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7 Jul 2003 : Column 605W—continued
Minimum Income Guarantee
Mr. Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the cost of paying the full minimum income guarantee to all people over the age of 75 years. [123994]
Mr. Pond: The Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) is available to all pensioners over the age of 75 and is currently worth at least £102.10 for a single pensioner and £155.80 for a couple. The cost of paying MIG to those over the age of 75 in 2002–03 was £2.1 billion.
- Notes:
- Expenditure figures are consistent with Budget 2003 forecasts.
- Expenditure figures are rounded to nearest £50 million.
- Couples are classified by the age of the older partner.
National Insurance
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his answer of 23 June 2003 to the hon. Member for Havant (Mr. Willetts), Official Report, column 629W, on national insurance, how many women have registered the view that they received wrong information which led them to make a decision that did not benefit them; how many cases (a) have been found in favour of the appellant, (b) have been found not in favour of the appellant and (c) are ongoing; and of the cases found in favour of the appellant, how many women have elected to pay full rate contributions for the affected years. [123321]
Dawn Primarolo: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested is not available.
Occupational Pension Funds
Mr. Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to compensate people
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who have had their occupational pensions placed into administration; how many occupational pension funds are in administration; and how many occupational pension funds have been wound up since 1997. [123996]
Malcolm Wicks: As my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, explained to my hon. Friend when they met on 12 June, we are concerned about instances when the employer sponsoring a pension scheme becomes insolvent and the pension scheme winds up underfunded.
We are very much aware of the serious impact this has on workers and their families. Indeed, it is because of cases like this that we are strengthening member protection and introducing a Pension Protection Fund to protect the long term security of occupational pension scheme members. However, as we have also made clear, while we will listen to constructive proposals we do not want to give false hope.
Information on pension schemes is held by the Pension Schemes Registry (PSR) that is maintained by the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority (OPRA). The PSR does not collect information about the number of pension schemes where the employer sponsoring the pension scheme is insolvent. Data on the number of occupational pension schemes recorded by the Registry as wound up since 1997 is provided in the table. The figures relate to the position as at 19 March 2003.
| Number of schemes that completed winding up | |
|---|---|
| 1 April 1997 to 31 March 1998 | 24,974 |
| 1 April 1998 to 31 March 1999 | 7,427 |
| 1 April 1999 to 31 March 2000 | 8,185 |
| 1 April 2000 to 31March 2001 | 6,119 |
| 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002 | 4,731 |
| 1 April 2002 to 19 March 2003 | 3,599 |
Notes:
1. The 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. Schemes have up to 12 months to notify of any change.
2. A wound up scheme is one which has notified OPRA that it has completed winding up procedures.
3. The data in the table relate to defined benefit and defined contribution 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, however, are not included in the table.
4. The reason the figures for 1 April 1997 to 31 March 1998 are so much larger than for other years is that from 1997, the rules governing which schemes had a levy liability were changed—all schemes with two or more members became liable whereas previously, only schemes with two or more active members were liable. So, in 1997, the Pension Schemes Registry issued levy requests to a large number of schemes, only to discover that a number of them had already wound up. All these schemes were recorded as having completed wind up in 1997–98 even if, in fact, they had wound up earlier. Therefore, we know these figures are inflated, but not by how much. This is because the figures were not collected for the purpose of recording the numbers of scheme wind ups.
Source:
OPRA
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Pension Books
Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners use a pension book. [123070]
Mr. Pond: The table shows the breakdown of pensioners claiming Retirement Pension (RP) and/or Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) using an order book.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| RP and MIG | 163,581 |
| MIG only | 1,201,570 |
| RP only | 4,279,911 |
| Total | 5,645,062 |
Notes:
1. The figures are current up to 13 June 2003.
2. Claimants in the RP and MIG category receive both benefits, paid separately by order book.
3. If a claimant is receiving one combined payment through the income support system for both MIG and RP they will only be shown on MIG and not on RP.
4. Claimants in the 'MIG only' and 'RP only' categories may also be claiming RP or MIG respectively but do not use an order book for these claims.
5. Figures quoted are for GB only.
Source:
DWP Information Centre, Information and Analysis Directorate (100 per cent. data).
Pension Credit
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pension credit personal direct mail packs have so far been distributed; and of that number how many (i) successful and (ii) unsuccessful claims have been made. [122693]
Malcolm Wicks: I refer the hon. Member to the oral answer given by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State to the hon. Member for Perth (Annabelle Ewing) on 9 June 2003, Official Report, columns 394–95. The first of the quarterly progress reports on pension credit will be published later in July. A copy will be placed in the Library.
Mr. Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what measures he has put in place to ensure that pension credit will function effectively when it is introduced in October. [123980]
Malcolm Wicks: Preparations for the implementation of pension credit from October 2003 are well advanced. We have recruited extra staff and invested in new infrastructure to meet the additional demands of the new entitlement and we are making best use of the phased take-on period leading up to October to prove our systems and learn from experience before the main take-on begins. An existing tried and tested computer system will be used to make payments from October. The freephone application line is already fully operational and taking advance applications. We are also working with our partner organisations at national and local level to encourage eligible people to take up their entitlement. Our phased approach to take-on will
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ensure that the Pension Service is able to deliver pension credit successfully while continuing to deliver its existing range of services.
Mr. Gordon Marsden : How many pensioners in Blackpool he expects to benefit from the introduction of the pension credit. [123533]
Mr. Pond: We cannot estimate how many pensioners in Blackpool will be eligible for Pension Credit, but her 7,400 pensioners receiving the minimum income guarantee in October 2003 will automatically receive Pension Credit.
Pensions
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners have been means-tested for income entitlements in (a) Shrewsbury and Atcham and (b) Shropshire in each year since 1997. [121741]
Malcolm Wicks: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available for the minimum income guarantee (MIG) is shown in the table.
| Shrewsbury and Atcham parliamentary constituency | Shropshire county | |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 3,000 | 12,300 |
| 1998 | 2,800 | 11,800 |
| 1999 | 2,900 | 7,600 |
| 2000 | 2,700 | 7,400 |
| 2001 | 2,800 | 7,600 |
| 2002 | 2,800 | 8,000 |
| 2003 | 2,600 | 8,100 |
Notes:
1. Shropshire county figures prior to February 1999 include 'The Wrekin'. Figures from February 1999 to February 2003 exclude 'The Wrekin' as it is now part of a Unitary Authority, 'Telford and Wrekin'.
2. Figures are based on a 5 per cent. sample and therefore subject to sampling variation.
3. Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred and quoted in thousands.
4. MIG claimants are defined as benefit units where the claimant and/or their parliamentary constituency/county is assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant ONS Postcode Directory and are based on May 1997 parliamentary boundaries.
Source:
Income Support Quarterly Statistical Enquiries, February 1997 to February 2003.
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