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Unemployment (Nottingham, North)
14. Mr. Graham Allen (Nottingham, North): When he next plans to visit Nottingham, North to meet jobcentre staff to discuss the number of local unemployed people. [138647]
The Minister for Work (Mr. Desmond Browne): Unemployment in my hon. Friend's constituency has fallen by 31 per cent. since 1997. From March next year, Jobcentre Plus will be working with Nottingham city council to co-ordinate a number of local employment projects within the neighbourhood renewal employment strategy, to help even more people into jobs in the future. My hon. Friend will remember that last month my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State told him that he would be happy to visit his constituency, and he knows that he has only to invite him.
Mr. Allen : My hon. Friend will realise that in 1997, unemployment was the No. 1 issue in my constituency, as in many others. Now it often barely rates a mention—and that is the greatest tribute to my right hon. and hon. Friends on the Front Bench, and the rest of the Government, for what they have done since 1997. However, some of the hardest cases still remain. Will my hon. Friend take some time to consider the possibility of the Employment Service and others connected with
employment doing more outreach work? In my constituency, individuals in places such as the Bestwood and Broxstowe estates are doing incredibly good work on a one-to-one basis. Will my hon. Friend re-examine this matter and see whether the Employment Service and Jobcentre Plus can be pushed out to where the unemployed are, so that we can crack some of the harder remaining cases?
Mr. Browne: I thank my hon. Friend for his recognition of the Government's achievements on employment. They have not been achieved alone, and a significant number of partners, including local Members of Parliament, have contributed to them. I am aware that last year my hon. Friend corresponded with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State about the other matter that he raised. Jobcentre Plus and the Pension Service are developing local partnerships across the country, exactly as my hon. Friend describes in his constituency, and I know that he will be pleased to hear that as part of the jobcentre roll-out, we will offer some of our services in local community surgeries, and from sites shared with local authorities. We are also planning worklessness pilots in some of the most disadvantaged areas throughout the United Kingdom.
Pension Credit
15. Annabelle Ewing (Perth): What recent assessment he has made of the take-up rate of pension credit in Scotland. [138648]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Maria Eagle): Pension credit has got off to a good start in Scotland. Already, 155,000 pensioners in Scotland are better off than they were under the old system and, for the first time, people who have saved for their retirement are being rewarded. At the end of October, there were already 202,000 pensioner households in Scotland receiving pension credit.
Annabelle Ewing : I thank the Minister for that answer. Obviously, however, much still needs to be done to ensure that all pensioners in Scotland receive their entitlement as soon as possible. In that regard, is the Minister concerned by reports that one of the partner organisations in the take-up campaign, Help the Aged, has proposed swingeing and disproportionate cuts to its services in Scotland, including the closure of the Edinburgh office of its free telephone advice service, SeniorLine? Surely that is likely to have a negative impact on take-up in Scotland.
Maria Eagle: I am always concerned to hear about organisations that do good work, such as Age Concern, having that kind of difficulty. I hope, though, that the hon. Lady will be able to step into the breach and start to encourage pensioners in Perth to claim their entitlement. If she did so, far more people would claim. I hope that she will be able to do that, even though her party opposed the pension credit.
John Robertson (Glasgow, Anniesland): I congratulate my hon. Friend and her Department on the work that they are doing. Will she assure me and the elderly people of Anniesland that, even when we reach
the June deadline for contacting people, we will not stop there, and that we will not be satisfied until every pensioner is getting what they are due?
Maria Eagle: My hon. Friend is well known for the work that he does in this area, particularly on encouraging pensioners to take up their entitlement. I am sure that he will not stop doing so come next June. It is certainly our intention that everybody who is entitled to pension credit should take up that entitlement, and the Pension Service—particularly the local service—will continue its effort to ensure that as many people as possible, and preferably all those who are entitled, take up their entitlement.
Hospital Patients (Benefit Payments)
16. David Taylor (North-West Leicestershire): How many people in receipt of benefit have been in NHS hospitals for more than a year. [138649]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr. Chris Pond): The latest information is that there are, at any one time, between 20,000 and 25,000 people on benefit who have been in hospital for more than 52 weeks. In May this year, we extended the period before benefits are reduced as a result of a stay in hospital from six to 52 weeks.
David Taylor : Almost 9,000 people with mental ill health in England and Wales have been in hospital for more than a year. Given that benefit cuts at that point can be demonstrated to be anti-therapeutic, and can therefore lengthen the stay in hospital, is it not right, in medical, moral and monetary terms, to push that 52 week limit even further, perhaps to something approaching two years? The cost would not be great, the Chancellor is listening, and this is the time of year to do it.
Mr. Pond: I pay tribute to my hon. Friend, and also to Mind and the other mental health charities that have argued this case. My hon. Friend will recognise, however, that 97 per cent. of hospital in-patients leave hospital within six weeks, and so would not even have been affected by the pre-May 2003 rules. Our recent change means that even more people will see no reduction in their benefit while they are in hospital, but I think that my hon. Friend would agree that we have to draw the line somewhere, and that it is right in principle that social security benefits should not be paid in full indefinitely when someone is in an NHS hospital and therefore getting their day-to-day living expenses met. However, this is an issue that we shall keep under review.
Miss Anne McIntosh (Vale of York): The hon. Gentleman referred to those who have been in hospital and are over a certain age, many of whom will be elderly and mentally infirm patients. What provisions has his Department made to ensure that checks on those eligible for pension credit have been made? Also, could his hon. Friend the Minister for Pensions possibly find the time
to respond to the question that I put to him a month ago? He said that he would reply if I wrote to him; I have written, but I am still waiting for a reply.
Mr. Pond: I will ensure that the hon. Lady gets a reply, and I apologise if there has been a delay. We estimate that, at any one time, about 20,000 pensioners and 3,000 income support recipients aged under 60 are benefiting from the May 2003 change to which I referred. We want to ensure that those who are in hospital long term receive the benefits to which they are entitled. I will certainly give the hon. Lady my assurance that we will continue to do that.
New Deal (Young People)
17. Mr. Edward Leigh (Gainsborough): Pursuant to the Government's response to the 62nd report of the Public Accounts Committee, Session 2001–02, on the new deal for young people, how the Government will track the progress of those who have left the new deal for young people and moved into employment. [138650]
The Minister for Work (Mr. Desmond Browne): Consistent with the Department's response to the Public Accounts Committee report, we are working with the Inland Revenue to link our records with theirs where possible. That work will improve our understanding of what happens in the long term to people who leave our programmes, such as the new deal for young people. We
are also conducting separate work to identify immediate destinations of people on leaving the new deal for young people.Those are just part of our extensive programme of research evaluating our welfare-to-work programmes. That research both measures the success of our programmes and identifies areas for further improvement.
Mr. Leigh : As the Minister has explained, the Employment Act 2002 gives his Department the chance to access all the Inland Revenue records of all those who have been on new deal so that we can check exactly what is happening to their employment. Is the Department doing that and trying to track all those who have been on the new deal, and what has it learned from that analysis about the sustainability of their employment and about their earnings? If it is not doing so, that will add credence to the charge made by the Minister's colleague the hon. Member for Glasgow, Pollok (Mr. Davidson), that many people are simply vanishing from the system.
Mr. Browne: The hon. Gentleman makes an important point, and we are of course undertaking such checks. I repeat that we are working with the Inland Revenue to link our records with theirs where possible. We will report to the House once that work is concluded, or when we are in a position to draw conclusions from it.
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