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10 May 2004 : Column 135W—continued

Disabled Workers

Mr. Borrow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the measures introduced to improve the working conditions of disabled workers in South Ribble over the last seven years. [172141]

Maria Eagle: We have a number of measures in place nationally to help improve conditions for disabled people at work, as well as measures to improve their
 
10 May 2004 : Column 136W
 
access to services generally. None of these are specific to South Ribble, but all are available to disabled people who live and work there.

From 1996, the employment provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act required most employers of 20 or more staff not to discriminate against, and to make reasonable adjustments for, disabled job applicants or employees; in December 1998, we reduced this threshold to 15 employees. From October this year, the small employer exemption will be removed and most currently excluded occupations, such as police officers, fire-fighters, and partners in business partnerships will be brought within the scope of the Disability Discrimination Act employment provisions.

Jobcentre Plus runs a number of specialist programmes providing help for disabled people, including New Deal for Disabled People, Workstep, Access to Work, the Job Introduction Scheme, and Work Preparation. All these programmes provide practical advice and support to disabled people and their employers to help overcome work related obstacles resulting from disability. Since 1997–98 there have been year-on-year increases in both numbers helped and programme spend.

To help people access appropriate help, Jobcentre Plus has established a network of Disability Service Teams. The teams are made up of Disability Employment Advisors, Access to Work Advisers and Occupational Psychologists; their services are accessed through local Jobcentres.

Since April 2003, disabled people in work have been receiving financial support through the Working Tax Credit. This is available if a person is working an average of at least 16 hours per week (self-employed or for an employer); and have a disability which puts them at a disadvantage in getting a job. 70,000 families (including over 32,000 adults without children) are benefiting from the disability element within the Working Tax Credit, compared to 38,000 who benefited from the old Disabled Person's Tax Credit.

Incapacity Benefit

Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of incapacity benefit claimants covered by the new incapacity benefit pilot projects in (a) 2003–04 and (b) 2004–05. [170459]

Maria Eagle [holding answer 4 May 2004]: We have projected that there will be approximately 14,000 new claims for incapacity benefits (Incapacity Benefit and Income Support on the grounds of incapacity) in the pilot areas during 2003–04, and 65,000 ¹ during 2004–05. The pilots will continue to the end of 2005–6 when we estimate that there will be approximately 66,000 new claims.

In addition, all the pilot provision is available to existing incapacity benefit recipients in the pilot areas, numbering approximately 193,000. Their participation is currently on a voluntary basis.

¹  The number of pilots in 2004–05 will increase from three to seven, hence the higher projection of new claims.

 
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Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of possible savings generated by the new incapacity benefit pilot projects in each year from 2004–05 to 2008–09. [170460]

Maria Eagle [holding answer 4 May 2004]: One of the purposes of the incapacity benefit pilot projects is to establish whether there is scope for savings to support further re-investment in this and other Government priority areas. We believe that the pilots have the potential to generate savings which will outweigh the projected pilot costs of approximately £40 million a year. However there has been limited previous success in this area on which to make a firm assessment of the financial implications.

The primary purpose of our agenda for reform of incapacity benefits is to help considerably greater numbers of those with health conditions and disabilities to achieve their aspirations to return to employment and to avoid long-term incapacity.

Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the cost of extending the new incapacity benefit pilot projects to all incapacity benefit claimants. [170461]

Maria Eagle [holding answer 4 May 2004]: We estimate that the cost for a full year at national level of the provision now available to new claimants in the incapacity benefit reform pilots and the additional provision for existing recipients announced in the recent Budget and due to be introduced early next year, would be of the order of £700 million—£800 million.

Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of (a) the start-up costs and (b) the annual running costs of the new incapacity benefit pilot projects, broken down by cost of (i) personal advisers, (ii) the new return to work credit, (iii) condition management courses and (iv) other costs. [170462]

Maria Eagle [holding answer 4 May 2004]: The start-up costs for the Incapacity Benefit Reform Pilots were all incurred in the 2003–04 financial year and amounted to £6,137,080.

The unconfirmed running costs for the Incapacity Benefit Reforms Pilots during 2003–04 are shown as follows and the latest estimates for the running costs from 2004 to 2006 are as outlined:
£

	2003–04	2004–05	2005–06
Personal advisers	625,895	3,020,839	3,160,150
Return to Work Credit	248,560	5,594,400	9,038,400
Condition Management Programme	887,500	8,651,211	8,202,00
Other costs	3,577242	22,733,550	19,599,450

The figures for the Personal Advisers also include some costs for processing Incapacity Benefit which cannot be separated out.

The majority of the 'other1 costs given above consist of estimated funding to help customers find and maintain employment, either directly through, for example, New Deals, Work Based Learning for Adults and Access to Work, in-work support and the adviser discretionary fund, or indirectly through better medical assessments, training and evaluation of the project.
 
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These costs do not include the additional provision for existing clients announced in the recent Budget.

Incapacity Benefit (Rhondda)

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in each ward in the Rhondda constituency have received incapacity benefit in each year since 1992. [170987]

Maria Eagle: The available information is in the table.
People claiming incapacity benefit and severe disablement allowance in the Rhondda constituency broken down by ward

	August
Ward name	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Cwm Clydach	475	460	425	435	430
Cymmer	800	780	780	800	805
Ferndale	610	585	600	570	575
Llwyn-y-pia	405	385	390	400	380
Maerdy	690	645	635	630	625
Pentre	675	660	660	650	645
Pen-y-graig	845	800	810	820	805
Porth	785	750	720	735	725
Tonypandy	455	450	435	440	450
Trealaw	585	595	575	620	575
Treherbert	915	910	865	820	780
Treorchy	955	935	900	905	910
Tylorstown	805	805	795	760	730
Ynyshir	490	490	465	480	475
Ystrad	835	820	815	845	820

Notes:
1. The figures are a snapshot of all claimants of incapacity benefit (including credits only cases) and severe disablement allowance at August each year.
2. Wards are based on 2003 ward boundaries.
3. All benefit counts have been rounded to a multiple of five to protect the confidentiality of individual claimants.
Source:
IAD Information Centre, Department for Work and Pensions.

Income-related Benefits

Joyce Quin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what percentage of employees in his Department are in receipt of income-related benefits. [168606]

Maria Eagle: The Department does not hold this information.

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