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22 May 2003 : Column 925W—continued
Young People
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many people have entered the employer option under the New Deal for Young People in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement; [114476]
- (2) how many people have entered the full-time education and training option under the New Deal for Young People in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [114486]
Mr. Nicholas Brown: The information requested is in the table:
| New Deal Option | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full-time education and training option | Employment option | |
| January to December 1998 | 28,800 | 13,800 |
| January to December 1999 | 36,200 | 15,700 |
| January to December 2000 | 25,600 | 12,300 |
| January to December 2001 | 18,500 | 9,200 |
| January to December 2002 | 18,800 | 8,400 |
Source:
New Deal Evaluation Database.
Pension Books
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in (a) Bassetlaw and (b) Nottinghamshire are not yet in receipt of the new pensions books. [113865]
Maria Eagle: This is a matter for Alexis Cleveland, Chief Executive of The Pension Service, to reply. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Charlie Mackinnon to John Mann, dated 22 May 2003:
- The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has asked Alexis Cleveland to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many people in (a) Bassetlaw and (b) Nottinghamshire are not yet in receipt of the new pension books. Due to annual leave I am replying on her behalf.
- I am pleased to tell you that work on correcting a problem with replacement order books is well under way.
- The number affected within Bassetlaw are included in the details for Nottinghamshire shown below. I am afraid it is not possible for us to separate the numbers for Bassetlaw itself.
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- Approximately 210 books were sent to Post offices in Nottinghamshire, 66 in Lincoln and 77 in Mansfield that would have been rejected by the Post Office's issuing system if we had not intervened. We have liaised with the Post office and agreed that affected books will be recalled and replacements, which will not suffer rejection, issued.
- The replacement is largely complete. As at 19 May, 207 of the 210 Nottinghamshire cases have been dealt with. The remaining cases will be dealt with as a matter of priority. The cases falling within the Lincoln and Mansfield areas have all been dealt with.
- Unfortunately, due to the time required to produce replacements, some new order books will not be with post offices for customer collection until mid week.
- Customers affected by this will receive a telephone call to explain the reason for the delay and discuss their situation before the date originally set for collection of their replacement order book.
- Our customers will receive payments due to them as soon as possible and will be offered alternative methods of payment to ensure that they do not suffer hardship because of this technical difficulty.
- I hope that this is helpful.
Pension Credit
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much expenditure on the pension credit is expected to be paid to people who are aged (a) 60 to 64, (b) 65 to 69, (c) 70 to 74, (d) 75 to 79 and (e) 80 and over. [114552]
Maria Eagle: The information requested is in the table.
| Age of head of household | Estimated expenditure |
|---|---|
| 60–64 | 1,500 |
| 65–69 | 900 |
| 70–74 | 900 |
| 75–79 | 900 |
| 80+ | 1,800 |
| Total | 6,000 |
Notes:
1. Expenditure is estimated for 2004–05, the first full financial year of pension credit after its introduction.
2. he forecast of expenditure by age is calculated separately for:
(a) Underlying MIG expenditure. This is forecast on the basis of information from the Department's administrative data, and
(b) Additional expenditure resulting from the introduction of pension credit. This is forecast based on the distribution of money among those eligible to pension credit, estimated in the Department's Policy Simulation Model. Figures should be treated as an approximation and may vary according to actual take-up.
3. Figures are rounded to the nearest £100 million.
4. Figures are consistent with the Budget 2003 forecasts available on the DWP internet site and contained in the Departmental Report 2003, Cm 5921.
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pension credit claimants are expected to be aged (a) 60 to 64, (b) 65 to 69, (c) 70 to 74, (d) 75 to 79 and (e) 80 and over; and what proportion this is of people in each age group. [114553]
Maria Eagle: The information requested is not available. Information as is available is in the table.
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| Age bands | Number of households entitled to pension credit (million) | Proportion for each age group (percentage) |
|---|---|---|
| 60–64 | 0.45 | 25 |
| 65–69 | 0.60 | 34 |
| 70–74 | 0.70 | 42 |
| 75–79 | 0.75 | 51 |
| 80+ | 1.10 | 64 |
Notes:
1. The estimates in Table 1 are based on potential claimants eligible to Pension Credit rather than actual claimants.
2. Column 3 relates to the proportion of households eligible to Pension Credit out of the total number of pensioner households for that age group.
3. The estimates were calculated for all pensioners using the department's Policy Simulation Model based on the Family Resource Survey data for 2000–01 projected forward to 2003–04. This shows around 3.6 million households entitled to pension credit.
4. The Policy Simulation Model excludes all pensioners in nursing or residential care homes. This is because the Family Resource Survey data does not contain information on these cases. We estimate that just over 200,000 pensioners in care homes will be entitled to Pension Credit. This means that total pension credit entitlement for 2003–04 is estimated to be about 3.8 million households.
5. The figures in the table were rounded to the nearest 50,000 cases. The figures may not add up due to rounding.
The Department's PSA target states that 3 million households will be in receipt of Pension Credit by 2006.
Mr. Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what plans he has to introduce a free phone helpline for pensioners when the pension credit is introduced; [115291]
- (2) what action he is taking to ensure that the helpline for the pension credit will be adequately staffed. [115276]
Maria Eagle: The free pension credit application line became operational on 7 April 2003. The main purpose of the application line is to take applications for pension credit, but it will also deal with inquiries. Staffing levels for the application line have been based on a careful assessment of the likely numbers of applications for pension credit. A phased and measured approach to taking on applications will help to ensure that staffing levels are appropriate for the level of applications at any time.
Pension Funds
Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his answer of 10 March 2003, Official Report, column 95W, on top-up fees, whether his Department plans to commission independent research showing the likely impact of top-up fees on the ability of those under 40 years of age to make reasonable contributions to their pension funds; and when he will complete his annual review of future research projects. [111073]
Maria Eagle: Development of the annual review of research continues so that the Department can take account of responses to the Green Paper "Simplicity, Security and Choice: working and saving for retirement", Cm 5677. The Department's research programme will be published in the Summer.
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Pensions
Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if his Department will make clear in future public information campaigns that stakeholder pensions are not backed by the Government. [111441]
Maria Eagle: In its publicity, the Department is already careful to ensure that no claims are made about the investment performance of stakeholder pensions, or that the Government back their performance. The nature of the advice regime around the sale of stakeholder pensions is clearly important and the Financial Services Authority is currently considering whether any changes are appropriate to that regime.
Post Office Card Account
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the procedure to be followed by someone who wishes to open a Post Office card account. [114372]
Malcolm Wicks: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave the hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire (Mr. Heald) on 6 May 2003, Official Report, column 545W.
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of enquiries from members of the public on automated transfer of benefits to bank accounts have enquired about the use of the post office card account. [114011]
Malcolm Wicks: The information is not available in the format requested. However, as at 9 May 2003, 257,405 customers have requested a post office card account.
Mr. Alan Reid: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which banks and building societies operate accounts into which direct payments of pensions and benefits may be made, and which can be accessed at Post Office branches. [114676]
Malcolm Wicks: There are a range of bank and building society accounts into which direct payment of pensions and benefits can be made.
The institutions which agreed to make their basic bank accounts accessible at Post Offices, from April 2003 are: Abbey National; Alliance and Leicester; Bank of Ireland; Bank of Scotland; Barclays; Clydesdale bank; The Co-operative bank; First Trust bank; Halifax; HSBC; Lloyds TSB; Nationwide Building Society; NatWest; Northern bank; The Royal Bank of Scotland; Ulster bank and Yorkshire bank.
In addition the Post Office provides banking services on behalf of: Alliance and Leicester; Barclays; The Co-operative bank; First Direct (Scotland only); Lloyds TSB and the Internet banks, Cahoot and Smile. The paper-based service enables customers of these banks to cash cheques at post offices free of charge. Also from 1 April 2003, the Alliance and Leicester have provided electronic access to their bank accounts at post offices and 10 million Barclays Bank current account holders can now withdraw cash from their accounts across any Post Office counter in the country, using the PIN pads newly installed there. Post Office Ltd. is seeking to extend such arrangements with other banks.
22 May 2003 : Column 929W
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