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27 Apr 2004 : Column 952W—continued

Civil Servants

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list for each civil service grade within his (a) Department and (b) Department's Executive agencies, the total number of staff employed, broken down by (i) gender, (ii) ethnic group and (iii) age group; and how many are registered disabled. [166395]

Maria Eagle: The information showing the position as at 29 February 2004 is in the tables. The numbers shown are expressed in headcount not whole-time equivalent terms.

(a) Department for Work and Pensions excluding agencies (excluding Jobcentre Plus, the Pension Service, Child Support Agency and Appeals Service):

	SCS	G6	G7	SEO	HEO	EO	AO	AA	Total
(i) Gender
Male	92	128	392	547	1,055	1,957	2,107	1,119	7,397
Female	51	85	278	469	1,222	3,422	4,807	1,737	12,071
(ii) Ethnic group
Asian	<5	<5	13	18	32	191	308	164	727
Black	<5	<5	<5	5	25	87	137	54	314
Chinese	<5	<5	<5	<5	<5	10	8	<5	28
Mixed/Other	<5	<5	5	6	23	70	96	43	248
White	109	162	530	833	1,862	4,218	5,158	2,018	14,890
No/Unclear Response	30	46	118	152	332	803	1,207	573	3,261
(iii) Disability
Disabled	8	6	17	31	85	261	288	92	788
Non Disabled	132	207	648	974	2,169	5,082	6,602	2,759	18,573
Unknown	<5	<5	5	11	23	36	24	5	107
(iv) Age group
<20	—	—	—	—	—	—	53	136	189
20<25	—	—	—	<5	48	233	666	480	1,429
25<30	—	—	46	26	135	502	885	278	1,872
30<35	5	18	65	71	237	831	953	259	2,439
35<40	19	26	103	189	452	1,013	1,061	260	3,123
40<45	26	34	120	244	486	989	968	333	3,200
45<50	33	52	131	197	426	799	812	286	2,736
50<55	36	54	133	183	313	590	663	341	2,313
55<60	22	25	71	89	160	342	649	314	1,672
60<65	<5	<5	—	15	20	77	200	165	483
65+	—	—	<5	—	—	<5	<5	<5	12

(b) Department's Executive agencies (Jobcentre Plus, the Pension Service, Child Support Agency and Appeals Service):

	SCS	G6	G7	SEO	HEO	EO	AO	AA	Total
(i) Gender
Male	61	151	307	824	2,320	12,344	16,238	2,751	34,996
Female	28	100	246	938	3,693	27,444	44,946	5,386	82,781
(ii) Ethnic group
Asian	<5	<5	<5	25	97	1,252	2,817	433	4,629
Black	<5	<5	<5	9	68	870	1,426	172	2,548
Chinese	<5	<5	<5	<5	<5	48	99	16	165
Mixed/Other	<5	<5	5	14	74	514	919	132	1,660
White	71	219	474	1,463	4,862	29,777	44,210	6,258	87,334
No/Unclear Response	16	29	69	250	911	7,327	11,713	1,126	21,441
(iii) Disability
Disabled	<5	13	19	88	366	2,593	2,799	429	6,310
Non Disabled	82	228	506	1,605	5,466	34,944	55,008	7,595	105,434
Unknown	<5	10	28	69	181	2251	3377	113	6,033
(iv) Age group
<20	—	—	—	—	—	7	619	303	929
20<25	—	—	—	—	14	723	6,523	1,188	8,448
25<30	—	—	<5	17	90	2,537	7,317	713	10,675
30<35	<5	<5	23	78	475	4,820	7,989	690	14,080
35<40	8	16	57	253	1,128	7,754	10,055	872	20,143
40<45	17	33	136	438	1,522	8,412	9,373	935	20,866
45<50	21	70	133	468	1,334	7,201	7,422	922	17,571
50<55	25	88	121	326	852	4,763	5,909	1,042	13,126
55<60	16	36	76	156	528	2,936	4,659	984	9,391
60<65	—	5	6	26	69	619	1,291	476	2,492
65+	—	—	—	—	<5	16	27	12	56

Source:
DWP payroll.





 
27 Apr 2004 : Column 953W
 

Information on ethnicity and disability relates to data provided by staff on a voluntary basis only.

Departmental Relocation

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work   and Pensions (1) what aspects of the work in his Department's offices in (a) Portsmouth, (b) Southampton and (c) the Isle of Wight have been (i) relocated and (ii) centralised in each of the last three years; [151633]

(2) how many of his Department's offices have been closed in (a) Portsmouth, (b) Southampton and (c) the Isle of Wight in each of the last three years. [151634]

Jane Kennedy: Jobcentre Plus and the Pension Service are modernising the services we provide to our customers. This modernisation is increasing the number of places where people can get information about work and benefits. All decisions made about the centralisation or relocation of work are informed by the particular needs of their customers; nationally, regionally and at district level. For example, the Pension Service have centralised and relocated benefit processing based on customer feedback that pensioners prefer to make contact by phone rather than calling at an office.

In Portsmouth, no Jobcentre Plus offices, Jobcentres or Social Security offices have been relocated, centralised or closed.

In Southampton, the processing of incapacity benefit and jobseekers allowance claims has been relocated from Southampton Social Security office to Totton Customer Service Centre. No other Jobcentre Plus offices, Jobcentres or Social Security offices in Southampton have been relocated, centralised or closed.
 
27 Apr 2004 : Column 954W
 

In the Isle of Wight, the processing of incapacity benefit and jobseekers allowance claims has been relocated from Fareham Social Security office to Isle of Wight offices. The processing of Income Support claims has been relocated from the Isle of Wight to Fareham Jobcentre Plus. All Jobseeker Direct work has been relocated to the Dundee Contact Centre. No other Jobcentre Plus offices, Jobcentres or Social Security offices on the Isle of Wight have been relocated, centralised or closed.

All pensions processing and inquiries for Portsmouth, Southampton and the Isle of Wight have been relocated to the Wrexham Pensions Centre. Local Pension Service teams are based in Portsmouth, Southampton' and Newport.

Disability Appeal Tribunal

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average administrative cost was in 2003–04 of an appeal to a disability appeal   tribunal on a disability living allowance decision. [168017]

Maria Eagle [holding answer 23 April 2004]: This is a matter for Christina Townsend, Chief Executive of the Appeals Service. She will reply to the hon. Member.

Letter from Christina Townsend to Mr. Hywel Williams, dated 27 April 2004:

The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question regarding the average administrative cost of an appeal to an appeal tribunal on a disability living allowance decision in 2003–04.

We estimate that the average cost of processing a disability appeal during the year 2003–04 was £233.

I hope this reply is helpful.

 
27 Apr 2004 : Column 955W
 

Health and Safety Executive

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the total cost is of (a) building and (b) moving into the new Health and Safety Executive (HSE) building at Bootle; and what the total income from HSE priced publications was in 2003–04. [166861]

Jane Kennedy [holding answer 26 April 2004]: HSE's new building at Bootle, Merseyside is being procured under the Private Finance Initiative. Once it is available for occupation in 2005 HSE will pay an annual unitary charge for fully serviced office space of £7 million (2003 prices). The purchase of the site from Sefton MBC cost £1.3 million and removal plus IT transitional costs are likely to cost £1 million. The total income from HSE priced publications was £5.7 million in 2003–04.

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