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15 Jul 2003 : Column 248W—continued
National Insurance
Mr. Syms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many pensioners who live abroad and have a full National Insurance record have not had their pension up-rated since they moved; and what the current lowest full basic state pension paid to such a pensioner is; [125029]
- (2) how many pensioners who live abroad and have a full National Insurance contribution record have not had their pension up-rated since they moved; and what the lowest full basic state pension paid to a pensioner living abroad who has a full contribution record is. [125030]
Malcolm Wicks: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is that, as at 30 September 2002, 488,400 State Pensioners living abroad will not have their State Pension increased.
- Source:
- Five per cent sample from the Pensions Strategy Computer System as at 30 September 2002.
- Note:
- Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.
Official Spelling
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make it his policy that official (a) correspondence, (b) reports and (c) documentation from his office use the English spelling of words where this differs from the US version. [118861]
15 Jul 2003 : Column 249W
Maria Eagle: The Department for Work and Pensions follows Cabinet Office Guidance for the Handling of Ministerial and Other Correspondence; this ensures that the quality of replies is high.
The department also has its own guidance in place known as Better Letters and Effective Business Writing which emphasise the importance of using plain English in all departmental correspondence.
Departmental publications are prepared in line with the Guidance on the Work of the Government Information and Communication Service.
Plastic Card Fraud
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions following the introduction of direct payment for benefits, what measures he has introduced to. [119848]
Mr. Pond: Direct Payment is a more secure and efficient method of payment. We have been paying benefits into customers' accounts for many years. We have no evidence of weakness in the system of delivering Direct Payments to financial institutions once a payment has been authorised it is sent and received securely. The financial institutions already have robust security measures to safeguard cash withdrawals using plastic cards, including benefit payments, from their customers' accounts.
Post Office Card Accounts
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many Post Office Card Accounts he estimates will have been opened by 2005; what the cost to the Government of this number of accounts is; and what the cost would be if five million such accounts were to be opened by this time. [125335]
Mr. Pond [holding answer 11 July 2003]: Our working assumption is around three million Post Office card accounts will have been opened by 2005. However, there is no cap on numbers and anyone who wants to open an account can do so. Present indications are that the final number will be significantly above three million. The precise cost at any given level of take-up is commercial in confidence to Post Office Limited and is not released in line with paragraph 13, part 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government information.
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his answer of 19 June 2003, Official Report, column 412W, on Post Office card accounts, if he will break down the figures in respect of each benefit of the customers (a) who were invited to take part in direct payment and (b) who have failed to respond to the invitation; and for what reasons the answer did not contain the information requested. [121681]
Maria Eagle [holding answer 26 June 2003]: I regret that the information given in my previous answer was incomplete due to an error.
As at 6 June 2003 the precise break down of figures is 2,797,879 customers have been invited to convert to direct payment.
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Of those, 2,354,313 are child benefit customers, 108,837 are Veterans Agency customers, 148,148 are pensions customers and 186,581 are Jobcentre Plus customers.
We are awaiting a response from 705,699. This consists of 514,235 child benefit customers, 11,775 Veterans Agency customers, 61,320 pension service customers and 118,369 Jobcentre Plus customers.
Pensions and Jobcentre Plus customers began their conversion process with controlled pilots. Their full conversion commenced at the beginning of May 2003. This corrects the information given in my answer on 19 June 2003, Official Report, column 412W.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the cost of automatically creating Post Office Card Accounts for those benefit and pension claimants who choose not to open a bank account following contact from his Department as part of the migration programme. [124302]
Mr. Pond: We have made no such estimates. The Post Office card account is one of the banking options available to customers. The choice of account is a matter for the customer. It would not be appropriate for the Department to open a Post Office card account on a customer's behalf, in the same way as it would be inappropriate for us to do so for any other sort of bank account.
Social Fund
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what proportion of rejected applications to the Social Fund for (a) budgeting loans and (b) crisis loans have been overturned on appeal in each year since 1997; [110912]
- (2) how many applications there have been to the Social Fund for (a) budgeting loans and (b) crisis loans in each year since 1997; and how many have been rejected in each of those years. [110921]
Mr. Pond: An applicant to the discretionary Social Fund who is dissatisfied with the decision on their application has the right to have the decision reviewed.
An internal reviewing officer carries out the initial review at local level, and the applicant is notified of the outcome. Applicants who remain dissatisfied with the result of the local review can ask for a further review by an independent Social Fund Inspector.
Information on the number and proportion of applications initially refused, but which resulted in awards following review is not available. Information on the number of applications made and the number which were initially refused is in the table.
15 Jul 2003 : Column 251W
| Budgeting loan applications | Budgeting loan refusals | Crisis loan applications | Crisis loan refusals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996–97 | 1,339,000 | 475,000 | 1,022,000 | 233,000 |
| 1997–98 | 1,330,000 | 494,000 | 1,057,000 | 230,000 |
| 1998–99 | 1,327,000 | 442,000 | 1,135,000 | 247,000 |
| 1999–2000 | 1,680,000 | 647,000 | 1,294,000 | 336,000 |
| 2000–01 | 1,724,000 | 531,000 | 1,292,000 | 342,000 |
| 2001–02 | 1,748,000 | 460,000 | 1,330,000 | 317,000 |
| 2002–03 | 1,774,000 | 466,000 | 1,391,000 | 305,000 |
Notes:
1. If an application is initially refused, but an award is subsequently made on review, the case will still be counted as an (initial) refusal in the table.
2. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand.
Source:
Social Fund Policy, Budget and Management Information System
Stakeholder Pension (Women)
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the impact of the stakeholder pension on pension rights for women. [125355]
Malcolm Wicks : Stakeholder pensions do not impose penalties if a person stops paying contributions for a time, or if they transfer their pension to another
15 Jul 2003 : Column 252W
provider. They are therefore a pension option for people who change jobs often or who have breaks in their employment and savings patterns, which includes many women.
We are monitoring trends in take-up of stakeholder pensions, including differences in take-up between men and women, using a number of sources.
Information from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) shows that in the period 1 January 2002 to 30 June 2002 over 40 per cent. of stakeholder pension sales were to, or for, women. In comparison 30 per cent. of personal pension products are held by women.
State Pension
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the cost in (a) gross terms and (b) net terms of restoring the earnings link for the state pension in each year between 2005–06 and 2010–11, assuming that the policy was introduced in April 2004 and applied to (i) all pensioners, (ii) pensioners aged 65 or above, (iii) pensioners aged 70 and above, (iv) pensioners aged 75 and above and (v) pensioners aged 80 and above. [126035]
Malcolm Wicks : The information requested is set out in the tables.
| 2005–06 | 2006–07 | 2007–08 | 2008–09 | 2009–10 | 2010–11 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All pensioners | 1.7 | 2.5 | 3.3 | 4.2 | 5.2 | 6.2 |
| Pensioners aged 65 and over | 1.6 | 2.2 | 2.9 | 3.7 | 4.5 | 5.4 |
| Pensioners aged 70 and over | 1.1 | 1.6 | 2.1 | 2.7 | 3.3 | 3.9 |
| Pensioners aged 75 and over | 800 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 1.8 | 2.2 | 2.6 |
| Pensioners aged 80 and over | 500 | 600 | 900 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 1.6 |
| 2005–06 | 2006–07 | 2007–08 | 2008–09 | 2009–10 | 2010–11 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All pensioners | 1.1 | 1.6 | 2.2 | 2.8 | 3.4 | 4.1 |
| Pensioners aged 65 and over | 1.3 | 1.8 | 2.4 | 3.0 | 3.7 | 4.4 |
| Pensioners aged 70 and over | 900 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 2.1 | 2.6b | 3.0 |
| Pensioners aged 75 and over | 600 | 800 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 1.7b | 2.0 |
| Pensioners aged 80 and over | 300 | 500 | 600 | 800 | 900 | 1.1 |
Notes:
1. All costs are rounded to the nearest £100 million and are in 2003–04 price terms.
2. Gross costs are calculated by the Government Actuary's Department and are consistent with Budget 2003 assumptions. It is assumed that the earnings link is restored in April 2004.
3. The net costs are calculated using the DWP Policy Simulation Model for 2005–06. The net cost represents the cost after allowing for any offsetting savings in income-related benefits.
4. In the case where the earnings link is restored for all pensions, it is assumed that the start of the Savings Credit is increased to the value of the earnings linked basic State Pension. In the other variants it is assumed that the start of the Savings Credit is unchanged.
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