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10 Nov 2003 : Column 147W—continued
Minimum Income Guarantee
David Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners in the Midlothian constituency received the minimum income guarantee on the latest date for which figures are available. [137126]
Malcolm Wicks: As at May 2003, the number of Minimum Income Guarantee recipients in Midlothian was around 1,700.
- Notes:
- 1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred.
- 2. Figures are based on a 5 per cent. sample, and are therefore subject to a degree of sampling variation.
- 3. Parliamentary Constituency is assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant ONS postcode directory.
- 4. MIG recipients are defined as Income Support benefit units where the claimant, and/or partner is aged 60 or over.
- Source:
- IAD Information Centre, 5 per cent. sample
10 Nov 2003 : Column 148W
New Deal
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many 18 to 24-year-olds have left the New Deal for Young People with unknown destinations; and what percentage of these he estimates subsequently found full-time employment. [133164]
Mr. Browne: The New Deal for Young People (NDYP) is a success—by the end of June 2003, just over three-quarters of a million young people had participated in the programme, nearly 450,000 of whom had been helped into jobs.
However, 264,770 1 people have left NDYP to unknown destinations. A survey in 1999 (Employment Service Research Report: 21 August 1999, Jon Hales and Debbie Collins) reported that 57 per cent. of those recorded as leaving NDYP for unknown destinations between April and August 1998, went into paid employment.
We are currently conducting a study to provide further information on New Deal unknown destinations.
We expect to publish the report on this survey next year.
- Note:
- 1 Includes people who may have left the programme more than once.
Dan Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in the Wansdyke constituency have benefited from each of the New Deal programmes since 1997. [136331]
Mr. Browne: The available information is in the table.
| Programme(35) | People starting | People gaining a job |
|---|---|---|
| New Deal for Young People | 460 | 310 |
| New Deal 25 plus | 130 | 40 |
| New Deal for Lone Parents | 360 | 200 |
| New Deal 50 plus(36) | 90 | 90 |
(35) All figures are up to the end of June 2003 apart from New Deal 50 plus which is
up to the end of March 2003.
(36) People in receipt of the New Deal 50 plus Employment Credit.
(37) Information on the other New Deals is not available broken down by constituency.
Source:
New Deal database
Occupational Pension Schemes
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many company occupational pension schemes, covering how many workers, have been closed since 1 December 2002. [137622]
Malcolm Wicks: Information on pension schemes is held by the Pension Schemes Registry that is maintained by the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority (OPRA). Some data on the number of occupational pension schemes, and number of recorded members in these schemes, recorded by the registry as having closed
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to new members between 1 October 2002 and 30 June 2003 are provided in the table. The figures relate to the position as at September 2003.
| Date | Number of schemes | Number of members |
|---|---|---|
| 1 October 2002–31 December 2002 | 113 | 46,172 |
| 1 January 2003–31 March 2003 | 122 | 122,283 |
| 1 April 2003–30 June 2003 | 78 | 44,924 |
| Total | 313 | 213,379 |
Notes:
1. The Pension Schemes Registry (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 are being reported to the PSR on a continuous basis. Therefore, the figures are subject to continuous revision. When a scheme has changed status, the previous status of the scheme is not recorded on the registry. Schemes have up to 12 months to notify OPRA of any status change. The data in the table do not include any schemes that may have changed their benefit type (money purchase, salary related or hybrid) but not their status code (from open to closed).
2. A closed scheme is a registerable scheme to which no new members may be admitted, but existing members can continue to make contributions and accrue benefits. The data above do not contain any schemes that are either frozen, winding up or wound up.
3. The data in the table relate to 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 are not included in the table
Source:
OPRA.
Pension Credit
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether local authority housing benefit departments are being automatically supplied by his Department with details of the pension credit receipt of pensioners for the purpose of reassessing housing benefit entitlement; and if he will make a statement. [135908]
Mr. Pond [holding answer 3 November 2003]: We automatically supply local authorities with information about pension credit awards to enable them to determine entitlement to housing benefit and council tax benefit.
There were some initial technical problems encountered in transmitting information about pension
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credit awards to local authorities, which affected only a small number of cases and were largely resolved within two weeks. Local authorities have been kept informed of any difficulties, and every effort is being made to resolve remaining minor issues.
David Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the take-up rate of the pension credit is in the Midlothian constituency. [137127]
Malcolm Wicks: The information is not available in the format requested.
Approximately half of all pensioner households across Great Britain are eligible for Pension Credit and stand to gain on average £400 a year. Around 1.9 million Pension Credit awards have already been made to pensioner households across Great Britain as a whole (helping more than 2 million individuals).
The Government has a target for at least 3 million pensioner households to be in receipt of Pension Credit by 2006. We want all those eligible for Pension Credit to take up their entitlement.
We intend to publish monthly reports on the progress of Pension Credit take-on, which will include information on the number of applications. The first such report will be published later this month.
Poor Households
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate, on the basis of the Households Below Average Income data set, the number and percentage of (a) all dependent children and (b) dependent children under five who are (i) children of lone parents in full-time employment or self-employment, (ii) children of lone parents in part-time employment or self-employment, (iii) other children of lone parents, (iv) children of two parent families where both parents are in full-time employment or self-employment, (v) children of two parent families where one parent is in full-time work and one in part-time work, (vi) children of two parent families where one parent is in full-time work and one not working, (vii) children of two parent families where no parent is working full time but one or more is working part-time and (viii) other children of two parent families in (A) 1979, (B) 1990 and (C) 2001–02. [136448]
Mr. Pond [holding answer 4 November 2003]: Such information as is available is in the tables.
10 Nov 2003 : Column 151W
| 1979 | 1990–91 | 2001–02 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of children under 5 by economic status of family type | |||
| Lone parent | |||
| of which: | |||
| In full time work | — | 100,000 | 100,000 |
| In part time work | 100,000 | 100,000 | 200,000 |
| Not working | 200,000 | 500,000 | 600,000 |
| Couple with children | |||
| of which: | |||
| One or more full-time self-employed | 300,000 | 500,000 | 400,000 |
| Both in full time work | 100,000 | 300,000 | 300,000 |
| One in full time work, one in part time work | 1,100,000 | 800,000 | 700,000 |
| One in full time work, one not working | 1,700,000 | 1,300,000 | 900,000 |
| One or more in part time work | 100,000 | 100,000 | 200,000 |
| Other | 300,000 | 400,000 | 200,000 |
| Total | 3,800,000 | 4,000,000 | 3,400,000 |
| Percentage of children under 5 by economic status of family type | |||
| Lone parent | |||
| of which: | |||
| In full time work | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| In part time work | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Other | 5 | 13 | 16 |
| Couple with children | |||
| of which: | |||
| One or more full-time self-employed | 7 | 12 | 11 |
| Both in full time work | 3 | 7 | 9 |
| One in full time work, one in part time work | 28 | 19 | 21 |
| One in full time work, one not working | 44 | 33 | 26 |
| One or more in part time work | 4 | 2 | 5 |
| Other | 7 | 10 | 6 |
| Total | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Notes:
1. Estimates are for Great Britain and, where appropriate, quoted to the nearest thousand or percentage point.
2. Self-employed couples are presented as a separate category. This is consistent with presentation in the Households Below Average Income series.
Sources:
'1979'—Family Expenditure Survey; '1990–91'—1990 and 1991 Family Expenditure Survey; '2001–02'—2001–02 Family Resources Survey.
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