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4 Mar 2004 : Column 1054W—continued
Television Reception
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what measures she is taking to tackle problems caused to television reception as a consequence of transmissions by TETRA masts. [158566]
Estelle Morris: TETRA systems in the UK are licensed to operate on frequencies within the bands 380 to 385 MHz; 390 to 395 MHz; 410 to 430 MHz; 871 to 876 MHz and 916 to 921 MHz. Television broadcasting operates on channels outside these bands; within the range 470 to 862 MHz. Interference should not therefore
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occur to TV reception from TETRA transmissions provided that the TETRA systems are operating in accordance with their licence conditions and the standard of installation of the TV receiver including its aerial system are satisfactory.
Ofcom, the independent regulator of communications is responsible for managing civil use of the radio spectrum including the investigation of legitimate reports of television and radio interference. Ofcom has published information on improving radio and TV reception to avoid interference, including specific advice on cases involving TETRA. In all such cases reported to Ofcom to date, the problems have been attributable to the performance of the consumers own TV aerial amplifiers which have been found to have a pass band wide enough to boost the TV signal and, inadvertently, the TETRA signals. In most cases a suitable filter between the amplifier and TV aerial will resolve the interference. Consumers in these cases have been advised to take up the problems with their suppliers.
SCOTLAND
Whisky
John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what meetings he has had with representatives of the Scottish whisky industry in (a) 2001, (b) 2002, (c) 2003 and (d) 2004. [156802]
Mrs. McGuire: The Secretary of State for Scotland met representatives from the Scotch Whisky Association twice in 2001 and 2002, once in 2003 and thus far, once in 2004.
WORK AND PENSIONS
Benefit Overpayments
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his latest estimate is of the amount of overpayments made owing to official error in each social security benefit paid by his Department; and if he will make a statement. [158768]
Mr. Pond: The latest available information is in the table.
| Benefit | Official error overpayment 2002–03 |
|---|---|
| Income Support | 140 |
| Minimum Income Guarantee | 50 |
| Jobseekers Allowance | 110 |
| Housing Benefit (see Note 2) | 100 |
| Incapacity Benefit and Severe Disablement Allowance | 43 |
| Long-Term Benefits (Retirement Pension, Widow's Benefit, and Bereavement Benefit) (see Note 3) | 14 |
Notes:
1. All figures are sample-based estimates and are subject to sampling error and other uncertainties.
2. The reported figure for housing benefit relates only to the 85 per cent. of expenditure covered by the housing benefit review. It does not include an allowance for overpaid expenditure due to non-residence at address, a small part of which may be the result of official error.
3. Official error on long-term benefits is a very low proportion of expenditure, and sample is a very small one which excludes some types of cases. The resulting estimate is the best available but is subject to considerable uncertainty.
4. The figures for income support, minimum income guarantee, jobseeker's allowance and housing benefit have been published in national statistics publications which report on the Department's performance against Public Service Agreement targets to reduce fraud and error.
5. Estimates are not available for official error in other benefits in 2002–03. Estimates of official error overpayments were published in reports on the benefit review exercises undertaken on disability living allowance, in 1997 and invalid care allowance (now called carer's allowance) in 1996. These out-of-date figures are not reliable indicators of the current level of official error in these benefits. A new review of disability living allowance will take place this year and provide an updated figure for that benefit.
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Benefit Payments (Pensioners)
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of pensioners he expects to be on means-tested benefits in 2005. [146749]
Malcolm Wicks: We estimate that 33 per cent. of individuals aged 60 years or older will be in receipt of either Pension Credit, Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit, or some combination of these benefits, in 2005.
Medical Assessments
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many complaints he has received from hon. Members concerning disability living allowance and attendance allowance medical examinations in the areas covered by (a) Leeds, (b) Birmingham, (c) Manchester, (d) Newcastle, (e) Sutton, (f) Bootle, (g) Bristol, (h) Glasgow, (i) Wembley, (j) Edinburgh and (k) Cardiff disability benefit centres in the last 12 months. [156041]
Maria Eagle: The numbers of complaints from hon. Members, recorded by the Medical Services National Customer Relations Team (NCRT), concerning disability living allowance and attendance allowance medical examinations in the last 12 months is 48. Numbers cannot be broken down by region and relate to inquiries from MPs to the Secretary of State and the Group Director of the DCD.
- Source:
- Medical Services National Customer Relations Team database, covering the period 1 March 2003 to 27 February 2004
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many days on average his Department took in Session 2002–03 to give a substantive answer to a parliamentary Question for Ordinary Written Answer; and what the greatest number of days taken to answer such a Question was. [155919]
Maria Eagle: The average number of working days is 12.6 and the greatest number of working days is 130. We are committed to providing hon. Members with timely and accurate replies to Parliamentary questions.
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Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many Parliamentary Questions have been tabled to his Department since 1 January 2003, broken down by (a) Ordinary Written and (b) Named Day; what percentage in respect of (a) were answered within 10 working days; and what percentage in respect of (b) were answered by the specified date. [157748]
Maria Eagle: During the period from 1 January 2003 to 31 January 2004 we answered 2,335 ordinary written questions, of which 65 per cent. were answered within 10 working days. During the same period we answered 463 named day questions, of which 66 per cent. were answered on the day specified and 90 per cent. within 10 working days. We are committed to providing hon. Members with timely and accurate replies to Parliamentary questions.
Pension Scheme Wind-ups
Mr. Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the (a) total amount of money lost by pension holders in company schemes where that pension scheme has wound up after the failure of the company and (b) the number of people who have lost pension provision in such circumstances. [158152]
Malcolm Wicks: Estimating the value of pensions lost and the number of people affected due to scheme wind-up and company insolvency, is fraught with numerous difficulties. We do not have information that tells us whether a scheme wind-up is due to company insolvency. Nor do we have information at an aggregate level on the fund assets and liabilities of schemes winding-up.
The extent of pensions lost depends on many different factors—such as the maturity of the scheme (that is, the age profile and retirement status of members), and the funding position before starting winding-up. The latter in turn is highly sensitive to investment decisions and conditions in the financial markets.
Data is severely limited in these areas, and as a result the Government does not have reliable estimates of the amount of money lost or the number of people affected.
Pensions
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on delays to processing entitlement to retirement pensions for the recently widowed. [158702]
Malcolm Wicks: Where pensioners are recently widowed, they may be entitled to have their pensions increased by virtue of the National Insurance contributions paid by their deceased spouses. The assessment of any entitlement to an increased pension is carried out by the National Pension Centre in Newcastle. While this assessment is being carried out, widows will continue to receive their own pensions and can also apply for interim payments to top this up.
The National Pension Centre also deals with new claims for pensions from people who have previously been divorced or widowed, and changes of circumstances for over four million pensioners who have their pensions paid direct into a bank account.
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A recent build up of work in the Centre has been caused largely as a result of the Centre temporarily dealing with some work appropriate to the 26 Regional Pension Centres. As that work will return to the Regional Centres, and an additional 100 staff have been employed, the work at the National Pension Centre should be returned to normal levels by June. The number of cases outstanding where the pensioner has been recently bereaved has been reduced from over 20,000 at the end of December to just over 14,000 currently.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what target has been set for the processing of entitlements to retirement pensions for the recently widowed; and whether this target is being met. [158703]
Malcolm Wicks: There is no target set specifically for the processing of entitlements to retirement pensions for the recently widowed. Where pensioners are recently widowed, they may be entitled to have their pensions increased by virtue of the National Insurance contributions paid by their deceased spouses. The assessment of any entitlement to an increased pension is carried out by the National Pension Centre in Newcastle.
When notified that a pensioner has been recently widowed, The National Pension Centre will assess whether the bereaved spouse can have their own pension increased, based on the contribution payments of their deceased partner. The National Pension Centre aims to deal with 95 per cent. of such changes within 17 days. As at the end of December performance against this target for the year was at 90.6 per cent.
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many people above state pension age he estimates are not drawing a state retirement pension because they have deferred taking a state pension; and if he will make a statement; [158767]
- (2) how many (a) men and (b) women drawing state retirement pensions are receiving increments because they deferred drawing that pension beyond state pension age, broken down by the length of time for which that pension was deferred. [158770]
Malcolm Wicks: It is not possible to say exactly how many people are deferring their State Pension at a single point in time because it is not necessary to inform the Department for Work and Pensions of an intention to defer.
However, estimates from the Government Actuary's Department suggest that approximately 120,000 pensioners in total are not drawing their state pension at the moment.
Information on current pensioners who have deferred their pension is not available in the form requested, but there are currently around 1.14 million pensioners in total with increments, of whom 893,000 are women. These figures include a small number of people who have inherited increments from their partner's contribution record and will have not actually deferred retirement themselves.
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