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18 Mar 2004 : Column 410W—continued
WORK AND PENSIONS
Carers Grant
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people were receiving funding from the Carers Grant (a) in England and (b) broken down by local authority in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [161929]
Dr. Ladyman: I have been asked to reply.
The Carers Grant, which was introduced in 1999–2000, gives money to local councils to support them in providing short breaks for carers. Data are not available for the first year of the grant. Figures for 2000–01, 2001–02, and 2002–03 have been placed in the Library.
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Departmental Computer Misuse
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many cases of computer misuse there were in his Department (a) in 1997 and (b) since 2002–03, broken down by each category of misuse; and how many of those cases resulted in disciplinary action. [162395]
Mr. Browne: The Department treats very seriously any suspicion of misuse of computer systems by staff and takes firm action in any cases that arise. All such cases, if proven, result in disciplinary action being taken against the offender leading to either a disciplinary penalty or dismissal.
Data relating to 1997 could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Tables provided as follows detail the number of cases formally investigated and proven by category for 2002–03 and 2003–04. All these cases have resulted in, or are in the process of having disciplinary action taken.
| Category | Number |
|---|---|
| Unauthorised access to computer systems | 29 |
| Use of unauthorised software | 3 |
| Manipulation of computer systems | 2 |
| Category | Number |
|---|---|
| Unauthorised access to computer systems | 31 |
| Use of unauthorised software | 8 |
| Manipulation of computer systems | 0 |
The figures provided for 2003–04 cover the year to date and represent proven cases. Several investigations are ongoing, but have not been included, as the results are not known yet.
Excludes minor cases handled locally.
Departmental Sickness Absence
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress he has made on reducing his Department's sickness absence rate; what baseline figure was used to assess his Department's compliance with its Public Service Agreement target on reducing sickness rates; what the rate was in each of the last seven years; and if he will make a statement. [162388]
Maria Eagle: The Department for Work and Pensions has a Service Delivery Agreement for reducing sickness absence. This is nine days over the year to December 2004 and 8.5 days over the year to December 2005, as interim targets towards the key indicator of eight days to 2006. The Department is committed to increasing its level of attendance to meet this challenge.
To secure improvements the Department has launched a managing attendance strategy that combines a policy drawn from recognised best practice, with initiatives targeting specific areas. The initiatives include the following:
- a scrutiny of long-term absence cases to draw out any lessons that can be learned from these cases and for the necessary action to be followed through;
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- pilots in five Jobcentre Plus districts focusing on early intervention by Occupational Health nurses to help avoid absences becoming long term;
- Well Being at Work pilots which aim to contribute to the well being of the organisation by identifying and tackling stress (as part of a wider Health and Safety Executive pilot);
- an evaluation of the Attendance Management policy. This will complement the National Audit Office study that is currently taking place of the Department's Attendance Management policy.
The information requested on the Department's sickness absence rate is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the table.
| Department | Year | Average number of working days lost |
|---|---|---|
| DSS | 1999–2000 | 12.0 |
| DSS | 2000–01 | 12.3 |
| DSS | 2001–02 | 11.2 |
| DWP | 2002–03 | 12.3 |
Notes:
1. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) was created in June 2001. Due to the migration of businesses into and out of the newly forming Department, and differences in calculation methods, figures for the Department as a whole are only available from April 2002.
2. The information in Table 1 covers the years April 1999 to March 2002 relating to the former Department of Social Security (DSS), the main predecessor Department in place prior to the formation of DWP, and for DWP for April 2002 to March 2003.
3. Figures have been provided for DSS and DWP for each full operational year since 1999. Sickness absence information for the current year, April 2003 to March 2004, will be available in spring 2004.
IT Contracts
Mr. Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list information technology contracts in his Department with a value of above £20 million in each of the last 10 years; what the inception date for each system was; when it became fully functional; when it became fully debugged; and what the cost of over-runs has been. [146196]
Mr. Browne: This question covers periods prior to the establishment in June 2001 of the Department for Work and Pensions, formed from the Employment Service (ES) and the Department for Social Security (DSS).
This information relates to contractual arrangements made by the Department for Work and Pensions, as well as the former ES and DSS.
On the question of de-bugging, the view is that no system is completely free of "bugs". However, the Department deals with these according to priority, working in partnership with private sector providers to eradicate on an on-going basis.
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A list of IT contracts current at the time of FOCUS 95 outsourcing has been placed in the Library. It is not possible to provide information prior to 1995, as this could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
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