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WORK AND PENSIONS

Benefit Payments

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his answer of 3 June 2003, Official Report, column 50W, on benefit order books, what the budget is for the exceptions service being developed by his Department as an alternative to the direct payment of benefits; and if he will make a statement on the resources being allocated to the exceptions service in each of the next three financial years. [118891]

Malcolm Wicks: The cost of the exceptions service will depend on (a) the details of the service which we are currently developing and (b) the number of customers paid by this method.

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if the term "bank account" in his Department's Spending Review 2002 PSA target to pay 89 per cent. of benefit customers by direct transfer to their bank account by 2005 includes both bank accounts and Post Office card accounts. [118899]

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Malcolm Wicks: The Department has a published Public Service Agreement that by 2005, 85 per cent. of customers will have their benefits paid by Direct Payment. Direct Payment includes both bank and building society current and basic accounts and the Post Office card account.

Ms Atherton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of women teaching assistants employed as term-time workers; and what plans he has to enable term-time workers who average less than 16 hours a week to claim jobseeker's allowance. [117923]

Malcolm Wicks: Information on the number of women teaching assistants employed as term-time workers is not held centrally.

Term-time workers who work on average less than 16 hours a week can already claim jobseeker's allowance, provided they meet the other conditions of entitlement.

Carers

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on his policy on the eligibility of former carers of people affected by asbestosis under 45 years of age for bereavement benefit. [117110]

Malcolm Wicks: Bereavement Benefits were introduced on 9 April 2001, and for the first time extended support to both widows and widowers following the death of a spouse. These new benefits concentrate the help available where it is most needed: on immediate needs; on families with children; and on older widows and widowers, who are more likely to have been out of the labour market for some time.

The Bereavement Payment, a lump sum payment of 2,000 payable mmediately to help with costs arising on bereavement, and Widowed Parent's Allowance are both available to those under 45 years of age where they satisfy the qualifying conditions.

Child Support Agency

Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when existing CSA cases will be calculated on the basis of the legislation which came into effect on 3 March. [118907]

Malcolm Wicks: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (John Thurso) on 22 May 2003, Official Report, columns 918–19W.

Job Centre/Benefit Office Amalgamation

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many job losses are anticipated in each region and nation from the amalgamation of job centres with benefit offices; how he plans to achieve these job losses and over what timescale; and what consultation is planned with hon. Members whose constituents may be affected. [114953]

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Mr. Nicholas Brown: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Jobcentre Plus, David Anderson. He will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Mr. David Anderson to Mr. Jim Cousins, dated 12 June 2003:

As Jobcentre Plus is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question concerning job losses as the result of Jobcentre Plus roll out. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.

The national roll-out of Jobcentre Plus is bringing together Jobcentres and Benefit Offices to form new integrated offices. As part of the last spending review, the Government agreed to a major investment plan for the department including over £2bn for rolling out of Jobcentre Plus. A significant part of this investment will be used for better technology, improved training and modernised business processes. As a result we will, over time, need fewer staff to provide enhanced services to our customers.

In our early planning for each Jobcentre Plus district we are sharing our proposals for service delivery with a wide variety of people and organisations. While these are determined by local management they will include, for example, local MPs, Local Authorities, service delivery partners, employers' representatives, Citizens Advice Bureaux, welfare rights organisations, other Government Agencies, Health Authorities, Housing Associations, our staff and trade union representatives. After views and comments have been taken on board District Managers then share the finally agreed plans with the people and groups described above.

For districts introducing the new service in 2002/03 the main communications exercises took place between June and September, and we were pleased to receive comments and views on many aspects of our plans. We have taken account of those views, changed our plans where appropriate and responded to those who contacted us.

Jobcentre Plus plans to reduce its staff numbers to 76,600 by March 2006, equivalent to a 3.5 per cent reduction. However, staffing levels are planned to remain relatively stable over the next year. Regional plans have yet to be agreed for Jobcentre Plus.

While the precise impact will be different in different parts of the country and there may be areas of greater difficulty, the planned reductions in staffing will be carefully managed and are within our overall margins of staff turnover. We expect therefore to manage this reduction by moving staff to other parts of the Department for Work and Pensions or through natural wastage.

I hope this is helpful.

Jobcentre Services

Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people are employed by the jobcentre services in the Bridgwater constituency. [115612]

Mr. Nicholas Brown: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Jobcentre Plus, David Anderson. He will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Mr. David Anderson to Mr. Ian Liddell-Grainger, dated 12 June 2003:

As Jobcentre Plus is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question concerning how many people are employed by the job services in the Bridgwater constituency. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.

There are a total of 143 staff employed by Jobcentre Plus in the Bridgwater constituency—37 employed at the Bridgwater Jobcentre, 12 employed at Burnham on Sea Jobcentre Plus and 94 staff at the Bridgwater Social Security office. Some functions take

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place at Bridgwater for the whole of the Somerset District, including the District Control Point, Jobseeker Direct and Third Party payments. These are all staffed by Jobcentre Plus staff.

The District is currently undergoing the conversion of its Jobcentres and Social Security offices into Jobcentre Plus offices. The Bridgwater offices are due to become Jobcentre Plus offices from 28 July 2003. The Burnham on Sea office has already been converted.

No reductions in staff are planned in the Somerset district, however there will be a redeployment of work across the district, for example Social Fund work will be moved from Taunton to Bridgwater.

I hope this is helpful.

Standard Local Housing Allowance

Mr. Coleman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to allow housing benefit claimants sufficient time to move to a cheaper private rental area before being subject to the proposed standard local housing allowance. [118492]

Malcolm Wicks: In the ten Pathfinder areas where the standard local housing allowance will be introduced, local authorities will contact people affected by the new scheme to let them know about the change in the way their benefit is calculated.

We propose to protect existing benefit recipients at the point of transfer if they would lose out under the new scheme. As a result, no one will be forced to move to a cheaper area because of a fall in the amount of housing benefit they receive.

Unemployment Benefit

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many unemployment benefit (Med 3) forms have been reported lost in the last year; and what investigations have been carried out by his Department into missing unemployment benefit (Med 3) forms. [116463]

Mr. Nicholas Brown: We are not aware of any major problem with lost or missing Med 3 medical statements. We do not record how many Med 3 medical statements are reported lost each year and we have not carried out any investigations into this matter. If the hon. Gentleman has a specific case in mind I will look into it if he writes to me with specific details.

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