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25 Mar 2004 : Column 1029W—continued

Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what representations he has received from (a) individual businesses and (b) trade associations on difficulties in accessing affordable employers' liability compulsory insurance cover since December 2003. [162657]

Mr. Browne: The Department has received seven representations from individual businesses and five representations form trade associations on difficulties in accessing affordable employers' liability compulsory insurance cover since December 2003.

In addition the Department continues to discuss these issues with business representatives and trade associations on a regular basis.

EU Accession Countries

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate the Government have made of how many EU accession country citizens will make use of the benefits system in the UK. [157345]

Mr. Pond: A number of studies have been published which offer estimates of the number of people coming to the United Kingdom from the EU accession countries, but these do not take into account the measures announced on 23 February by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary and the steps we are taking to publicise them in the countries most concerned. Consequently no precise estimate of the numbers likely to travel to the UK and claim benefits has been made.

Health and Safety

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many inspectors have been employed by the Health and Safety Executive in each year since 1997; and what the forecast number is for the current year. [155818]

Mr. Browne: The table contains the information on the number of inspectors employed by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on 1 April for the years 1997 to 2003; and the planned number for 1 April 2004.

25 Mar 2004 : Column 1030W

Inspectors employed by HSE

	Number
1997	1,442
1998	1,437
1999	1,497
2000	1,507
2001	1,534
2002	1,625
2003	1,651
2004	(37)1,657

⁽³⁷⁾ Planned number.

Pension Centre Staffing

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many full-time equivalent departmental staff are employed in each pension centre. [160349]

Malcolm Wicks: The information requested (up to the end of February 2004) is in the table.

	Full-time equivalent staff
Derby	301.05
Leicester	278.00
Nottingham	214.29
Norwich Baltic	280.74
Norwich Kingfisher	269.41
London Pension Centre (Glasgow)	517.96
London Pension Centre (Newcastle)	626.92
Dearne Valley	436.22
Seaham	364.32
Stockton	313.10
York	304.83
Burnley	582.14
Stockport	713.93
Warrington	467.91
Dundee	534.18
Motherwell	466.29
Blackpool	191.16
Liverpool	267.29
Cwmbran	242.92
Wrexham	387.09
Bath	406.57
Plymouth	383.87
Swansea	542.05
Birmingham	358.49
Walsall	264.71
Wolverhampton	390.00

Pension Service (IT Facilities)

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether local Pension Service staff have IT facilities (a) to view customers' details and (b) to record ongoing action on the Pension Service database whilst conducting (i) a home visit and (ii) a surgery; what the average time taken for the appropriate pension centre (A) to input this information and (B) to amend existing records on the main database is; and if he will make a statement. [160354]

Malcolm Wicks: Currently The Pension Service local service staff do not have the IT facilities to enable electronic access to customer benefit details or to record ongoing action while conducting a home visit or surgery.

Local service staff do have access to laptop computers and a programme is underway to provide all DWP laptop users with secure remote access to the full IT facilities, including customer benefit details.

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Prior to any booked appointment the local service member of staff will preview the customer's details and take any necessary information to the visit or surgery. During the visit or surgery if further information is required staff are equipped with mobile telephones with which they can contact their office for assistance.

The Pension Service does not collect information on each stage of its processing. The organisation has published its handling targets in The Pension Service Business Plan for 2003–04.

Pensions

Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the Government's target in respect of funded pensions. [161205]

Malcolm Wicks: The Government are committed to continuing their strategy which balances fairness and affordability by targeting state support at those who need it most while encouraging private funded provision for those who can afford to save and rewarding those who have done so.

The Pensions Bill, introduced to the House in February is one part of our programme of reform which bolsters protection for pension scheme members through the introduction of the Pension Protection Fund and The Pensions Regulator. These measures, if approved, will provide people with increased confidence that a pension they have saved will be delivered.

In addition, Simplicity, security and choice: Informed choices for working and saving (Cm 6111) set out the action this Government are taking to empower individuals to take control of their retirement planning.

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what (a) temporary and (b) permanent changes to the level of written evidence needed to support an application for pension credit have been implemented by his Department; and if he will make a statement; [163292]

(2) if it is his Department's policy to require written evidence of the value of (a) occupational pensions, (b) premium bonds and (c) income tax payments when assessing pension credit applications; and if he will make a statement. [163293]

Malcolm Wicks: Applications for Pension Credit are assessed on the basis that the decision maker must decide, on the balance of probability, whether the information given in the application is correct. As a general rule, written evidence is required of income and of savings and investments above 6,000 (or 10,000, for someone in a care home). Written evidence will normally be required, where relevant, of occupational pensions, premium bonds of 100 or more and income tax deductions.

Our aim is to ensure that Pension Credit is easy to apply for and we continually review our processes to ensure that this is so. We have listened to comments from customers, pension providers and staff and have introduced a number of relatively minor changes to the written evidence which we require. These include, where appropriate, applying an automatic increase to non-state second pensions, where customers are unable to provide details of the rate and date of any proposed

25 Mar 2004 : Column 1032W

increase, inferring the current amount and frequency of non-state second pensions from bank statements and accepting photocopies of documents such as bank statements, savings books and wage slips if the customer is unable or unwilling to provide originals. The changes have been introduced through normal business practices and are subject to ongoing evaluation.

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the cost to the Exchequer, net of savings in means-tested benefits and additional income tax revenues, of paying a full basic state retirement pension to every individual aged 65 or over, regardless of contribution record, at the rate of the guarantee credit and subsequently indexed to earnings, in each of the next five financial years, assuming that no new rights accrue to the state second pension and that no new rights accrue to the savings credit from the date of implementation of the scheme. [163714]

Malcolm Wicks: The information requested is in the table.

	Net cost (£ billion)
2004–05	9.2
2005–06	9.4
2006–07	9.9
2007–08	10.5
2008–09	11.1

Notes:

1. Figures are for Great Britain in 2003–04 price terms rounded to the nearest £100 million. It is assumed the change comes into effect from April 2004 and payment is uprated in line with earnings thereafter.

2. Gross costs are estimated by the Government Actuary's Department and are consistent with Budget 2004 assumptions and use 2002 based population projections.

3. The costs take into account income related benefit offsets, which are calculated using the DWP policy simulation model and April 2004 benefit rates.

4. Additional income tax revenue is estimated by the Inland Revenue using 2004 tax rates.

5. The savings from abolishing the State Second Pension are calculated by the Government Actuary's Department and are consistent with the long term Public Expenditure Survey forecasts. No allowance has been made for changes to contracting out rules.

6. The savings credit is assumed to be frozen, payments uprated by prices, with no new recipients after 2004. Figures for 2004 and 2005 are based on published medium term forecasts, while those for 2006–07 and beyond are based on the illustrative long-term projections of benefit expenditure underlying Annex A of the Budget report.

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