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1 Jul 2004 : Column 423W—continued
Carer's Allowance
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many carers are estimated to be eligible for the carer's allowance; and how many carers are claiming carer's allowance. [181102]
Maria Eagle:
Carer's Allowance provides income maintenance for people who provide regular and substantial care for a severely disabled person receiving Attendance Allowance, or the equivalent rates of the Disability Living Allowance care component, or an
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equivalent benefit paid under the War Disablement Pensions scheme or the Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefits scheme. Entitlement to carer's allowance can only be established reliably after a claim has been made. There is no data available on the number of carers who might be entitled to the allowance if they were to make a claim. This means that there is no reliable way of calculating the number of people who have claimed and been found to be entitled to the allowance as a proportion of the eligible population.
At 28 February 2004, the latest date for which figures are available, some 422,000 people were receiving carer's allowance. A further 198,000 people had claimed and established entitlement, but were not being paid the allowance because they were receiving another social security income maintenance benefit.
Note:
Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand.
Source:
IAD Information centre.
Child Support Agency
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many parents have faced criminal sanctions under the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000 because they have (a) failed to provide the Child Support Agency with required information and (b) provided false information; [177530]
(2) how many people have been prosecuted for making a false statement in the Child Support Agency in respect of their income in each of the last seven years. [177536]
Mr. Pond: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mike Isaac to Mr. David Willetts:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary questions about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many parents have faced criminal sanctions under the Child Support Pensions and Social Security Act 2000 because they have (a) failed to provide the Child Support Agency with required information and (b) provided false information.
You also asked how many people have been prosecuted for making a false statement in the Child Support Agency in respect of their income in each of the last seven years.
Criminal sanctions were introduced from 31 January 2001 to deal with offences relating to information. The first prosecutions were in 2002:
In 2002 there were 16 in total—6 for failing to provide information; 9 for making false statements in respect of income; and one for making a false statement in respect of rent.
In 2003 there were 234 in total—228 for failing to provide information; 5 for making false statements in respect of income; and one for making a false statement in respect of rent.
So far this year there have been 69 prosecutions for failure to provide information.
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many Child Support Agency cases which have been moved from the old to the new system have been followed up with a new complaint. [181738]
Mr. Pond: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Frank Field, dated 1 July 2004:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Child Support Agency cases which have been moved from the old to the new system have been followed up with a new complaint.
I am afraid that this information is not available. I can, however, say that in the year to 31 March 2004 the records for around 326,000 cases moved from the old to the new computer system.
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many complaints have been attributed to the (a) old and (b) new Child Support Agency systems. [181739]
Mr. Pond: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Frank Field, dated 1 July 2004:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many complaints have been attributed to the (a) old and (b) new Child Support Agency systems.
In the year to 31 March 2004 we received 49,215 complaints either in writing or by telephone. Of this total 33,876 related to clients we handled in accordance with the "old scheme" and 15,339 to clients being handled in accordance with the new legislation.
Easy to Read Publications
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will take steps to increase the number of books, magazines and newspapers available in large print, audio, Braille and electronic formats accessible to people with a visual impairment, dyslexia or other reading disability; and if he will make a statement. [176681]
Ms Hewitt: I have been asked to reply.
I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath) on 28 June 2004, Official Report, column 44W.
Household Income
Linda Perham:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of families containing
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one or more children have incomes below 60 per cent. of median contemporary incomes (a) before and (b) after housing costs. [181115]
Mr. Pond: The information requested is in the table.
| Percentage | |
|---|---|
| Before housing costs | 18 |
| After housing costs | 26 |
Notes:
1. Figures are for 2002–03 the latest date for which data are available.
2. Estimates are for Great Britain and are quoted to the nearest per cent.
3. Estimates relate to the household's status at the time they were interviewed for the FRS.
4. The estimates are based on sample counts, which have been adjusted for non-response using multipurpose grossing factors that, in the case of the Family Resources Survey, control for tenure, council tax band and a number of other variables. Estimates are subject to both sampling error and to remaining variability in non-response.
5. The income measure used is weekly net (disposable) equivalised household income (that is to say income that is adjusted to reflect the composition of the household), both before and after housing costs have been deducted.
Source:
Family Resources Survey (FRS).
Incapacity Benefit Claimants
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the profile is of claimants who (a) have had their incapacity benefit withdrawn and (b) have had a 20 per cent. reduction imposed upon them in the last three years. [180255]
Maria Eagle: A breakdown of information by age, gender and medical condition, is available for those claimants who have had their incapacity benefit withdrawn as a result of failing either the personal capability assessment or own occupation test. The available information is in the tables.
There are less than 10,000 personal capability assessments appellants who move onto reduced income support each year, therefore data limitations make detailed profiling unreliable.
| Men, age | 1999–2000 | 2000–01 | 2001–02 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 20 | — | — | — |
| 20–24 | 9,000 | 8,000 | 9,000 |
| 25–29 | 9,000 | 9,000 | 7,000 |
| 30–34 | 11,000 | 9,000 | 9,000 |
| 35–39 | 10,000 | 9,000 | 11,000 |
| 40–44 | 10,000 | 7,000 | 10,000 |
| 45–49 | 10,000 | 6,000 | 10,000 |
| 50–54 | 12,000 | 7,000 | 8,000 |
| 55–59 | 8,000 | 8,000 | 8,000 |
| 60–64 | 6,000 | 5,000 | 7,000 |
| All | 87,000 | 70,000 | 81,000 |
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| Women, age | 1999–2000 | 2000–01 | 2001–02 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 20 | 4,000 | — | — |
| 20–24 | 6,000 | 5,000 | 5,000 |
| 25–29 | 6,000 | 6,000 | 5,000 |
| 30–34 | 7,000 | 4,000 | 7,000 |
| 35–39 | 7,000 | 4,000 | 7,000 |
| 40–44 | 6,000 | 5,000 | 6,000 |
| 45–49 | 9,000 | 5,000 | 6,000 |
| 50–54 | 7,000 | 4,000 | 7,000 |
| 55–59 | 4,000 | 5,000 | 7,000 |
| All | 56,000 | 40,000 | 50,000 |
| 1999–2000 | 2000–01 | 2001–02 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mental disorder | 43,000 | 32,000 | 42,000 |
| Nervous system | 14,000 | 11,000 | 13,000 |
| Circulatory or respiratory system | 13,000 | 9,000 | 11,000 |
| Musculo-skeletal | 29,000 | 20,000 | 24,000 |
| Injury | 20,000 | 16,000 | 18,000 |
| Others | 25,000 | 22,000 | 23,000 |
| All | 143,000 | 110,000 | 131,000 |
Notes:
1. All figures have been rounded to the nearest 1,000 and figures fewer than 3,000 are not included. For these reasons totals and sub group totals do not always tally; figures should be seen as an approximation.
2. Figures refer to incapacity benefit, incapacity benefit credits and severe disablement allowance.
3. Incapacity for work is determined by two medical tests: the own occupation test, which applies for the first 28 weeks of sickness for those with a recent work record; and the personal capability assessment, which applies after 28 weeks of sickness.
4. Figures refer only to a failure of the personal capability assessment or the own occupation test; incapacity benefit may be withdrawn for other reasons.
5. Differences in the levels of withdrawal for those with some characteristics or conditions are likely to be the result of different levels stocks and inflows for the different characteristics and conditions.
Source:
DWP administrative data—incapacity benefit annual dataset (1 per cent.)
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