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5 Jul 2004 : Column 520W—continued
Benefit Payments
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people over 60 have started claiming (a) council tax benefit and (b) housing benefit as a direct result to being found to be eligible following an application for pension credit. [181258]
Mr. Pond: The information is not currently available.
Child Support Agency
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many operational staff work in the (a) old and (b) new Child Support Agency systems. [181740]
Mr. Pond [holding answer 1 July 2004]: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to my right hon. Friend with the information requested.
Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Frank Field, dated 5 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.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many operational staff work in the (a) old and (b) new Child Support Agency systems.
As at 31 March 2004 around 4,100 staff were involved in work directly related to "old scheme" activity and 3,200 staff in activity directly related to applications made in accordance with the new child support legislation.
Civil Partnerships
Dr. Evan Harris: What estimate he has made of the cost to public funds of treating same-sex couples in the same way as married couples if they attain civil partnerships for the purposes of (a) benefits, (b) state pensions prospectively from the start of the civil partnership and (c) state pensions on the same basis as married couples where previous pension contributions are counted. [181898]
Maria Eagle:
Estimates of the cost to the public funds of extending benefits and pensions to same-sex couples are included in the Regulatory Impact Assessment which was published alongside the Civil Partnership Bill.
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Entitlement to state pensions for civil partners is calculated on the basis of a partner's full national insurance contribution record, in the same way as for married couples.
Council Tax Benefit
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many council tax benefit recipients there are, broken down by council tax band; and what percentage each represents of the total number of council tax benefit recipients. [181933]
Mr. Pond: The information is in the table.
| Council tax band | Council tax benefit recipients (Thousand) | Council tax benefit recipients by council tax band (Percentage) |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 4,602 | 100.0 |
| A | 2,286 | 49.7 |
| B | 1,112 | 24.2 |
| C | 746 | 16.2 |
| D | 307 | 6.7 |
| E | 112 | 2.4 |
| F | 29 | 0.6 |
| G | 9 | 0.2 |
| H | (12)— | (12)— |
(12) Data negligible.
Notes:
1. The figures are based on a 1 per cent. sample and are therefore subject to a degree of sampling variation.
2. The data refers to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple.
3. The caseload figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand, and percentages to one decimal place.
4. The totals may not sum due to rounding.
5. Council tax benefit totals exclude any second adult rebate cases.
Source:
Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information System, Annual 1 per cent. sample, taken in May 2002.
Direct Payment
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his statement on Direct Payment, Departmental Report 2004, page 74, by what methods he intends to contact customers who have not yet responded to the initial mailing; and if he will make a statement. [172953]
Mr. Pond:
We are beginning to contact again those customers who have not responded to our initial mailing. This process involves a variety of methods including invitation letters; telephone calls and in some circumstances visits. We are supporting this approach through our Information Campaign, which is being further developed to provide customers with more information about their account options. We have also introduced a procedure whereby customers can volunteer to convert to direct payment by telephoning the Information Line.
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Key figures on the progress of conversion to direct payment are available in the Library and are updated every four weeks.
Mr. Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Taunton have been contacted about converting to direct payment of benefits; how many people in Taunton have converted to direct payment since the conversion process started; and how many people in Taunton are still to be contacted about converting to direct payment. [164558]
Mr. Pond: We do not have the information requested. This information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Key figures on the progress of conversion to direct payment are available in the Library and are updated every four weeks.
DLA
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many recipients of the mobility element of disability living allowance are between the ages of 66 and 75; [181881]
(2) how many recipients of the mobility element of disability living allowance have lost that benefit on attaining the upper age limit in each of the last three years; [181882]
(3) how many applications for the mobility element of disability living allowance were disallowed in each of the last three years on the grounds that the applicants were over the age limit. [181883]
Maria Eagle: Recipients of the mobility component of Disability living allowance do not lose their entitlement to it because they reach age 65. As at 29 February 2004, the latest date for which information is available, some 432,700 people between the age of 66 and 75 were receiving the component 1 . Figures are not available for the number of claims for the component that are disallowed because the customer was aged 65 or over.
1 Source IAD Information Centre
Note:
Figure taken from a 5 per cent. sample and rounded to the nearest hundred. From November 2002, the methodology for producing such figures was changed to allow statistics to be published much sooner. This has resulted in a small increase in the reported caseload. This is because some cases which have actually terminated but have not yet been updated on the computer system are now included.
Economic Inactivity
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress has been made in tackling economic inactivity. [181879]
Jane Kennedy:
Through a combination of economic stability and radical labour market reforms, more than 1.9 million more people are in work now than in 1997 and unemployment is at its lowest level for nearly 30 years.
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Since May 1997 the number of people on inactive benefits has reduced and the number of lone parents on benefit has fallen by nearly 200,000. We are making significant progress in reducing the numbers of people coming on to incapacity benefits—down by more than a quarter in the past seven years. Through Pathways to Work pilots, we are making substantial steps forward in finding the best ways to actively support more people into work.
The independent report by Professors Gordon Waddell and Kirn Burton on the Concepts of Rehabilitation for the Management of Common Health Problems, strongly endorses the innovative approach to rehabilitation which we are evaluating in the Pathways to Work pilots.
Employment Assistance (Coventry, South)
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps the Government have taken to increase job seeking services in the constituency of Coventry, South since 1997. [180606]
Jane Kennedy [holding answer 30 June 2004]: I refer my hon. Friend to the Written Answer I gave him on 29 June 2004, Official Report, columns 233–34W.
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