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Discretionary Social Fund

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the net budget is for the Discretionary Social Fund for (a) 2004–05 and (b) 2005–06. [162947]

Mr. Pond: The discretionary Social Fund plays an important role in the Government's agenda for tackling poverty and social exclusion by helping the poorest members of society meet the cost of occasional one-off essential items through Community Care Grants, Budgeting Loans and Crisis Loans.

The net discretionary Social Fund budget is £168.2 million for 2004–05 and £178.2 million for 2005–06. A written statement about the gross discretionary Social Fund budget for 2004–05 and its breakdown will be made in due course.

Earnings Disregards

Mrs. Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when earnings disregards for claimants were last reviewed; and what plans he has to increase them. [162572]

Mr. Pond: Income-related benefits are intended to help people whose resources are insufficient to meet their day-to-day living expenses; any income that is available to meet those expenses is normally taken into account. However, as an incentive to those who wish to work part-time, a certain amount of part-time earnings can be disregarded.

All aspects of benefit payment, including these disregards, are kept under review in order to ensure the fair and equitable distribution of benefit and the best use of public funds. Earnings disregards were last increased in April 2001, when a higher rate of £20 was introduced for certain vulnerable groups, including disabled people, lone parents and carers.

Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress the Government has made in developing a Framework for Vocational Rehabilitation, as referred to in the Second Stage Report of the Review of Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance. [162655]

Mr. Browne: Good progress has been made to fulfil the Government's commitment to develop and publish a Framework for Vocational Rehabilitation by late summer 2004. As a next step we intend to consult formally with stakeholders in April.

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many new underwriters have (a) entered and (b) re-established themselves in the market offering employers' liability compulsory insurance over the last five years; and how many underwriters have left the market over the same period. [162660]

Mr. Browne: This information is not collected centrally. It remains the view of the market that capacity for Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance (ELCI) is increasing at a gradual rate.

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Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress the Health and Safety Executive has made in regard to launching a Health and Safety Management Index, as referred to in the Second Stage Report of the Review of Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance. [162656]

Mr. Browne: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has developed a management index to measure the health and safety management performance of large organisations and has placed the index on the HSE website www.hse.gov.uk/research/chaspi.htm for validation. Validation is scheduled to commence in April and to last four months.

In parallel HSE is developing a similar index for small businesses. A validated version is expected in June. Further work will then be required to convert this into a form that is suited to users, for example, insurers and small businesses.

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the feasibility of establishing an enforcement database to focus the Health and Safety Executive's enforcement efforts in regard to employers' liability compulsory insurance. [162659]

Mr. Browne: We are re-appraising our approach to an enforcement database in the light of information that the Health and Safety Executive has gathered from 18,000 employers indicating a high level of compliance (over 99 per cent).

In the meantime we are continuing the actions outlined in the second stage report to improve enforcement. These include commitments to prepare and publish new Government procurement guidance to ensure compliance from bodies that contract with the public sector.

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to monitor the joint code of practice from the Association of British Insurers and British Insurance Brokers' Association, as referred to in the Second Stage Report of the Review of Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance. [162661]

Mr. Browne: The Association of British Insurers (ABI) and the British Insurance Brokers' Association (BIBA) have been monitoring the implementation of the Statement of Good Practice on renewal of Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance (ELCI) and public liability insurance published on 6 August 2003.

The ABI and BIBA have not received any complaints under the Statement.

In addition the Financial Services Authority (FSA) sent "Good Practice Indicators" to all general Insurance Companies in June 2003 following a project run by the FSA looking at risk management, in writing liability insurance, as part of a Dear CEO (Chief Executive Officer) letter. The indicators included guidance on renewals.

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The FSA will look at how companies writing liability insurance are adhering to these indicators as part of the risk assessment process, which takes place annually for the larger firms and possibly every two or three years for smaller firms.

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what role information and advice from the Association of British Insurers plays in the development of his Department's policy on employer's liability insurance. [162662]

Mr. Browne: The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has been open and active in its support for the actions mapped out in the Government's Report of the Review of Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance (ELCI).

The Government continues to work with the ABI in the delivery of this agenda as well as drawing on support from other key representative organisations such as the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the Engineering Employers' Federation (EEF), the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and the Trades Union Congress (TUC).

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what guidance is issued by the Financial Services Authority on good practice indicators to be used in assessing firms writing liability insurance, referred to in the Second Stage Report of the Review of Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance. [162690]

Mr. Browne: The Financial Services Authority (FSA) sent the "Good Practice Indicators" to all General Insurance Companies last June following a project run by the FSA looking at risk management practices within the liability insurance market as part of a Dear CEO (Chief Executive Officer) letter. The indicators were issued to the market to try and raise standards within the market, and did not constitute general guidance. They covered Business Operating Environment and Strategy, Pricing and Reinsurance, Risk Management and Claims Handling. A copy has been placed in the Library.

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effect of the Making the Market Work initiative by the Association of British Insurers in relation to the cost of premiums for employers' liability compulsory insurance. [162691]

Mr. Browne: The Association of British Insurers (ABI) is planning to undertake an evaluation of the initiative after one year of its operation, in Autumn 2004. The Government will take a close interest in the outcome.

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many personal injury claims were made to general insurers in specific relation to employers' liability in each of the last five years; what the total value of all costs in relation to such claims was; and what the total value of all settlements in relation to such claims was. [162692]

Mr. Browne: Figures for the number of personal injury claims in relation to Employers' Liability for

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1999–2000 are not available. The number of personal injury claims in relation to Employers' Liability for 2001 to 2003 are:

	£
2001	219,183
2002	170,554
2003	183,342

Source:

Compensation Recovery Unit

Separate figures for just the total value of costs and just the total value of settlements are not available. However the total value of costs and claims combined for 1999–2002 were:

	£ million
1999	468
2000	427
2001	639
2002	926

Note:

Figures are not yet available for 2003.

Source:

Association of British Insurers

It is important to note that because of the long tail nature of certain claims, settlements may accrue for many years to come. The figures in the table only relate to the value of claims thus far settled in each of those years.

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