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Pension Centre (Swansea)

Mr. Caton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on his plans for the pension centre in Swansea. [185329]

Malcolm Wicks: Since the Budget announcement, detailed planning has been taking place across the Department. This has included discussions on the future size and shape of The Pension Service. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions issued a written statement on 29 June 2004, Official Report, columns 8–9WS announcing the first phase of that transformation.

Planning continues across the Department and we will inform the House when firm decisions are made.

Mr. Caton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the quality of work carried out at Swansea Pension Centre. [185330]

Malcolm Wicks: The Pension Service deploys quality support teams to assess the accuracy of payments made by pension centres. These teams sample pension credit payments and state pension payments for Swansea Pension Centre three times per year. Swansea Pension Centre also conducts a monthly survey of its customers to measure their satisfaction with the service provided.

Swansea Pension Centre is currently achieving all key performance targets.

Pension Credit

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the take-up of pension credit. [185418]

Malcolm Wicks: I refer the hon. Member to the Written Statement by my hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 15 July 2004, Official Report, columns 77–78WS.
 
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Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what percentage of pensioners he estimate will not be claiming pension credit by 2006. [185422]

Malcolm Wicks: The information is not available in the form requested. The Department has set a Public Service Agreement target for at least three million pensioner households, corresponding to around 3.7 million individuals, to be in receipt of pension credit by March 2006 and is on course to achieve this. A projection based on available data suggests that approximately 3.85 million households, corresponding to around 5 million individuals, are likely to be eligible for Pension Credit in Great Britain in 2005–06. This projection, rounded to the nearest 50,000 households or individuals, includes a number of assumptions which will be sensitive to change. It is subject to a wide margin of error and should be used as a broad indication of the likely eligible population only.

Sickness Absence

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many working days per 100,000 workers were lost for reasons of work-related injury and ill-health in each of the last seven years. [184675]

Jane Kennedy: The information is not available in the form requested. Estimates of the number of working days lost as a result of work-related injury are obtained every three years through the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The latest estimate, for 2000–01, is 27,900 working days lost per 100,000 workers, compared with an estimate of 25,800 in 1997–98.

For work-related illness, the only available estimate in the seven-year period is based on information obtained from the 2001–02 LFS. The survey estimated that 140,000 working days per 100,000 workers were lost as a result of self-reported work-related ill-health.

A combined estimate for work-related injury and ill-health, covering 2003–04, will be published later this year.

CABINET OFFICE

Job Losses (Civil Servants)

Mr. Evans: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many of the reductions in the numbers of civil servants in his Department announced in the comprehensive spending review will be of special advisors. [185470]

Mr. Alexander: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend, the Chief Secretary to Her Majesty's Treasury (Mr. Boateng), on 20 July 2004, Official Report, column 190W.

Lord Birt

Norman Baker: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what areas of work Lord Birt is engaged upon. [182247]

 
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Mr. Alexander: Lord Birt is the Prime Minister's unpaid strategy adviser and works alongside the Strategy Unit on a range of issues. He is also an external member of the Cabinet Office Strategy Board. The nature of Lord Birt's work is to provide private internal advice to the Prime Minister and other Cabinet Ministers. This advice is not disclosed under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Public Meetings (Access)

Brian Cotter: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what action is being taken to encourage (a) central and (b) local government departments and agencies to ensure that public meetings are accessible for those with disabilities. [180912]

Maria Eagle: I have been asked to reply.

Where central and local government departments and their agencies are holding public meetings as a service to the public, they are covered by the service provider provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and have legal duties under Part 3 of the Act to make reasonable adjustments to enable disabled people to make use of them. In some instances, public meetings may form part of the function of a central or local Government department or its agencies. Currently, the access duties under Part 3 of the DDA do not extend to functions of public bodies. However, a proposal in the draft Disability Discrimination Bill would bring all such functions within the scope of Part 3 of the Act.

The Government are currently running a campaign to remind service providers of their duties under the DDA. The campaign focuses on the new duties being introduced from 1 October 2004, which require service providers to make reasonable adjustments to physical features of premises which make access to the service impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people.

The Disability Rights Commission (DRC), which is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Work and Pensions, published a revised statutory Code of Practice in 2002 explaining the service provider provisions, including the new duties from October 2004. In addition, the DRC has been working in partnership with the Local Government Association to raise awareness of the implications of the service provider duties for local authorities and to develop guidance on implementing the DDA duties within local authority service provision.

Security Vetting

Llew Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what representations he has received on the merits of re-establishing an inter-departmental committee of security vetting authorities. [184398]

Mr. Alexander: The most recent periodic review of the Government's personnel security system recommended the creation of a new official committee focusing on this area. That was accepted and that committee will work to ensure the continued effectiveness of personnel security policy and practice throughout Government, and in those organisations with which Government works in partnership.
 
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HOME DEPARTMENT

Ammonium Nitrate

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his Department keeps on file records of thefts of ammonium nitrate; (a) in the United Kingdom and (b) on farms within the United Kingdom. [172743]

Mr. Blunkett: In England and Wales, numbers of thefts of ammonium nitrate are not collected separately from other thefts. I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Alun Michael) on 27 April 2004, Official Report, column 857W. Ammonium nitrate in itself is not classified as an explosive.

Asylum Seekers

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals whose application for asylum had been rejected absconded in each year since 1997. [183924]

Mr. Browne: Information on the number of asylum applicants who have absconded is not available except by examination of individual case-files at disproportionate cost.

Some asylum seekers who have "absconded" may have left the UK voluntarily; others may remain in the UK illegally. Applicants do not always inform the Immigration Service prior to leaving the UK. The Immigration Service's policy on contact management, the means by which the Home Office maintains contact with asylum seekers throughout the process, was introduced in 2002. The policy is being continuously enhanced with the proposed expansion of the detention estate; the development of more static reporting centres; the development of Immigration Service staff based at police stations; the rollout of induction centres at the beginning of the asylum process and the piloting of biometric reporting i.e. voice recognition, tagging and kiosk based reporting.

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department under what circumstances individuals are required to wear an electronic tagging device. [183925]

Mr. Browne: Individuals in England and Wales are required to wear a tag when sentenced by a court to a curfew order or curfew requirement with electronic monitoring; on release from prison under the Home Detention Curfew Scheme; or as a requirement of a bail or licence condition.

Individuals who are liable to detention under immigration legislation may, in future, be required to wear an electronic tagging device if a Chief Immigration Officer, adjudicator or judge of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission considers, following an individual risk assessment, that the risk of absconding can be managed through the additional safeguard of electronic monitoring by tagging as an alternative to detention.

Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what support is being offered to failed Iraqi asylum seekers being returned to Iraq. [184516]

 
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Mr. Browne: Since July last year the Home Office has been facilitating, the return of small numbers of Iraqi citizens who want to return home through the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Individuals returning under this programme receive independent advice and practical assistance with travel arrangements.

Enforced returns to Iraq will begin as soon as the practical arrangements for the returns programme are in place. The details of the returns programme have not yet been finalised, but are likely to include a package of support for returnees.

Failed asylum seekers of any nationality, including Iraqis, who are destitute and unable to leave the UK immediately for reasons entirely beyond their control may seek accommodation from National Asylum Support Service (MASS) under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. Those who do not otherwise meet the eligibility criteria but who are willing to register with the IOM for a voluntary departure would be eligible for accommodation under section 4 while they are waiting for their voluntary return to be arranged.

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