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19 Apr 2004 : Column 301W—continued

Pension Forecasts

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many automatic state pension forecasts his Department has issued to the self-employed since May 2003. [166236]

Malcolm Wicks: To date 864,901 automatic state pension forecasts have been issued to the self-employed since the exercise began in May 2003.

Pensions

Mr. Chidgey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on his Department's policy on encouraging people already receiving benefit to apply for their retirement pension. [166477]

Malcolm Wicks: We write to people already receiving benefit around four months before they reach State Pension age to invite them to claim State Pension. However, the responsibility for claiming State Pension lies with the person concerned.

The benefit already in payment may be affected when the person reaches State Pension age. It may be replaced by State Pension once claimed, or be adjusted to take account of the State Pension.

If the claim for State Pension is not made in time then a claim can be made subsequently and entitlement backdated for up to three months.

Sure Start Maternity Grant

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many mothers in Birkenhead have made use of the Sure Start maternity grant. [166514]

Mr. Pond: The information is not available in the format requested. The available information is in the following table.
Sure Start Maternity Grants for Wirral Social Fund District/Jobcentre Plus District

	Applications	Awards
2000–01	1,445	1,240
2001–02	1,704	1,388
2002–03	1,956	1,597
2003–04	1,945	1,568

Notes:
1. Data is not available by Parliamentary Constituency. Birkenhead Parliamentary Constituency is part of Wirral Jobcentre Plus District, which was previously Wirral Social Fund District.
2. Sure Start Maternity Grants were introduced on 27 March 2000. The very small number of cases for 1999–2000 has been excluded for data protection reasons.
3. Data is given for all applications and awards, irrespective of whether the application was made by the mother or her partner.
Source:
DWP Social Fund Policy, Budget and Management Information System.




 
19 Apr 2004 : Column 302W
 

Winter Fuel Allowance

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many senior citizens in Birkenhead have benefited from the winter fuel allowance since 1997. [166509]

Malcolm Wicks: The number of people who have benefited from a Winter Fuel Payment in the Birkenhead constituency is in the following table. Figures for 1997–98 and 1998–99 are not available.

	Payments made
1999–2000	12,610
2000–01	13,845
2001–02	13,960
2002–03	14,240
2003–04	14,375

Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest five.
2. Please note that these figures for 2003–04 refer only to the main payment run i.e. they do not include the late payment run figures. We estimate that there are approximately 100,000 people in Great Britain paid via late payment runs (0.8 per cent. of all payments). However, since late payment runs are mainly in respect of non-system cases whose claim had not been received by Qualifying Week, they are heavily skewed towards men aged 60.
3. Figures are not held for the first two years of the scheme as payments were only made to those on certain benefits. Figures have been kept since it was known the scheme would be extended to all those aged 60 or over.
Source:
IAD Information Centre, 100 per cent. sample.

CABINET OFFICE

Civil Servants

Mr. Letwin: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many established civil servants were appointed in March. [165505]

Mr. Alexander: Data on civil servants recruited during a specific month is not collected centrally.

Data on staffing levels in the Civil Service is collected from Departments and Agencies twice yearly, in april and October.

Public Service Employers Forum

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the (a) resource budget, (b) administration costs and (c) staff numbers were for 2003 of the Public Service Employers Forum. [165123]

Mr. Alexander: The Public Service Employers' Forum brings together around 15 senior employers from across the public sector to share good practice on pay and workforce reform in order to improve the delivery of public services. It meets quarterly and is supported by 0.3 Full time equivalent member of staff provided by the Office of Public Services Reform. Additional administration and resource costs in 2003 were minimal as meetings were generally held within the Cabinet Office and those attending did so on a voluntary basis.
 
19 Apr 2004 : Column 303W
 

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Capital Modernisation Fund

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much money was allocated to Birkenhead from the capital modernisation fund. [166324]

Alan Johnson: The Department for Education and Skills does not hold this information centrally. Capital Modernisation Fund is allocated by project and not by area.

School Closures

David Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many rural schools have closed in each year since 1997. [165588]

Alan Johnson: The Department does not have reliable data on the number of rural school closures in England for individual years before 1998. The number of rural small schools approved for closure from 1998, when the presumption against closure of rural schools was introduced in England, is as follows:

Year	No.
1998	5
1999	2
2000	2
2001	3
2002	5
2003	12
2004	6

In 2003 a new, wider, definition of rural was introduced with the result that the proportion of schools in England classified as rural has increased.

The Secretary of State's guidance makes clear that there should be a presumption against the closure of rural schools. This does not mean that no rural school should ever close, but the case for closure should be strong and the proposals clearly in the best interests of educational provision in the area.

School Computers

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much public funding has been spent on computers for schools in Birkenhead in each of the last seven years. [166321]

Alan Johnson: My department does not collect information on school spend on computers at constituency level. However Birkenhead is in Wirral LEA and since 1998–99, schools in Wirral have benefited from the following funding through the Standards Fund grant for ICT (including match funding from the LEA):

Year	Allocation to Wirral LEA
1998–1999	671,532
1999–2000	468,826
2000–2001	1,077,224
2001–2002	1,529,393
2002–2003	2,117,961
2003–04	2,197,120

 
19 Apr 2004 : Column 304W
 

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much public funding has been spent on computers for schools in Wirral, South in each of the last seven years. [166622]

Alan Johnson: My department does not collect information on school spend on computers at constituency level. However Wirral, South is in Wirral LEA and since 1998–99, schools in Wirral have benefited from the following funding through the Standards Fund grant for ICT (including match funding from the LEA):

Year	Allocation to Wirral LEA
1998–1999	671,532
1999–2000	468,826
2000–2001	1,077,224
2001–2002	1,529,393
2002–2003	2,117,961
2003–2004	2,197,120

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