House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 27 Jan 2004 (pt 29)

27 Jan 2004 : Column 348W—continued

Procurement (Outsourcing)

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on his

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Department's procurement policy with regard to offshore IT and call centre outsourcing; whether his Department is outsourcing IT and call centre jobs to offshore companies; to which countries his Department has outsourced these jobs; how much his Department has spent on this outsourcing in each of the last two years; and how much has been budgeted for this purpose for the next two years. [147591]

Mr. Browne: The Department has no plans to outsource to countries abroad work performed by DWP call centre staff. The Department contracts for IT delivery work with IT providers, many of whom are worldwide organisations. There have been no specific IT contracts targeted offshore.

Progress2Work

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what proportion of the £40 million allocated to Progress2Work has been spent; [147910]

(3) what percentage of participants in Progress2Work have been placed in sustained employment. [147913]

Mr. Browne: In April 2001, £40 million was allocated to enable Jobcentre Plus to develop Progress2Work provision. To date approximately 22.5 per cent. of this budget has been spent.

7,797 people had started Progress2Work by the end of November 2003. Of these 1,402 people had been helped into work; 968 were still receiving in work support from their provider and a further 434 were in sustained employment. This represents 5.6 per cent. of the total participants.

Progress2Work is an evolving programme, phased in over 3 stages, with over 50 per cent. of participants joining in the last 6 months. The final phase contracts are still being put in place. The cost of a job and sustained job outcome will continue to drop as more participants move into employment. Currently costs per job outcome come out at £7,229 and at £23,136 per sustainable job.

Progress2Work has been effective at helping this very disadvantaged group back into employment. The proportion of current participants who are in supported job outcomes is approximately 20 per cent. Additionally there is also a consistent increase in the numbers moving from Progress2Work into employment. Costs and outcomes for Progress2Work have not yet stabilised as the programme is still developing.

Transfer Payments

Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost of transfer payments, including social security benefits and tax credits directed at children and at people of working age, was in each year since 1991–92; and what projections have been made for the cost in (a) 2003–04 and (b) future years. [147377]

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Mr. Pond: The information for social security benefits administered by the Department for Work and Pensions is shown in the table, and is consistent with forecasts published in the pre-Budget Report on 10 December 2003.

The information is drawn from DWP's Benefit Expenditure Table 5 (Benefit expenditure by age-based client group, Great Britain, 1991–92 to 2005–06), which may be found on the Department for Work and Pensions website at: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd4/ expenditure, asp. Forecasts of expenditure will next be updated at Budget 2004.

Tax credit expenditure and forecasts, and child benefit expenditure and forecasts from 2003–04 onwards, are the responsibility of the Inland Revenue.

£ million

Children⁽³⁷⁾ People of working age

Outturn

1991–92 8,411 22,342

1992–93 9,767 26,727

1993–94 10,676 30,035

1994–95 10,827 31,251

1995–96 11,277 32,913

1996–97 11,659 33,640

1997–98 11,816 32,791

1998–99 12,105 32,685

1999–2000 13,129 31,989

2000–01 13,144 31,215

2001–02 13,729 31,827

Estimated outturn

2002–03 14,386 32,421

Plans

2003–04 5,410 33,251

2004–05 4,022 34,296

2005–06 1,802 35,515

	Children⁽³⁷⁾	People of working age
Outturn
1991–92	8,411	22,342
1992–93	9,767	26,727
1993–94	10,676	30,035
1994–95	10,827	31,251
1995–96	11,277	32,913
1996–97	11,659	33,640
1997–98	11,816	32,791
1998–99	12,105	32,685
1999–2000	13,129	31,989
2000–01	13,144	31,215
2001–02	13,729	31,827
Estimated outturn
2002–03	14,386	32,421
Plans
2003–04	5,410	33,251
2004–05	4,022	34,296
2005–06	1,802	35,515

⁽³⁷⁾ Spending on children drops in 2003–04 as a result of the transfer of child benefit to the Inland Revenue; during 2003–04 and 2004–05, spending on children is also reduced by the transfer of child elements of income support and income-based jobseekers allowance to child tax credit.

War Disablement Pensioners

Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when the £10 earnings disregard for war disablement pensioners applying for income-related benefits was last uprated; what the value of the disregard would be on 1 April had it been uprated in line with the Rossi Index; and how many war disablement pensioners are benefiting from the £10 earnings disregard. [149536]

Malcolm Wicks: There is no specific earnings disregard for people receiving a war pension, although they can benefit from the standard disregards available to anyone claiming undertaking part-time work while claiming an income-related benefit.

However, in recognition of the special nature of war disablement pension, there is a disregard of these payments when assessing entitlement to income-related benefits. This was set at £5 when income support was introduced in April 1988, and would currently stand at £8.15 had it been uprated in line with the Rossi index; it was increased to its current level of £10 in April 1990, and carried over at the same level for the new pension credit when it was introduced in October 2003.

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In the case of housing benefit and council tax benefit, most local authorities disregard war pensions in full and all but two disregard more than the statutory £10; from April this year, local authorities will get extra subsidy of up to 75 per cent. for any local discretionary scheme they operate.

The most recent figures show that 8,800 income support recipients benefit from the £10 disregard; the number of people receiving jobseekers allowance (income based) who benefit from this disregard is nil or negligible. Figures are not yet available for pension credit.

Note:

Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred and are based on a 5 per cent. sample so are subject to a degree of sampling variation.

Source:

DWP Information Centre, 5 per cent. sample

Winter Fuel Payments

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland

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qualify for the winter fuel payment; how many individuals in each receives a winter fuel payment; and what the estimated expenditure on winter fuel payment was in each country in 2003–04. [150291]

Malcolm Wicks: Full information about payments made this winter will not be available until after 30 March, the final date for submitting claims. It is not possible to say how many households will qualify for the Winter Fuel Payment, or how many individuals will receive a Winter Fuel Payment for winter 2003–04.

However based on the figures for 2002–03 we estimate the expenditure on Winter Fuel Payments for winter 2003–04 to be as follows:

Forecast expenditure on Winter Fuel Payments for 2003–04£ million

Country Forecast Expenditure

England 1,610

Wales 100

Scotland 170

Northern Ireland 50

Country	Forecast Expenditure
England	1,610
Wales	100
Scotland	170
Northern Ireland	50

Note:

Costs rounded to the nearest £10 million.