---

13 May 2004 : Column 550W—continued

Public Awareness Campaigns

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what public awareness campaigns have been undertaken by his Department since 2001; and what the cost was of each. [170587]

Maria Eagle: During 2003–04 the Department for Work and Pensions ran a number of initiatives alerting people to their rights, responsibilities and entitlements through public awareness campaigns. Details of these campaigns and their respective costs are in the table.

2003–04 campaign	Publicity expenditure (£)
Future Pensioners/Informed Choice	2,700,000
Pensioners' Guide	1,250,000
Pension Credit	15,580,000
The Pension Service	2,650,000
Direct Payment	12,474,000
Direct Payment road show	480,000
Fraud	9,362,000
Winter Fuel	938,000
Council Tax Benefit	652,000
New Deal	7,600,000
Jobcentre Plus awareness	531,000
Jobseeker Direct help-line	1,700,000
Jobcentre Plus employer marketing	1,016,000
Age Positive	946,000
DDA Awareness	300,000

Notes:
1. All costs exclude VAT.
2. Figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand.
3. Information campaigns costing under £250,000 and the details of highly localised publicity activity by the Department's customer-facing businesses have generally not been included as a disproportionate cost would be incurred in compiling these figures.

A breakdown of publicity spend for 2001–02 and 2002–03 can be found in the Department's annual reports, copies of which are in the Library.

Unemployment Statistics (Over-50s)

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many and what proportion of people between the age of 50 and state pension age were
 
13 May 2004 : Column 551W
 
not in work in each year since 1997, broken down by gender; and if he will make a statement; [172531]

(2) how many and what proportion of people were in work immediately before reaching state pension age in each year since 1997, broken down by gender; and if he will make a statement; [172534]

(3) what percentage of people between the age of 50 and state pension age were long-term unemployed in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [172535]

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Colin Mowl to Mr Holmes dated 13 May 2004:

The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Questions about employment and unemployment. I am replying in his absence. (172531, 172534,172535)

The attached tables provide the information requested for the three months ending in February each year from 1997 to 2004. Table 1 shows the numbers of people in employment by gender at an age one year less than the State retirement age. Table 2 shows the numbers of people by gender, aged between 50 and State retirement age, who were not in employment. Table 3 shows the numbers of people by gender, aged between 50 and State retirement age, who were unemployed for 12 months or longer.

All estimates are taken from the ONS Labour Force Survey. As with any statistical sample survey, estimates from the Labour Force Survey are subject to sampling variability.

Table 1: Numbers and proportion of people in employment immediately prior to State retirement age, United Kingdom, three months ending February each year from 1997 to 2004 Thousand, percentage

	Men aged 64 and women aged 59		Men aged 64		Women aged 59
	Number	Percentage(26)	Number	Percentage(26)	Number	Percentage(26)
1997	235	414	102	38.0	132	44.5
1998	209	38.4	90	36.7	118	39.8
1999	226	41.1	92	36.6	134	44.9
2000	218	39.9	95	34.6	123	45.3
2001	250	42.0	103	36.1	147	47.5
2002	258	43.7	102	39.2	157	47.2
2003	274	43.5	106	36.7	168	49.3
2004	318	50.1	123	45.1	195	53.9

⁽²⁶⁾ As a percentage of population in the relevant age and gender group.
Source:
ONS-Labour Force Survey




Table 2: Numbers and proportion of people not in employment 1 aged between 50 and State retirement age, United Kingdom, three months ending February each year from 1997 to 2004 Thousand, percentage

	Men aged 50–64 and women aged 50–59		Men aged 50–64		Women aged 50–59
	Number	Percentage(28)	Number	Percentage(28)	Number	Percentage(28)
1997	2,836	35.8	1,527	33.1	1,309	39.5
1998	2,855	34.9	1,532	32.3	1,323	38.5
1999	2,833	33.7	1,520	31.3	1,313	37.1
2000	2,896	33.8	1,578	31.9	1,318	36.5
2001	2,842	32.7	1,526	30.4	1,316	35.7
2002	2,849	32.3	1,533	30.3	1,316	35.1
2003	2,777	31.2	1,491	29.2	1,286	34.0
2004	2,715	30.3	1,448	28.1	1,268	33.3

⁽²⁷⁾ Not in employment refers to people who are either unemployed or economically inactive.
⁽²⁸⁾ As a percentage of population in the relevant age and gender group.
Source:
ONS-Labour Force Survey.




 
13 May 2004 : Column 552W
 

Table 3: Numbers and proportion of people who are long-term unemployed 1 aged between 50 and State retirement age, United Kingdom, three months ending February each year from 1997 to 2004 Thousand, percentage

	Men aged 50–64 and women aged 50–59		Men aged 50–64		Women aged 50–59
	Number	Percentage(30)	Number	Percentage(30)	Number	Percentage(30)
1997	183	2.3	142	3.1	41	1.2
1998	133	16	102	2.1	31	0.9
1999	127	1.5	97	2.0	30	0.8
2000	104	1.2	86	1.7	18	0.5
2001	95	1.1	79	1.6	16	0.4
2002	83	0.9	63	1.2	20	0.5
2003	81	0.9	62	1.2	19	0.5
2004	71	0.8	53	1.0	18	0.5

⁽²⁹⁾ Long-term unemployment refers to people who are unemployed for over 12 months.
⁽³⁰⁾ As a percentage of population in the relevant age and gender group.
Source:
ONS-Labour Force Survey.

Websites

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the total cost of the websites of (a) his Department and (b) executive agencies of his Department was in the most recent year for which figures are available. [160019]

Jane Kennedy: Development for the DWP website, agency and other campaign websites is carried out by the Department's own in-house web team who are responsible for production, management and maintenance of all sites.

Contracted and quantifiable costs are included in the following information for Jobcentre Plus and The Pensions Service websites, however it is not possible to quantify internal costs for the Department's and Child Support Agency sites.

The department's IT contractor provides hosting of departmental websites, and provision of web hosting services. However, internet services are not accounted for separately and it is not possible to disentangle these costs. Web hosting is included within the quantified costs for the Jobcentre Plus:

Organisation	URL	Costs for 2002–03
DWP	www.dwp.gov.uk	No external costs
CSA	www.csa. gov.uk	No external costs
Jobcentre Plus	www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk	(31)£763,285
The Pension Service	www.thepensionservice.gov.uk	£188,093

⁽³¹⁾ Includes quantifiable web hosting costs and links to Job Bank jobs database e-Service.

Widows' Pensions

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the advice he gives to those (a) public and (b) private pension schemes which will allow a recipient to keep a widow's pension in the event of re-marriage. [172853]

Malcolm Wicks: In the private sector, provision of widows' and widowers' benefits is a matter for pension scheme rules. It is up to trustees to decide what information is given to members. Where a scheme is contracted out, it must provide for widows' and
 
13 May 2004 : Column 553W
 
widowers' benefits, but it is down to individual schemes to decide whether such payment should cease on re-marriage.

Most public service schemes have statutory rules which require widows' and widowers' pensions to terminate on re-marriage or cohabitation.

The Local Government Pension Scheme introduced widows' and widowers' pensions for life from April 1998.

Since October 2002 the new Civil Service pension scheme has provided for survivor pensions to be paid to unmarried partners; the costs of these benefits are being met by higher member contributions. At the same time the requirement to terminate widows' and widowers' pension on remarriage or cohabitation was removed.

---