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Carers

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how much carers have received in allowances in each of the last 10 years (a) as a total for each year and (b) on average for each carer per week; [177707]

(2) how many people have registered as full-time carers in each of the last 10 years. [177708]

Maria Eagle: The Department does not hold records of the number of full-time carers. Carers may be entitled to carer's allowance if they provide a minimum of 35 hours care per week to a severely disabled person in receipt of either attendance allowance or the highest or middle rate of the care component of disability living allowance. They must also meet the other conditions of entitlement. The numbers of carers in receipt of carer's allowance in each of the last 10 years is in Table 1.
 
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Table 1: Invalid care allowance/carer's allowance1,2

	Caseload (Thousand)	Expenditure (£ million)	Average weekly amount (£)
1994–95	261	526	39
1995–96	309	617	38
1996–97	348	736	41
1997–98	371	746	39
1998–99	373	782	40
1999–2000	375	835	43
2000–01	375	867	44
2001–02	380	932	47
2002–03	395	995	48
2003–04	434	1,052	46

⁽¹²⁾ Caseload figures are rounded to the nearest thousand; expenditure figures are rounded to the nearest million pounds; average weekly amounts in Table 1 are rounded to the nearest pound, and are derived from the annual caseload and expenditure data.
⁽¹³⁾ It is a basic principle of the social security system that only one benefit at a time can be paid for the same purpose. For example, even though the circumstances that give rise to entitlement to carer's allowance (CA) and state pension (SP) are different, they are both designed to provide a degree of replacement for lost or foregone income. CA replaces income where the carer is over working age or has had to give up the chance of working to look after a severely disabled person, while SP replaces income in retirement. CA is therefore not payable, or not payable in full, in addition to SP The payment of SP takes precedence, either extinguishing or reducing the payment of CA.

Tables 2 and 3 show expenditure and caseload information for the carer premium in income support and income-based jobseeker's allowance respectively.

It is not possible to disaggregate other benefit payments to carers, as there may more than one reason for receipt (for example, disability or lone parenthood).
Table 2: Income support carer premium1,2

	Caseload (Thousand)	Expenditure (£ million)	Carer premium (£)
1993–94	96	60	11.95
1994–95	121	78	12.40
1995–96	150	98	12.60
1996–97	170	115	13.00
1997–98	182	127	13.35
1998–99	188	134	13.65
1999–2000	194	141	13.95
2000–01	201	149	14.15
2001–02(16)	219	278	24.40
2002–03	237	307	24.80
2003–04	Not available	Not available	25.10

⁽¹⁴⁾ Caseload figures are rounded to the nearest thousand; expenditure figures are rounded to the nearest million pounds; average weekly amounts in Table 1 are rounded to the nearest pound, and are derived from the annual caseload and expenditure data.
⁽¹⁵⁾ Nevertheless, the income of a person in these circumstances will be at least as high as the rate of CA, and is usually higher. In addition, where the benefit cannot be paid, the person will keep underlying entitlement to CA, which gives them access to the carer premium, currently £25.55, in the income-related benefits such as housing benefit and council tax benefit, or a similar additional amount through pension credit.
⁽¹⁶⁾ Tables 2 and 3 do not take account of recipients' other income. They include information on income support for the unemployed and minimum income guarantee (information for pension credit in 2003–04 is not currently available).



 
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Table 3: Income-based jobseeker's allowance carer premium1,2

	Caseload (Thousand)	Expenditure (£ million)	Carer premium (£)
1996–97	Not available	Not available	13.00
1997–98	8	5	13.35
1998–99	7	5	13.35
1999–2000	6	4	13.65
2000–01	5	4	14.15
2001–02(19)	4	5	24.40
2002–03	4	5	24.80
2003–04	Not available	Not available	25.10

⁽¹⁷⁾ Caseload figures are rounded to the nearest thousand; expenditure figures are rounded to the nearest million pounds; average weekly amounts in Table 1 are rounded to the nearest pound, and are derived from the annual caseload and expenditure data.
⁽¹⁸⁾ Nevertheless, the income of a person in these circumstances will be at least as high as the rate of CA, and is usually higher. In addition, where the benefit cannot be paid, the person will keep underlying entitlement to CA, which gives them access to the carer premium, currently £25.55, in the income-related benefits such as housing benefit and council tax benefit, or a similar additional amount through pension credit.
⁽¹⁹⁾ Tables 2 and 3 do not take account of recipients' other income. They include information on income support for the unemployed and minimum income guarantee.
Note:
The increase in expenditure in Tables 2 and 3 from 2000–01 to 2001–02 reflects a £10 real increase in the carer premium.

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what action his Department is taking to support carers. [177709]

Maria Eagle: As part of the Government's National Strategy for Carers, substantial improvements have been made to the financial support available to the carers of severely disabled people from social security benefits. These include extending the availability of carer's allowance to new carers aged 65 and over and for up to eight weeks after the death of the person being cared for, increasing the earnings limit for the benefit and linking it to the national insurance lower earnings limit so that it goes up each year. This means that carers can now earn up to £79 per week net of allowable expenses and still be entitled to the benefit. It is therefore possible for a carer to earn well in excess of £79 per week and be entitled to carer's allowance.

For those entitled to carer's allowance and on low incomes, the carer premium in the income-related benefits and the equivalent amount payable through pension credit has been substantially increased. Carers may also be entitled to other benefits depending on their circumstances. Carers who wish to keep in touch with the labour market can get help, advice and training from personal advisers in Jobcentre Plus.

Departmental Sick Leave

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many days of sick leave were taken in his Department in 2003; how many related to employees suffering (a) stress and (b) other mental health problems; and what the cost was to his Department. [177525]

Maria Eagle: 1.7 million days sick leave were taken by DWP staff during 2003, of which 187,900 days were for stress, and 293,600 were for other mental health problems.
 
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The total cost to the Department of sick leave during 2003 was around £100 million, of which around £28 million was attributed to stress and other mental health problems.

Source:

DWP Sickness Absence Model.

Health and Safety Executive

Andrew Bennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many visits by Band Three Inspectors of the Health and Safety Executive in 2003–04 per week were made in (a) the north west region and (b) the west Midlands region. [176724]

Jane Kennedy: In the year to 3 April 2004 Band 3 operational inspectors in operational groups from the Health and Safety Executive's North West and Midlands Divisions made, on average, 3.25 and 3.9 contacts per week respectively.

During this period new working arrangements were piloted in North West Division with the aim of increasing the amount of time spent by operational inspectors on contact activities. In the period of the pilot (July–December 2003) each operational Band 3 inspector made, on average, 4.4 contacts.

Andrew Bennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many of the Band Zero and Band One staff in each of the regions of the Health and Safety Executive received performance awards in financial year 2003–04. [176725]

Jane Kennedy: Performance reviews and recommendations for performance awards for the reporting year April 2003 to March 2004 are still being processed. The information will not be available until later in the year.

Andrew Bennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many retired employees, and at what grade, have subsequently been re-employed by the Health and Safety Executive since 2001; and what plans he has to cease this policy. [176728]

Jane Kennedy: Since 2001 there have been, broken down by grade, the following numbers of re-employed staff:

Grade	Number of staff
Band 1 (grade 6 equivalent):	1
Band 2 (grade 7):	6
Band 3 (SEO):	5
Band 4 (HEO):	2
Band 5 (EO):	0
Band 6 (AO/AA):	2

As these individual cases are based on justified business needs, there are no plans to review the current policy until such time as the provisions of the EU Directive "establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation" commonly known as the "Employment Directive" (2000/78/EC) and the provisions specifically relating to discrimination on the grounds of age have been implemented into UK legislation (by the end of 2006).
 
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