 0 | 1,132 | |||
Notes:
1. Figures reflect the numbers of staff in post at the specified dates and include staff who have been over state pension age during the year.
2. Figures from 31 December 2001 reflect the position in the Department for Work and Pensions following the Machinery of Government changes effective from June 2001.
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