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16 Sept 2003 : Column 693W—continued
US Warship Disposal
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the Health and Safety Executive has granted an exemption from the Asbestos (Prohibitions) Regulations to former US naval ships seeking passage to Teesside for demolition. [130017]
Mr. Jamieson: HSE issued an exemption certificate to the Asbestos (Prohibitions) Regulations to Able UK Ltd. on 5 September 2003. This allows the importation of 13 ships from the US Government reserve fleet into Teesside for decommissioning and recycling and disposal of the asbestos subject to conditions.
A copy of the exemption certificate including those conditions will be placed in the House Libraries and on the HSE asbestos website.
WORK AND PENSIONS
Older Workers
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what plans he has to introduce incentives for people to work beyond the age of 60; and if he will make a statement; [129037]
- (2) what plans he has to abolish normal retirement ages; if he will make it his policy (a) to increase the state pension and (b) to devise incentives for those who continue in work; and if he will make a statement. [129042]
Mr. Pond: The Government's Green Paper—"Simplicity, Security and Choice: Working and saving for retirement", (CM5677) issued in December 2002, outlined a number of incentives to help people continue in work up to and over state pension age.
From 2003, we will introduce a package of intensive back to work help for people aged 50 and over including extending the support available through new deal 50 plus. The working tax credit now includes additional elements for eligible people aged 50 or over who move into work for 16 hours a week or more.
From 2005, we will be looking at changes to the tax rules to allow people to continue working for the sponsoring employer while drawing their occupational pension and consulting on best practice to ensure that occupational pension rules do not discourage flexible working.
The Government's Green Paper also recognised that the state pension has a role to play in encouraging flexible retirement. We therefore published proposals to improve the reward for deferring state pension from 2006 by increasing the rate at which weekly increments can be earned, and offering an alternative to increments in the form of a taxable lump sum payment. We will be announcing our plans on this proposal in due course.
In October 2006, we will implement anti-age discrimination legislation covering employment and vocational training. This will include making compulsory retirement ages unlawful except in those cases where employers can show they are objectively justified.
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And from 2010, as state pension ages start to equalise, as well as looking at policies to treat men and women aged between 60 and women's new state pension age as active labour market participants, we also propose to raise the earliest age that a pension may be taken from age 50 to age 55, to further promote the benefits of extending working life for both employee and employer.
Alongside the implementation of these policies, we will continue to work to change employers' attitudes through our Age Positive campaign, and through the development of good practice guidance materials with employer organisations and other external partners. This work will help ensure opportunity for all and remove discriminatory practices, which encourage involuntary withdrawal from the labour market and early retirement.
The Government are currently consulting on options for outlawing age discrimination in employment and vocational training under the European Employment Directive. The Age Matters consultation document launched on 2 July includes proposals for tackling employers' mandatory retirement ages—that is, the ages employers set for the compulsory retirement of their employees. Under the directive, compulsory retirement ages will be unlawful unless they can be objectively justified. The Government will decide how to tackle this once it has analysed and considered the responses to the consultation. Age Matters also explains that we shall take advantage of the directive's provisions that allow occupational pension schemes to set ages for admission or entitlement to retirement benefits. Such normal pension ages are necessary for the operation of defined benefit schemes.
Operation Gangmaster
Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what representations Operation Gangmaster has (a) sought and (b) received from (i) local authorities, (ii) primary care trusts, (iii) chambers of commerce and (iv) locally based government agencies. [129779]
Mr. Pond: Operation Gangmaster has neither sought nor received representations from local authorities, primary care trusts or chambers of commerce. However, we have involved the following organisations on a regional basis as partners in Operation Gangmaster:
- Department for Work and Pensions
Inland Revenue
H M Customs and Excise
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Department of Trade and Industry
Health and Safety Executive
U.K. Immigration Service
National Asylum Support Service
Uniform and Plain Clothes Police Officers
National Criminal Intelligence Service
Scottish Executive
Social Services
Child Support
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment his Department has made of progress in the implementation of the new
16 Sept 2003 : Column 695W
child support system; when the full transfer of child support cases onto the new system will take place; and if he will make a statement. [129974]
Mr. Pond: A report on progress in the implementation of the new child support scheme was placed in the Library on 14 July 2003. We have made it clear that we shall only make a decision on the transfer of old scheme cases once we are sure that the new scheme is working well.
Employment Statistics
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what assessment he has made of the most recent employment statistics; [129500]
- (2) what the change in the level of unemployment in the Crosby constituency has been since 1997. [129502]
Mr. Browne: Latest statistics show that employment is at record levels and that the number of people in work continues to grow. Employment has risen by 63,000 in the last quarter, 224,000 over the last year and by more than 1.5 million since 1997.
The improvement in the labour market has been spread right across the country. Since 1997, unemployment rates have fallen fastest in the areas with the highest unemployment. In Crosby, claimant unemployment has nearly halved since 1997, while the number of long-term unemployed claimants has fallen by 70 per cent.
Incapacity Benefit
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many recipients of Incapacity Benefit there are; and how many there were in each of the last 10 years. [130025]
Maria Eagle: The information is in the table.
| Number of recipients of Incapacity Benefit and its predecessors | |
|---|---|
| 2 April 1994 | 1,809,000 |
| 12 April 1995 | 1,894,000 |
| 29 February 1996 | 1,813,000 |
| 28 February 1997 | 1,749,000 |
| 28 February 1998 | 1,671,000 |
| 28 February 1999 | 1,557,000 |
| 29 February 2000 | 1,504,000 |
| 28 February 2001 | 1,515,000 |
| 28 February 2002 | 1,497,000 |
| 28 February 2003 | 1,506,000 |
Notes:
1. Figures rounded to the nearest thousand.
2. Incapacity Benefit replaced Sickness and Invalidity Benefits from 13 April 1995.
3. Figures for 1994 and 1995 are taken from a 1 per cent. sample of claims to
benefit.
4. From February 1996 onwards figures are based on a 5 per cent. sample of the benefit computer system and will exclude a small number of clerically held
cases.
5. Figures include a small number of people resident overseas.
Source:
IAD Information Centre, 1 per cent. and 5 per cent. samples.
16 Sept 2003 : Column 696W
Minimum Income Guarantee
Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the number of pensioners (a) entitled to Minimum Income Guarantee and (b) who were not claiming it in each of the last five years. [129758]
Mr. Pond: Estimates of the number of recipients and entitled non-recipients of Minimum Income Guarantee can be found in editions of the annual DWP and DSS statistical report "Income Related Benefits Estimates of Take-Up"—copies of which are available in the Library. Estimates for 2000–01, the latest year for which information is available, incorporate results of research which improved the quality of statistics relating to the Minimum Income Guarantee. Estimates for 2000–01 are, therefore, not on a fully consistent basis with past figures.
- Notes:
- 1. Income Related Benefits Estimates of Take-Up published annually by DSS and DWP contains estimates of both the number of MIG (and formerly pensioner Income Support) recipients and the number of pensioners that appeared to be entitled to but not in receipt of the benefit. The vast majority of the count of recipients will be entitled but the estimates will also include a small unquantifiable proportion that are not.
- 2. Annual changes in MIG rates and improvements in the approach to estimating take-up can affect estimates of MIG entitled non-recipients. Past estimates of take-up are not reworked to reflect these changes and therefore results are not strictly comparable over time. Estimates for 1997–98, 1998–99 and 1999–2000 employ the same methodology. Results relating to 2000–01 have benefited from research and the latest estimates are therefore on a different basis to previous years.
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