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12 Jul 2004 : Column 947W—continued
WORK AND PENSIONS
Child Poverty
Andy King: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the most recent weekly income thresholds are over which the Government judge children to be lifted out of poverty in the United Kingdom (a) before housing costs and (b) after housing costs; and in each case, (i) how many children remain in poverty and (ii) how many children would be judged to have been lifted out of poverty if each of these thresholds were increased by (A) £20, (B) £30 and (C) £40 a week. [180944]
Mr. Pond: The available information is in the tables.
| Household type | Before housing costs | After housing costs |
|---|---|---|
| Couple with no children (equivalised income benchmark) | 194 | 172 |
| Couple with two children aged 5 and 11 | 283 | 253 |
| Single with two children aged 5 and 11 | 207 | 175 |
| Couple with one child aged 5 | 235 | 208 |
| Single with one child aged 5 | 159 | 131 |
Notes:
1. The weekly household equivalised income threshold for the contemporary measure of low income used for the PSA target on reducing child poverty for 2002–03 was £194 on a before housing costs basis and £172 on an after housing costs basis.
2. Equivalised incomes adjust household incomes for household composition, to reflect the fact that households of differing composition need differing levels of cash income to attain a given standard of living; results presented here use the McClements equivalisation scale.
3. All figures are in pounds per week, in 2002–03 prices, rounded to the nearest pound, and are consistent with current National Statistics conventions.
Source:
"Households Below Average Income—An analysis of the income distribution for 1994–95—2002–03"
| Threshold raised by: | Before housing costs | After housing costs |
|---|---|---|
| £0 | 2.6 | 3.6 |
| £20 | 3.5 | 4.4 |
| £30 | 4.0 | 4.8 |
| £40 | 4.4 | 5.2 |
Notes:
1. Figures are given to the nearest 0.1 million children.
2. All figures relate to 2002–03, the latest date for which data are available.
3. The threshold used here is the value of 60 per cent. of the median income both before and after housing costs.
Source:
Family Resources Survey.
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Council Tax Benefit (Coventry, South)
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many council tax benefit recipients there are in Coventry, South. [183267]
Mr. Pond: The number of council tax benefit recipients is not available by parliamentary constituency. As at February 2004, 30,100 households were in receipt of council tax benefit in the Coventry city council area.
Notes:
1. The figure has been rounded to the nearest hundred. 2. Council tax benefit data excludes any Second Adult Rebate cases.
Source:
Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information System Quarterly 100 per cent. caseload stock-count.
Departmental Advisers (Costs)
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the costs were to his Department of outside consultants, advisers, accountants and lawyers in the last 12 months. [182077]
Jane Kennedy: The information requested for 2003–04 will not be available until the end of July 2004. A copy of the document will be placed in the Library once available.
Disabled People (Assessment of Services)
Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the efficacy and efficiency of services provided by his Department to disabled people; and if he will make a statement. [183256]
Jane Kennedy: The Government are committed to improving the position of disabled people in society and believe that public bodies should take the lead in promoting equal opportunities. That is why the draft Disability Discrimination Bill extends the DDA to the functions of public bodies and introduces a duty on public bodies to promote equality for disabled people.
Accordingly, the Department keeps the efficacy and efficiency of services provided to disabled people under constant review. For example, in the past year we have improved the provision of online Government information for disabled people and unpaid carers with the launch of Directgov in April 2004 (www. direct.gov.uk/disability). This covers a range of areas including rights, employment, independent living and health.
We are in the process of modernising all benefits, including by making it possible to claim them online. Customers can already claim carer's allowance online and by the end of 2005, disabled customers will also be able to claim DLA and AA on-line. We also introduced a new substantially shortened claim forms for
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attendance allowance last October, which has simplified the claims process for disability benefits for those aged 65 or over.
We are committed to helping disabled people into employment. For example, between April 2003 to March 2004 over 20,000 jobs were gained by participants on the New Deal for Disabled People programme. In addition, the Pathways to Work Program, a new way of giving early and continuing support to people on incapacity benefit is being piloted in several areas and is already generating good feedback and positive results.
Sustainable Development
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what parts of his Department's estate will not be covered by the commitments set out in the Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate. [181443]
Mr. Pond: The whole of the DWP Estate will be covered by the commitments outlined within the Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate.
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department has taken to review arrangements for public reporting of sustainable development impacts in accordance with the Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate; and what arrangements his Department has to report publicly on its key sustainable development impacts. [181444]
Mr. Pond: The Department for Work and Pensions published its first separate Sustainable Development Report in November 2001. The Department is committed to issuing this comprehensive report and publishes this annually on the DWP public-facing Internet site. The report contains information on progress on the targets contained within the Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate, details of policy developments and their impacts on the overall UK Sustainable Development Strategy as well as considering the wider social impacts of the Department's operations.
The Department will continue to fully contribute to the Government's annual Sustainable Development in Government report.
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress there has been in reducing (a) road transport vehicle carbon dioxide emissions and (b) single occupancy car commuting in his Department against the baseline year. [181445]
Mr. Pond: The Department for Work and Pensions has recalculated its baseline figures for road transport vehicle carbon emissions to make use of improved data collection. The results are given in the table:
| Kg CO 2 | Percentage reduction | |
|---|---|---|
| 2002–03 | 21,391,275 | — |
| 2003–04 | 20,191,096 | 5.6 |
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This indicates that the Department is well on course to meet the 10 per cent. reduction in road transport CO 2 emissions, contained within the Travel targets of the Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate.
The Department has already stated its intention not to gather information on single occupancy car commuting as this would be excessively resource intensive, given the size of the estate. The Department continues to encourage the use of Green Commuting at a corporate level.
Departmental Water Use
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what changes there have been in levels of water consumption by his Department in each year from 1997 to date. [181447]
Mr. Pond: The levels of water consumption for the Department for Work and Pensions, including all its agencies are given in the following table, which summarises the information given in the "Sustainable Development in Government" reports. Figures are reported from 2001–02 because DWP did not come into existence until June 2001.
| m(21) | |
|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 7.7 |
| 2002–03 | 9.14 |
The figures for 2001–02 only reflect information for the former Employment Service estate.
Figures are not yet available for 2003–04, but will be reported in the next Sustainable Development in Government report.
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