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Benefit Payments

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the arrangements will be for the payment of benefits through automated credit transfer when the payment date falls on a bank holiday, including Scottish bank holidays. [175929]

Mr. Pond: The Department ensures that where customers are due payments on a national bank holiday, Direct Payments are advanced, so that they can get the money before the bank holiday. These arrangements include national bank holidays in Scotland.

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the estimated percentage take up of (a) council tax benefits, (b) housing benefit, (c) income support and (d) jobseeker's allowance was in each year since 1995. [181256]

Mr. Pond: The information is in the table.
Estimated take-up of income-related benefits, 1995–96 to 2001–02 Percentage

	Income support	Minimum income guarantee	Housing benefit	Council tax benefit	Jobseeker's allowance
1995–96
Case load	76:82	n/a	89:94	74:82	n/a
Expenditure	88:92	n/a	93:96	76:84	n/a
1996–97
Case load	78:85	n/a	91:99	77:86	69:87
Expenditure	87:95	n/a	92:100	79:88	69:79
1997–98
Case load	74:84	n/a	94:100	77:86	78:92
Expenditure	85:94	n/a	94:100	79:88	78:88
1998–99
Case load	79:89	n/a	91:97	75:81	68:82
Expenditure	88:95	n/a	89:95	77:84	75:88
1999–2000
Case load	77:87	64:78	94:98	73:80	67:78
Expenditure	87:94	74:86	92:97	76:83	74:84
2000–01
Case load	86:96	68:76	87:94	70:76	62:71
Expenditure	91:97	78:86	91:96	73:80	69:78
2001–02
Case load	86:95	63:72	85:91	66:72	51:62
Expenditure	91:98	73:83	89:94	70:76	58:73

Notes:
1. Take-up by case load compares the number of benefit recipients, averaged over the year, with the number who would be receiving if everyone took up their entitlement for the full period of their entitlement.
2. Take-up by expenditure compares the total amount of benefit received, averaged over the year, with the total amount that would be received if everyone took up their entitlement for the full period of their entitlement.
3. Figures are not directly comparable over time as estimates are not recast in light of methodological improvements and changes to benefit rules alter the size of the eligible population.
4. Estimates for income support cover pensioners and non-pensioners up to and including figures for 1999–2000. Estimates for 2000–01 and onwards relate to non-pensioners only. Minimum income guarantee relates to pensioners only and came into effect in 1999–2000.
Source:
DWP "Income-Related Benefits Estimates of Take-Up" series.





 
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John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average response time for applications for (a) council tax benefit and (b) housing benefit is in Scotland, broken down by local authority. [181257]

Mr. Pond: Around 30 per cent. of local authorities in Scotland are processing new claims at, or above, the national standard of 36 days. To help all authorities meet these standards the Government has provided £200 million over three years. So far £60 million has been awarded to nearly 300 local authorities and the average time taken to process a new claim for housing benefit has improved by 10 per cent. compared to 2002–03.

The information is not available in the format requested, the available information is in the table.
Average processing times for housing benefit and council tax benefit claims in Scotland by local authority

Local authority	Average days to process a claim for housing benefit	Average days to process a claim for council tax benefit
Aberdeen	32	34
Aberdeenshire	49	61
Angus	56	53
Argyll and Bute	55	43
Clackmannanshire	36	40
Dumfries and Galloway	38	48
Dundee	88	90
East Ayrshire	30	29
East Dunbartonshire	64	65
East Lothian	37	34
East Renfrewshire	43	35
Edinburgh	86	82
Falkirk	24	24
Fife	37	39
Glasgow	26	29
Highland	55	53
Inverclyde	69	82
Midlothian	33	32
Moray	60	60
North Ayrshire	79	97
North Lanarkshire	16	16
Orkney	32	35
Perth and Kinross	77	85
Renfrewshire	92	115
Shetland	34	34
South Ayrshire	54	59
South Lanarkshire	16	15
Stirling	21	26
West Dunbartonshire	46	49
West Lothian	34	34

Notes:
1. Figures given are for the last quarter of the financial year 2003–04.
2. Scottish Borders and the Western Isles did not supply data for this quarter.
3. Data is not collected on the average initial response times for housing benefit and council tax benefit claims.
4. Average days to process is calculated using the elapsed time counted in calendar days from (and including) the day on which a new claim form for housing benefit or council tax benefit is received at any designated office of a local authority to (and including) the day on which that claim is decided.




 
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Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimates he has made of (a) the number of incorrect benefit payments into post office card accounts, and (b) failure to pay benefits into post office card accounts; and if he will make a statement. [177527]

Mr. Pond: Over 10 million DWP benefit payments have been credited to post office card accounts since April 2003. As a result of customer error or inputting error, it is estimated that approximately 4,000 payments have been issued with incorrect account details.

All benefit payments issued with valid post office card account details, for direct payment into a card account are credited correctly by the card account bank to the nominated account.

Council Tax Benefit

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of housing benefit recipients are also in receipt of council tax benefit. [181934]

 
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Mr. Pond: 89.9 per cent. of housing benefit recipients were also in receipt of council tax benefit in Great Britain at May 2002, the most recent period for which figures are available.

Notes:

1. The figure is based on a 1 per cent. sample and 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 percentage is rounded to one decimal place.

4. Council tax benefit data exclude any second adult rebate cases.

5. Housing benefit data excludes extended payment cases.

Source:

Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information System, Annual 1 per cent. sample, taken in May 2002.

Disability Discrimination Act

Mr. David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the impact of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 on (a) employment levels of disabled people in the UK and (b) the perception of disability by employers. [182537]

Maria Eagle: The Government has not made a specific assessment of the impact of the Disability Discrimination Act on the employment of levels of disabled people in the UK or on the perception of disability by employers. Both will have been influenced by a range of factors. However it is not possible to ascertain to what extent change is due solely to the DDA, against other factors such as shifts in social attitudes, and greater awareness and reporting of disability.

Comparable figures are not available before 1998, however there has been a narrowing of the gap between the employment levels of disabled people and non-disabled people under this Government. Employment levels for disabled people have risen from 46.0 per cent. in winter 1998 (Labour Force Survey, winter quarter 1998) to 49.3 per cent. in winter 2003 (Labour Force Survey, winter quarter 2003). Over the same period the employment levels for non-disabled people rose from 79.8 per cent. to 80.8 per cent.

Recent research on employers' responses to the DDA showed that both the legislation and the moral and business cases for making adjustments have influenced employers. The research found that 83 per cent. of employers that had ever employed a disabled person had made adjustments for disabled employees. Overall, 35 per cent. of employers that had made adjustments for disabled employees reported they had done so partly because of the legal requirement, but they more often cited the moral and business cases for making adjustments.

Mr. David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people with disabilities have been helped to enter employment through the New Deal for Disabled People in the last 12 months. [182540]

Jane Kennedy: The latest figures available are for April 2003 to March 2004, during which period 20,400 jobs were gained by participants in the New Deal for Disabled People programme.
 
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