---

28 Jun 2004 : Column 83W—continued

Civil Service Relocation

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many civil servants and what percentage of the total Civil Service workforce in his Department will be relocated over the next five years (a) outside the M25, (b) to the West Midlands and (c) to Staffordshire. [180170]

Maria Eagle: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 22 June 2004, Official Report, volume 422, column 1292–93W.

Community Service Orders

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department has spent on schemes to reduce the benefits of people who breach their community service orders; and how much benefit was withdrawn in each year as a result. [177538]

Mr. Pond: The information is in the tables.
Amount of benefit withdrawn by benefit and tax year (£000)

	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04
Jobseeker's Allowance	3,000	54,000	55,000
Income Support	1,000	20,000	27,000
Total	4,000	74,000	82,000

Notes:
1. All figures are rounded to the nearest thousand.
2. Data is based on clerical returns received at the Information Centre, IAD between 15 October 2001 and 15 May 2004. However the benefit loss figures are calculated using the period 15 May 2001–13 February 2004 and are the latest figures available at this time.
3. A number of offenders have been sanctioned more than once and are therefore counted for each sanction in these figures.
4. The Community Order and Withdrawal of Benefits pilot came into force on 15 October 2001 and as such the 2001–02 tax year represents the period 15 October 2001 to 31st March 2002.
5. The latest figures available for withdrawal of benefit is 20 February 2004 and as such the 2003–04 tax year represents the period 1st April 2003 to 20 February 2004.
Source:
Information Centre, IAD DWP




DWP costs of administration of Community Service Pilot (£000)

Year
2000–01	61,000
2001–02	253,000
2002–03	121,000
2003–04	226,000
Total	661,000

Note:
The overall costs are financial year-end figures. These figures are rounded to the nearest thousand and include the one-off initial start-up costs (approximately £262,000), the bulk of which was for the IT development necessary to implement the measures




 
28 Jun 2004 : Column 84W
 

Departmental Administration Budgets

Mr. Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress has been made towards the 5 per cent. reduction in real terms in his Department's administration budget by 2008 announced by the Chancellor in the House on 17 March 2004, Official Report, column 331. [176503]

Maria Eagle: The real terms reduction of 5 per cent. or more will be a central feature of the public spending settlements for 2006–08 to be announced in detail later this year.

Departmental Offices

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) Pension Service, (b) Jobcentre Plus and (c) Social Security offices there are in the United Kingdom. [177382]

Maria Eagle: The information is not held in the format requested. However, the Department occupies 1,746 buildings in Great Britain. Of these, The Pension Service is the major occupier in 44 buildings and Jobcentre Plus is the major occupier in 1,554. The major occupiers of the remaining 148 buildings are Child Support Agency, The Appeals Service, Disability and Carers Service or the Department's Corporate Centre.

Information about buildings in Northern Ireland is a matter for the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

Injuries Advisory Council Report

Liz Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he will publish his response to the Injuries Advisory Council Report on Prescribed Disease A11. [180196]

Jane Kennedy: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State received the report by the Industrial Injuries Council on Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome in March 2004. This report recommends certain changes to the terms of prescription for Prescribed Disease A11. The report contains a comprehensive review of the current science and medicine.

We are still carefully considering the full implications of the report. We hope to be in a position to publish the report in the near future.

Pensioner Poverty

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what percentage of pensioners have an income below the mean net income. [177912]

Malcolm Wicks: The information is in the table.

	Number (million)	Percentage
Pensioners with household incomes less than mean income (2002–03)
Before housing costs	8.0	80
After housing costs	7.5	75
All individuals with household incomes less than mean income (2002–03)
Before housing costs	37	65
After housing costs	36	64

Notes:
1. All figures are estimates and are taken from the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) dataset which is derived from the Family Resources Survey (FRS). Figures do not included Northern Ireland and 2002–03 is the latest year available.
2. The income measure used in HBAI is weekly net (disposable), equivalised household income (that is to say income that is adjusted to reflect household size and composition).
3. The estimates are sample counts, which have been adjusted for non-response using multi-purpose grossing factors that control for region, council tax band and a number of other demographic values. Estimates are subject to both sampling error and variability in non-response. All percentages are rounded to the nearest per cent.
4. The estimates are presented on both a Before Housing Costs (BHC) and an After Housing Costs (AHC) basis in line with HBAI conventions.
5. An adjustment is made to sample cases at the top of the distribution to correct for volatility in the highest incomes captured in the survey. This adjustment uses data from the Inlands Revenue's Survey of Personal Incomes (SPI) to control the number and income levels of the very rich while retaining the FRS data on the characteristics of their household.




 
28 Jun 2004 : Column 85W
 

Pensioners (Benefits)

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of pensioners his Department estimates (a) were eligible for means-tested benefits and (b) were claiming means-tested benefits in each year since 1997, broken down by benefit. [177546]

Malcolm Wicks: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information that is available is provided in the table.
Table 1: Percentage of GB pensioners that were either in receipt or were entitled to but not receiving the following entitlements Percentage

Financial year	Income support/minimum income guarantee	Housing benefit	Council tax benefit
1997–98	(21:26)	(23:25)	(41:45)
1998–99	(21:25)	(23:24)	(42:45)
1999–2000	(21:25)	(22:24)	(42:46)
2000–01	(22:25)	(21:23)	(41:45)
2001–02	(25:28)	(22:23)	(45:49)

Notes:
1. The estimates are presented as estimated entitled non-recipients ranges to reflect the uncertainty in the number of based on DWP Family Resources Survey data.
2. Latest estimates available relate to financial year 2001–02.
3. Pensioners are defined as either a single person aged at least 60 or, if within a couple, at least one person is aged 60 years or over.
4. Pensioners in residential care and nursing homes are excluded from the figures.

Information requested on percentage of pensioners receiving income related benefits since 1997 is in the tables.

It should be noted that there are overlaps between some benefits, individual benefit counts should not be added together to give a total number of pensioners on income related benefit. The following table therefore provided details of the total number of pensioners receiving each entitlement.
 
28 Jun 2004 : Column 86W
 

Table 1: Pensioner beneficiaries of means-tested Benefits⁽⁴³⁾ as a percentage of the population: Great Britain May 1997 to May 2002

	Beneficiaries aged 60 and over of means-tested benefits	Percentage of the population aged 60 and over
1997	3,810,000	32.5
1998	3,670,000	31.1
1999	3,540,000	29.9
2000	3,420,000	28.7
2001	3,380,000	28.3
2002	3,290,000	27.4

Table 2: Income support (MIG)

	Beneficiaries aged 60 and over	Percentage of the population aged 60 and over
1997	1,903,000	16.2
1998	1,830,000	15.5
1999	1,789,000	15.1
2000	1,784,000	15.0
2001	1,907,000	16.0
2002	1,945,000	16.2

Table 3: Income-based jobseeker's allowance (JSA (IB))

	Beneficiaries aged 60 and over	Percentage of the population aged 60 and over
1997	10,000	0.1
1998	8,000	0.1
1999	8,000	0.1
2000	7,000	0.1
2001	5,000	0.0
2002	7,000	0.1

Table 4: Family credit (FC)

	Beneficiaries aged 60 and over	Percentage of the population aged 60 and over
1997	3,000	0.0
1998	3,000	0.0
1999	2,000	0.0

Table 5: Disability working allowance (DWA)

	Beneficiaries aged 60 and over	Percentage of the population aged 60 and over
1997	350	0.0
1998	465	0.0
1999	530	0.0

Table 6: Housing benefit (HB)

	Beneficiaries aged 60 and over	Percentage of the population aged 60 and over
1997	2,194,000	18.7
1998	2,146,000	18.2
1999	2,070,000	17.5
2000	1,977,000	16.6
2001	1,939,000	16.2
2002	1,888,000	15.7

 
28 Jun 2004 : Column 87W
 

Table 7: Community charge (CCB) or council tax benefit (CTB)

	Beneficiaries aged 60 and over	Percentage of the population aged 60 and over
1997	3,229,000	27.5
1998	3,169,000	26.9
1999	3,075,000	26.0
2000	2,917,000	24.5
2001	2,891,000	24.2
2002	2,834,000	23.6

Notes:
1. Means tested benefits included in table 1 are IS (MIG), JSA (IB), HB and /CTB
2. Figures for years 1997–99 exclude small number of DWA and FC cases.
3. Overlaps between benefits have been removed.
4. Great Britain HB/CTB figures include estimates for local authorities that have not responded.
5. CTB data excludes Second Adult Rebate cases.
6. HB data excludes any Extended Payment cases.
7. The Percentage for population in receipt of benefit is based on the ONS mid 2002 population estimates of all persons aged 60 and over, for those years
8. Figures (except DWA) are based on 1 per cent. and 5 per cent. samples and therefore subject to sampling variation.
9. IS, JSA, HB, CTB and FC beneficiaries figures are rounded to the nearest thousand and DWA is rounded to the nearest 5. [tables 2–7]
10. Beneficiaries of a benefit unit are the sum of claimants and their partners.
11. Figures for years 1997–99 exclude small number of DWA and FC cases.
Source:
IAD Information Centre, 100 per cent., 5 per cent. and 1 per cent. sample.

---