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16 Sept 2003 : Column 696W—continued

New Deal

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent representations he has received from (a) employers and (b) participants on the New Deal; and if he will make a statement. [124551]

Mr. Browne: We receive representations on behalf of employers through the National Employer Panel which is an employer-led body providing independent advice to Ministers on the design, delivery and performance of the UK Government's labour market policies and programmes. Its remit encompasses all the New Deals and other welfare to work activities delivered by the Department for Work and Pensions, Jobcentre Plus and partner organisations at the national and local levels. The Panel reports on a regular basis to my right hon. Friends the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State also receives advice from the 10 employer coalitions throughout the country who work with Jobcentre Plus districts to engage local businesses and open job opportunities for people disadvantaged in the labour market.

We also receive many representations from participants in the New Deal. These are dealt with on an individual basis with regard to the circumstances of each case.

Pension Credit

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many calls have been made to the Pension

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Credit telephone application line; and of that number how many have resulted in (a) successful claims and (b) unsuccessful claims. [128740]

Mr. Pond: The Pension Credit application line received a total of approximately 413,000 calls between 7 April 2003, when it became operational, and 31 August. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State said in his written statement on progress on 14 July 2003, Official Report, columns 6–7WS, there are over 1.1 million pensioner households already on our systems ready to be paid Pension Credit from October. We intend from November to publish monthly reports on the progress of Pension Credit take-on, which will include information on the number of applications.

Pension Reform

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on his plans for pension reform. [129501]

Mr. Pond: We have recognised the need to reform the pension system of the UK. Our approach has been, in the first instance, to focus additional spending on the poorest pensioners. This means achieving a balance between providing a solid foundation of support for all while targeting support at those who need it most. Pension Credit will, from October guarantee everyone (who applies and qualifies) aged 60 and over an income of at least £102.10 a week for single pensioners, (£155.80 for couples). These amounts will be more if pensioners have caring responsibilities, are severely disabled or have housing costs.

For the first time, Pension Credit will reward people aged 65 with modest savings or income. In the past, those who had managed to save a little were left no better off than those who had not saved at all. People who had capital of £12,000 or more could get no help however low their income.

Pension Credit will change this by giving new money to those 65 and over who have saved. This will be worth up to £14.79 for single pensioners, £19.20 for couples.

Pension Credit is radically different from the Minimum Income Guarantee in that pound for pound deductions will be scrapped. And the credit will reward those over 65 with total weekly incomes up to £139 for single pensioners, £203 for couples. Around half of all pensioner households will be eligible and stand to gain around £400 a year on average.

The basic State Pension will remain the foundation of income in retirement on which to build. Between April 2000 and April 2003 the basic State Pension has increased by almost £10 a week for a single pensioner and £16 a week for a couple. This represents an increase of over 7 per cent. in real terms. We will continue to uprate by either 2.5 per cent. or RPI, whichever is higher for the remainder of this Parliament.

We have recognised the importance of a good second pension by reforming SERPS. From April 2002, 20 million people—2.5 million carers, 2.5 million long-term disabled people and 15 million low to moderate earners—begin to benefit by building up a State Second Pension.

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The Government also introduced Winter Fuel Payments (WFP) for people aged 60 and over. The WFP is £200 a year for qualifying households and will continue to be paid at this rate throughout this Parliament.

People aged 80 or over who are entitled to a Winter Fuel Payment will get an extra £100 per household. This is the 80+ annual payment which will be paid as part of the Winter Fuel Payment, to those who are aged 80 or over in the qualifying week (15–21 September this year).

The Government have also introduced free TV licences for the over 75s and there have been increases above the rate of inflation to the Pensioners' Tax Allowances.

In 2003–04, the Government will be spending around £8 billion extra a year on pensioners as a result of policies introduced since 1997. This includes £3.75 billion more on the poorest third of pensioners. This is almost six times more than an earnings link to the basic State Pension since 1998 would have provided.

We have also recognised that there is a need to address reform of private pension provision. Our Green Paper 'Simplicity, security and choice: Working and saving for retirement' set out our proposals to radically simplify the pensions system including reducing eight tax regimes into one, ensure that individuals have access to the right information to make informed pensions savings choices and ensure that older workers can access the employment opportunities they deserve and balance this with flexible retirement choices.

To build on this, after the largest consultation on pensions ever, we published 'Working and Saving for retirement: Action on occupational pensions' in June which introduced a balanced package of measures to assist employers in providing occupational pension schemes while ensuring protection for pension scheme members. We will set up a Pension Protection Fund, the first ever protection scheme for defined benefit pensions, bring in measures to ensure that where a solvent company chooses to wind up its scheme it will fully buy-out members benefits and establish a pensions regulator that will target badly run and high risk schemes in order to put consumers first.

There is a need to engage with employers to re-invigorate the pensions partnership and that is why we have set up the Employer Task Force to identify and promote employer lead solutions. We also have accepted that there is a need to consider the voluntarist system in the longer term and to monitor progress independently. Therefore we have set up the Pensions Commission to monitor and keep under review the system of private pensions and long-term savings.

There is also a need to make individuals aware of their pension provision—both from the State and private saving. That is why we are extending combined state and private pensions forecasts through a concerted and targeted campaign. We will continue to develop a web-based retirement planner and will pilot a scheme for employer-based information. All these measures will seek to enable individuals to make the right pensions choices from a more knowledgeable position.

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We have recognised the need for pension reform from both a State and private perspective and will continue to press ahead with our proposals of targeting resources and expanding provision.

Pensioners

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners in Eltham have benefited from the minimum income guarantee; and what the overall amount paid out through the guarantee to pensioners in Eltham was in the last 12 months. [129409]

Mr. Pond: The number of pensioners to have benefited from the minimum income guarantee in Eltham during the last 12 months is 2,200. The average annual payment to each pensioner household was £2,400.

Notes:

1. The overall amount is based on the 12 month period ending February, 2003.

2. Figures are based on a 5 per cent. sample and are therefore subject to a degree of sampling variation.

3. Caseload figures have been rounded to the nearest 100.

4. Parliamentary constituencies have been assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant ONS postcode.

5. £2,400 is rounded to the nearest £50, and figures at a local level are subject to greater margins of error than national figures.

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average gain of pensioners in Eltham has been from the Minimum Income Guarantee. [129410]

Mr. Pond: The average weekly amount of Minimum Income Guarantee received by pension age households in Eltham at February 2003 was £46.30.

Notes:

1. The source of the data is the IAD Information Centre.

2. The figure is based on a 5 per cent. sample and is therefore subject to a degree of sampling variation.

3. The average weekly amount figure has been rounded to the nearest 1p.

4. Parliamentary constituencies have been assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant ONS postcode directory.

5. Pension age is defined as men aged 65 and over and women aged 60 and over.

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the total paid out since May 1997 to increase pensioner incomes has been; and what has been the average gain per pensioner (a) in the UK and (b) in Eltham. [129411]

Mr. Pond: The information requested is not available at constituency level, but the total paid out since May 1997 to increase pensioner incomes for the UK is shown in the table.

£ billion

	Total DWP
	Expenditure on pensioners	Discretionary spending on pensioners
1998–99	56.5	0.2
1999–2000	58.6	1.4
2000–01	60.5	2.8
2001–02	63.6	5.1
2002–03	65.1	6.4
2003–04	66.8	8.0

Following the introduction of the pension credit the average pensioner household will be £1,250 per year, or £24 per week, better off than in 1997 due to the Government's personal tax and benefit changes.

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Notes: (a) The information shown is based upon the Family Resources Survey. (b) Discretionary spending refers to additional spending as a result of changes to pension policy since 1997. This is a subset of total spending. (c) Figures are in £ billion rounded to the nearest £0.1 billion, in 2003–04 price terms. (d) Figures include expenditure on all benefits.

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