---

15 Dec 2003 : Column 695W—continued

Late Payment of Debt

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many claims for statutory interest payments have been submitted to his Department under the terms of the Late Payment of Debt Act 1998; how many claims were met; and what the total value was of such payments in each year since the Act has been in operation. [141599]

Mr. Browne: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer given by my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, South (Nigel Griffiths) on 3 December 2003, Official Report, column 102W.

Legislation

Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of (a) primary and (b) secondary legislation sponsored by his Department in 2002–03 was introduced to implement EU requirements. [141128]

Mr. Pond: The Department did not sponsor any primary legislation during the 2002–03 Session (13 November 2002–20 November 2003).

The Department was responsible for the making of 97 General Statutory Instruments during the 2002–03 Session (including 11 from the Health and Safety Executive), some of which consolidated and revoked previous instruments. 9.27 per cent. of the total (nine Statutory Instruments, including seven from the Health and Safety Executive) give effect to EU requirements.

Local Authorities

Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when the Government will issue the new regulations for payment and associated operations for (a) council tax benefit and (b) housing benefit by local authorities; and whether local authorities will be fully reimbursed by his Department for payments made under these benefits. [144195]

15 Dec 2003 : Column 696W

Mr. Pond: We have recently conducted a review of the Housing Benefit (HB) and Council Tax Benefit (CTB) subsidy rules and rates. Details of the new rules and rates, which are clearer and simpler to administer, were issued to all local authorities in HB/CTB Circular S9/2003, a copy of which is in the Library. Local authorities will be fully reimbursed for all correctly paid HB and CTB.

The Income-related Benefits (Subsidy to Authorities) Order 1998 (S11998 No 562) and amendments provide the legislative basis of subsidy payments to authorities. The new rules and rates will be incorporated in an amendment to this Order which will be laid, in accordance with the normal practice, after the end of the 2004–05 year.

Ministerial Correspondence

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he will give a substantive reply to the letter of 23 October 2003 from the hon. Member for Walsall North, ref. PQ/03/400456. [143958]

Maria Eagle: I replied to the hon. Member today.

New Deal for Disabled People

Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many people in the Wycombe constituency have (a) been registered and (b) found work under the New Deal for Disabled People this year; [143847]

(2) what organisations have helped to (a) register and (b) find work for people in the Wycombe constituency under the terms of the New Deal for Disabled People; and how many people each organisation has helped in each category. [143848]

Mr. Browne: Information about New Deal for Disabled People performance is not available by constituency.

There are four Job Brokers delivering New Deal for Disabled People in the Wycombe constituency: Support Shop Ltd.; Yes2Work; Shaw Trust; and Scout Enterprises (Western).

The latest national performance statistics are that, between July 2001 and September 2003, over 57,000 disabled people registered to find work; over 15,500 found work; and over 5,900 achieved sustained employment.

Notes:

1. Overall Performance and Resource Agreement (PRA) job entries in life of programme total over 20,000.

2. Sustained employment is defined as where a person remains in work for six months or more.

Source:

DWP statistics.

Parents with Care

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what percentage of Child Support Agency parents with care were in receipt of (a) income-based jobseeker's allowance and income support and (b) working families tax credit in each of the last six years. [141528]

15 Dec 2003 : Column 697W

Mr. Pond: The information is in the table.

Benefit status of Parent/Person with Care

		Income Support		JSA(IB)		Family Credit		WFTC
February	Total	Thousands	%	Thousands	%	Thousands	%	Thousands	%
1998	662.0	300.0	45.3	8.2	1.2	128.6	19.4	—	—
1999	826.8	356.8	43.2	9.6	1.2	171.2	20.7	—	—
2000	946.3	385.2	40.7	13.1	1.4	26.5	2.8	192.0	20.3
2001	998.5	393.3	39.4	10.8	1.1	—	—	244.6	24.5
2002	1,031.8	383.0	37.1	9.2	0.9	—	—	261.8	25.4
2003	957.4	355.6	37.1	6.9	0.7	—	—	278.4	29.1

Notes:

1. All data taken from the published Quarterly Summary Statistics for the Child Support Agency.

2. The figures are based on a 5 per cent. scan of CSCS and therefore may be subject to sampling variation.

3. PWC benefit status derived using data on the IS, JSA and Family Credit/WFTC computer systems.

4. The figures are for cases with a full maintenance assessment.

5. The figures are for the February quarter because this is the latest point for consistent CSA data and data for WFTC.

Pension Credit

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether pension credit applications can also indicate whether an entitlement to council tax benefit exists; and whether this information is passed to the (a) council tax benefit authority and (b) applicant for pension credit. [142657]

Malcolm Wicks: The Pension Credit application process alerts customers to the possibility of entitlement to housing benefit and council tax benefit and enables them to ask for a claim form for completion and return to the appropriate local authority. Entitlement to the guarantee credit element of Pension Credit provides linked entitlement to full housing benefit and council tax benefit. Information about Pension Credit awards is provided automatically to local authorities to enable them to determine entitlement to housing benefit and council tax benefit. Notification to customers about entitlement to housing benefit and council tax benefit is the responsibility of the appropriate local authority.

15 Dec 2003 : Column 698W

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the additional cost of halving the assumed rate of income currently used to assess pension credit applications. [143088]

Malcolm Wicks: The additional cost of halving the assumed rate of income currently used to assess pension credit applications is estimated to be £220 million.

Notes:

1. Figure is rounded to the nearest £10 million.

2. Estimates relate to the year 2004–05.

Pensioner Poverty

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will update the table submitted by his Department to the Committee of Public Accounts and published in the 12th Report of Session 2002–03 on tackling pensioner poverty, Ev.20, setting out expenditure and out-turn for income support for the elderly and minimum income guarantee, to include figures for 2002–03. [143080]

Malcolm Wicks: The information requested is given in the following table updated with 2002–03 figures.

Income support for elderly/minimum income guarantee-expenditure and out-turn£ million cash

	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03
Departmental report cash or resource basis	Cash	Cash	Cash	Cash	Resource	Resource
Provision	3,878	3,776	3,827	4,052	4,540	4,275
Actual spending	3,773	3,619	3,781	3,984	4,486	4,481
Under (-)/over ( ) spend	-105	-157	-47	-68	-55	+206

Notes:

1. Numbers may not sum due to rounding.

2. 2000–01 plans were on a cash basis, published out-turn on a resource basis. To ensure consistency we have quoted the unpublished cash out-turn.

3. 2002–03 actual spending is an expected out-turn figure which was published at Budget 2003.The final out-turn figure will be published shortly in the Department for Work and Pensions Resource Accounts.

Post Office Card Account

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what monitoring takes place of the standard of response to telephone calls to his Department by claimants seeking to open Post Office Card Accounts. [142428]

Mr. Pond [holding answer 8 December 2003]: The standard of responses to telephone calls received by the Customer Conversion Centre (CCC) is subject to quality assurance monitoring, in keeping with industry practice, to ensure that agreed service standards are maintained.

All calls to the CCC are recorded and a selection of the calls are evaluated on a weekly basis.

---