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Rejected Votes (General Elections)

John Barrett: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many votes have been rejected for want of the official mark in each general election since 1979. [180516]

Mr. Leslie: The number of votes that have been rejected for want of the official mark in each general election since 1979 is as follows:

General election	UK	England	Wales	Scotland	Northern Ireland
1979	3,282	2,034	293	804	151
1983	2,819	1,698	166	709	246
1987	2,408	1,463	76	599	270
1992	2,593	1,381	123	660	429
1997	2,169	1,238	124	482	325
2001	2,548	1,486	142	686	234

Sources:
1. 1979–97 statistics obtained from Appendix 1 of the Appendices to Minutes of Evidence (Volume II) to the Select Committee on Home Affairs.
2. 2001 statistics obtained from the Electoral Commission document; postal votes, proxy votes and spoilt ballot papers at the 2001 general election.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Laryngectomy (Benefits)

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what guidance he offers to adjudication for the assessment of disability caused by laryngectomy in the award of (a) attendance and (b) disability living allowance. [180746]

Maria Eagle: Attendance allowance and disability living allowance are paid as a contribution towards the extra costs of severely disabled people. Entitlement to the benefits is not based on disability itself, but depends on the extent to which disability gives rise to the need for personal care or supervision from another person and, in the case of disability living allowance, on the effect that disability has on a person's ability to walk. Decision makers dealing with claims for the benefits have access to guidance about laryngectomy from a number of sources. These include the Disability Handbook produced by the Department's Corporate Medical Group, "DLAAB Update" published by the Disability Living Allowance Advisory Board, and doctors from the Department's Medical Services.

Benefit Fraud

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many cases of benefit fraud were detected in Greater London in each of the last six years; and how many of these have resulted in (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions. [177185]

 
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Mr. Pond: The number of cases of benefit fraud detected is not available. The number of cases resulting in prosecution and conviction are in the tables.
Department for Work and Pensions London Region

	Prosecutions	Convictions
2002–03	1,155	852
2003–04	978	782

Notes:
1. From 1 April 2002, DWP delivery organisations were restructured from 13 administration areas to 11 regions. Prior to that date, London counter-fraud operations were divided between three areas, each of which was responsible for a part of Greater London, but also counties outside of London. It is therefore not possible to provide data for fraud operations in Greater London for that period. Data since 1 April 2002 is shown below and relates to the DWP London Region, which is not entirely coterminous with the Greater London Area.
2. The figures for 2002–03 included some successful cases from the former Area Directorates during the period of transition to the new regional structure.
3. "Prosecutions" refers to the number of cases forwarded to solicitors and accepted by them for prosecution.
4. In 2003–04 reporting rules changed for instrument of payment investigations. Previously each offence was recorded, now each defendant is shown. Thus, a defendant committing five offences is recorded as a single case, not 5 cases.
Source:
Fraud Information By Sector database




London local authorities

	Prosecutions	Convictions
1997–98	N/A	180
1998–99	N/A	193
1999–2000	N/A	111
2000–01	N/A	119
2001–02	312	216
2002–03	372	294

Notes:
1. "Prosecutions" refers to the number of summonses issued by local authorities.
2. Data on the number of summonses issued by local authorities is not available prior to 2001–02.
3. Data on the number of convictions for financial years 1997–98 to 2000–01 is not available for all local authorities. The total for London boroughs includes estimates for local authorities that have not responded. These estimates are based on historical and regional data. This type of estimate is standard practice in reporting totals where there have been non-respondents.
4. Figures for convictions may refer to summonses issued in previous years.
Source:
The data from 2001–02 on only includes actual reported prosecutions for which rewards were claimed under the SAFE or modified WBS schemes. Prior to this the numbers are taken from management information returns.

Benefit Payments

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people claimed (a) council tax benefit, (b) housing benefit and (c) housing benefit and council tax benefit in the City of Newcastle upon Tyne in the last three years; how many domestic council tax payers there were in each year; and what percentage of council tax payers claimed council tax benefit. [180444]

Mr. Pond: The available information is in the table.
 
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Housing Benefit (HB) and Council Tax Benefit (CTB) recipients, and CTB recipients as a percentage of chargeable dwellings in Newcastle upon Tyne

	HB	CTB	CTB recipients as a percentage of chargeable dwellings
November 2001	31,100	34,100	30.4
November 2002	30,500	33,600	30.0
November 2003	29,600	32,800	29.4

Notes
1. The caseload data refers to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple.
2. The caseload figures are rounded to the nearest hundred, and the percentages are rounded to one decimal place.
3. Council Tax Benefit totals exclude any Second Adult Rebate cases.
4. Housing Benefit totals exclude Extended Payments cases.
5. It is not possible to determine the number receiving both HB and CTB as this data is taken from a 1 per cent. sample and cannot be split lower than Government Office Region level due to the high level of sampling variation.
6. The number of Council Tax payers is not available and the closest definition to this is the number of chargeable dwellings. Each chargeable dwelling is liable for one Council Tax bill.
Source:
1. Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information System Quarterly 100per cent caseload stock-count taken in November 2001, 2002 and 2003.
2. Office of the Deputy Prime Minister—numbers of chargeable dwellings from local authority returns at November 2001, 2002 and 2003.

British Sign Language

Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what organisations have received grants from his Department to promote British Sign Language in the last three years; [180602]

(2) how much has been spent on grants by his Department to promote British Sign Language in the last three years; [180603]

(3) what organisations he consulted in the last three years before distributing grants to promote British Sign Language; and if he will make a statement. [180604]

Maria Eagle: On 4 May I announced that the Department was putting in place a programme of work to support the Government's position statement on British Sign Language (BSL). Funding of £1.5 million has been awarded to the following 10 lead organisations: the British Deaf Association; the Centre for Deaf People Leicester; the Centre for Deaf Studies—University of Bristol; Christian Deaf Link; Consortium of Assessment and Training Providers; BSL Consortium—UK Council on Deafness; Deafplus; Leeds University; National Deaf Children's Society; Remark!. The contracts will leave a legacy of improved access to training for BSL tutors and increased awareness of the language.

The Department established a BSL working group to advise, among other things, on priorities for allocating the additional funding described. Organisations represented on the group are the British Deaf Association; the Council for the Advancement of Communication with Deaf People; the Federation of Deaf People; The National Deaf Children's Society; The Royal National Institute for Deaf People; The UK Council on Deafness.
 
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Earlier contracts to the value of £444,000 were awarded to the Royal National Institute for Deaf People and the Council for the Advancement of Communication with Deaf People to increase the number of BSL interpreters and to improve the training and assessment infrastructure for interpreters.

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