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3 Feb 2004 : Column 832W—continued
Stamp Duty
Mr. Amess: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to reform Stamp Duty Land Tax on leases. [152607]
Ruth Kelly: All tax rates and thresholds are kept under review by the Chancellor and any changes are announced in the Budget.
Following consultation last year, substantial changes were made to the Stamp Duty Land Tax charge on the rental element of new leases which will help all tenants and will be of special benefit to small and medium sized businesses.
WORK AND PENSIONS
Civil Servants (Disabilities)
Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress has been made in meeting targets for the proportion of people with disabilities in senior posts in his Department. [146001]
Maria Eagle: Statistical information about senior civil servants with disabilities is available on the civil service statistics website at http://www.civil-service. gov.uk/statistics/documents/pdf/disability-oct03.pdf.
This information is also available in the Library. The latest statistics show that at 1 April 2003, there were 12 disabled senior civil servants in the Department, 5.4 per cent. of the total.
Construction Site Accidents
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many serious accidents have been recorded on construction sites in the last 10 years. [148147]
Mr. Browne: The information in the table shows fatal and major injuries in construction reported to HSE under the RIDDOR Regulations during the period 1993–04 to 2002–03.
(27) The definition of a non-fatal injury to members of the public is different to that of workers.
Notes:
1. Non-fatal injury statistics from 1996–97 cannot be compared directly with earlier years due to the introduction of revised injury reporting requirements (RIDDOR95) in1996.
2. The information available under RIDDOR 95 includes three categories of severity, fatal, defined major injuries and other injuries leading to more than three days absence (over-3-day). RIDDOR specifies serious injuries as (i) a list of major injury conditions for employees and self-employed people (ii) non-fatal injuries for members of the public, which cause a person to be taken from the site of the accident to hospital.
3. Incidents reported are defined under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 1985 and1995.
4. Injury statistics are those reported to all enforcing authorities.
5. Construction has been identified using Standard Industrial Classification 1992 division 45.
6. The annual basis is the planning year from 1 April to 31 March.
3 Feb 2004 : Column 833W
These and additional figures are available on the internet at http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/pdf/table13.pdf.
Disability and Carers Executive Agency
Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to consult Scottish-based groups representing disabled people in setting-up the new Disability and Carers Executive Agency. [152523]
Maria Eagle: Plans for consulting with disability organisations about the agency proposals are in hand. The organisations already contacted by officials include UK disability organisations, some of whom, like the DRC, have a key presence in Scotland. As part of this process, officials have also written to Citizen's Advice Scotland.
Incapacity Benefit
Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people claimed Incapacity Benefit for financial years (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03 in (i) the Perth constituency, (ii) Scotland and (iii) the UK. [152524]
Maria Eagle: The available information is in the following tables.
| Scotland new claims IB/SDA | Great Britain new claims IB/SDA | |
|---|---|---|
| April 2001 to March 2002 | 101,400 | 835,570 |
| April 2002 to March 2003 | 101,440 | 812,065 |
Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest five.
2. Incapacity benefit figures include national insurance credits only cases.
3. Figures for Great Britain will include a small number of claimants resident overseas.
4. Figures for Northern Ireland are a matter for the Northern Ireland Office and are not given here.
5. Information regarding the number of claims made in Perth for the financial years requested is unavailable.
Source:
DWP Information Centre, 5 per cent. samples.
3 Feb 2004 : Column 834W
| PerthIB/SDA | ScotlandIB/SDA | Great Britain IB/SDA | |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 2002 | 3,500 | 327,300 | 2,695,600 |
| February 2003 | 3,600 | 326,500 | 2,710,200 |
Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.
2. Incapacity benefit figures include national insurance credits only cases.
3. Figures for Great Britain will include a small number of claimants resident overseas.
4. Figures for Northern Ireland are a matter for the Northern Ireland Office and are not given here.
Source:
CDU 100 per cent. counts.
Northern Ireland Troubles
Mr. Barnes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the funding of victims work in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) Great Britain will be continued after the end of the current funding in 2004. [142721]
Angela Smith: I have been asked to reply.
Since 1998, Government have committed more than£20 million for victim's initiatives. I am currently consulting on what will be the next phase of victim's policy and funding will be a consideration in that context.
Pension Credit
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many calls were made to the Pension Credit Helpline in each month since April, broken down by (a) calls classed as engaged, (b) calls answered within periods of 20 seconds and (c) length of calls in periods of 10 minutes. [146041]
Malcolm Wicks: The available information is shown in the table.
| Calls received by application line | Calls receiving engaged tone or recorded message | Calls answered within 30 seconds | Average call duration (minutes:seconds) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | ||||
| April | 20,810 | 0 | 17,680 | 12:15 |
| May | 32,750 | 10 | 32,730 | 12:03 |
| June | 60,240 | 1,790 | 57,730 | 14:05 |
| July | 118,220 | 3,050 | 112,010 | 13:09 |
| August | 181,860 | 7,250 | 177,340 | 15:19 |
| September | 427,900 | 18,540 | 352,280 | 11:27 |
| October | 482,780 | 2,850 | 429,950 | 09:35 |
| November | 318,280 | 990 | 302,400 | 08:56 |
| December | 193,900 | 30 | 183,650 | 08:28 |
Notes:
1. Numbers of calls are rounded to the nearest 10.
2. The number of calls receiving the engaged tone or a recorded message was unusually high in September due to technical problems with the telephony at one particular site. The number of calls affected by these problems cannot be separated out.
3. The number of calls received is a measure of the total number of calls from customers made to the application line number 0800 99 1234. The number of calls answered within 30 seconds is a measure of all calls answered in application line sites and excludes any calls abandoned by the customer.
3 Feb 2004 : Column 835W
Pension Service
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what (a) research and (b) evaluation his Department has commissioned into customer service in the Pension Service since the relocation of pension work from local offices in the South East region to pension centres elsewhere; and if he will make a statement. [151533]
Malcolm Wicks: The Pension Service commissioned BMRB Social Research to conduct research on customers' experience of, attitudes towards and satisfaction with our service in its first year. The survey is an important demonstration of our commitment to understanding and responding to customer requirements and will assist in future service development.
The survey findings are based on approximately 4,300 face-to-face interviews with a random sample of current pensioners, their representatives and future pensioners who had contact with The Pension Service during the first half of 2003. The findings are the first nationally representative assessment of how The Pension Service is delivering to its customers. The report will be published shortly.
In addition, the Department has recently commissioned research to examine service delivery to older people with special needs and customers who represent older people.
The Pension Service will introduce a national mystery shopping programme from April 2004. This will provide an independent, robust, and real time measure of our customer service delivery. It will drive improvement activity in areas of high importance to our customers.
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