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Maintenance (Non-Resident Parents)

Mr. Bill O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for what reason working tax credit payments are taken into account in assessment of maintenance payments in respect of non-resident parents; and if he will make a statement. [160841]

Mr. Pond: The amount a non-resident parent pays to support his child should reflect his income whether or not that income includes working tax credit.

In the new scheme working tax credit is taken into account as income for the non-resident parent's maintenance calculation. This carries forward the arrangements in the old scheme which also treated family credit (and then tax credits) as income.

Pension Protection Fund

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his Statement on 2 March 2004, Official Report, column 763, if he will place in the Library a copy of the actuarial simulations that have been produced for the projected finances of the pension protection fund on a range of different assumptions. [161622]

Malcolm Wicks: The original cost of £340 million to £375 million is the difference between the assets and the liabilities of the schemes taken over by the PPF in a year. We used the following assumptions to arrive at that cost:

(i) Data on the MFR funding levels of just over 1,000 schemes that had an MFR valuation with an effective date between April 1997 and April 2000 were used. Adjustments were made for each scheme in the sample in order to estimate the up-to-date funding position. The results were scaled up to the total for all private sector occupational pension schemes.

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(ii) The value of the liabilities if such schemes were to fall within the responsibility of the pensions protection fund were estimated on a basis equivalent to midway between the current MFR basis and the full insurance buyout costs for the liabilities.

(iii) The cost will obviously depend on the number of firms going insolvent. Allowance was made for the possibility of normal, poor and extreme years as far as bankruptcies are concerned, but on average over a 20-year period, the probabilities of a scheme becoming a liability of the PPF were assumed to be between about 0.3 per cent. a year for large schemes and 1 per cent. a year for small schemes. This assumed level of bankruptcy is cautious, especially given that it is very rare for large companies to go bankrupt.

(iv) Allowance was made for the impact of the suggested salary cap using data on the earnings of occupational schemes members from the Family Resources Survey.

These costs were recently recalculated at £300 million using the same methodology, but updated to take account of current market conditions and the decisions taken on the precise nature of the PPF compensation payable.

Remploy

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how his Department is working to help Remploy provide more opportunities for learning and employment to disabled people. [159426]

Maria Eagle: The Government agree Remploy's annual business plan, and set the targets for the employment and development of disabled people through the company's Workstep programme. Remploy are supported by the Government through investment of grant-in-aid each year; in 2003–04, this was set at £115 million.

Remploy supports around 9,000 people on the Workstep programme nationally. During 2002–03, 1,610 disabled people progressed into unsupported employment with their help. At a local level, Jobcentre Plus Disability Employment Advisers work closely with Remploy to ensure disabled people are referred appropriately for support from the company. In addition, Remploy recruit to the Workstep programme directly.

Remploy is separately contracted to deliver other Jobcentre Plus programmes, including New Deal for Disabled People, Work Preparation and Work Based Learning for Adults. These contracts are paid for and organised separately from the grant-in-aid given to Remploy for delivery of the Workstep programme.

In 2003–04, Remploy's target is that each employee should spend 5 per cent. of their time on learning and development activities; they are currently on course to exceed this. In addition, Remploy is currently developing a network of learning centres, to provide all their employees with access to learning opportunities.

Small Business Support

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the support programmes for small businesses that (a) his Department and (b) its

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agencies have financed in each of the last five years; how much money was allocated for each scheme in each year; how much money has gone unclaimed under each scheme; and how many small businesses have benefited from each scheme. [161257]

Maria Eagle: As a result of the cross-cutting review of Government services for small business, Jobcentre Plus' employer strategy is developing services to make them more responsive to the diverse characteristics and recruitment needs of smaller businesses.

Jobcentre Plus is undertaking an ongoing programme of research to understand the characteristics and needs of small businesses; developing a proactive and co-ordinated approach towards raising awareness of some of the services offered through the local office network; introducing Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) specialists in each region to support local office delivery; and continuing to build on strategic partnerships with the National Employment Panel SME Board, Business Link, Learning and Skills Councils and others at local level to deliver more coherent services to small businesses.

However this Department does not have any financial support programmes for small businesses. This is an area for the Department of Trade and Industry.

Pensions Uprating (European Union Residents)

Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the Department's policy is on up-rating pensions for British pensioners living in (a) EU countries and (b) EU accession countries. [160752]

Mr. Pond: Uprating of State Pension is currently paid to pensioners in the European Economic Area and Switzerland under the provisions of the European Community's social security legislation (Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71). These provisions will apply equally to accession countries.

TREASURY

Birth Defects

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many birth defects there were in each of the last five years in England. [160624]

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mrs. Iris Robinson, dated 15 March 2004:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking for the number of birth defects in each of the last five years in England. (160624)

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for maintaining the National Congenital Anomaly System (NCAS) notifications in England and Wales. These notifications are collected only for live and stillbirths (e.g. terminations are excluded) and are provided by NHS Trusts on a voluntary basis either directly to ONS or via local congenital anomaly registers that exchange data with ONS.

In 1997 there were no registers exchanging information with NCAS. By 2001, NCAS received more complete information from four local congenital anomaly registers through multi-source

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ascertainment. As a result, numbers of notifications in England and Wales have increased since 1997. These registers cover all births in Wales and 24 per cent. of births in England. For the remaining areas NCAS relies solely on SD56 notification forms and is likely to be less complete. Up to eight malformations can be recorded on the system for each baby.

Estimates of the figures requested, covering the latest five year period are shown in the attached table.

Estimated numbers of malformations recorded, 1997–2001, England

	Estimated number of malformations notified
1997	6,753
1998	6,516
1999	8,575
2000	9,273
2001	8,027

Source:

Estimates based on numbers of babies notified to National Congenital Anomaly System at 31 July 2002 (Health Statistics Quarterly no. 16 Annual update: Congenital anomaly statistics—notifications 2001) and the number of malformations recorded for each notified case.

Charities

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how he will monitor compliance with the 2006 full cost recovery commitment for the charitable sector. [158028]

Fiona Mactaggart: I have been asked to reply.

"The Role of the Voluntary and Community Sector: a cross cutting review" recommends that all Government Departments will implement the principle of full cost recovery by April 2006.

This recommendation is being taken forward through two main strands of work:

Guidance to government departments, as reflected in the HM Treasury 'Guidance to Funders' and forthcoming procurement guidance from the Office for Government Commerce and the Home Office Active Community Unit. This will be reinforced by a revised Compact Code of Good Practice on Funding.

Guidance to voluntary and community organisations on identifying costs. This guidance is being taken forward by the Association of Chief Executives in Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO) with the aid of a grant from the ACU and advice from a range of government department as well from the National Audit Office.

However, it not intended to introduce a new layer of bureaucracy by monitoring all contracting and grant agreements with the voluntary and community sector. Instead, the Active Community Unit will work with departments to help review existing practice and make changes whenever the opportunity arises. The Active Community Unit will remain in dialogue with the sector booth through a longitudinal study of voluntary and community organisations through the State of the Sector Panel and through general dialogue with the sector.

Mr. Dhanda: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate Her Majesty's Treasury has made of the number of charities that will be affected by the changes to Gift Aid announced in the pre-Budget report; and what cross-departmental steps can be taken to assist charities adversely affected by the changes. [156814]

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Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on changes he proposes to the Gift Aid scheme. [157313]

John Healey: I refer the hon. Gentlemen to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Leominster (Mr. Wiggin) on 15 January 2004, Official Report, columns 865–66W. The Government have consulted closely with charities on this issue.

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