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22 Jul 2004 : Column 435W—continued
Departmental Publications
Mr. Meale: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many publications his Department has issued over the past three years; and what the print run distributed was in each case; [186174]
(2) how much the Department spent on departmental publications in the past three years. [186172]
Maria Eagle: The Department and its customer-facing businesses produce a wide range of publications, ranging from reports to Parliament, other official documents and research reports through to booklets and leaflets designed to inform the citizen of their rights and responsibilities.
The detailed information requested is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many departmental publications are in storage; and where they are located. [183867]
Jane Kennedy:
The Department for Work and Pensions had 420 publication titles and a total of 7,307,933 copies in storage at its five main stores on 13 July 2004. Our main stores are a mix of departmental and contractor stores. The two main departmental stores are at Heywood and Beacon Road, Norcross. The three contractor stores are Meads at Nottingham, Belmont Press at Northampton and Astron at Chadderton. Retention and storage of materials at
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commercial stores are a matter for the Publisher who may rely on the use of on-demand printing facilities to meet the Department's demand.
In addition small buffer stocks of leaflets and guidance material for our customers are held at about 1,800 offices across our national network.
A small number of leaflets, associated with major advertising campaigns, are also held for the duration of the campaign by companies who operate campaign response mechanisms for the public.
Departmental Redundancies
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the (a) organisations and (b) agencies which his Department will consult before deciding upon the locations for potential job reductions. [186029]
Maria Eagle: The detail of where and when staff reductions will happen is still being developed.
As more information becomes available the department will consult with appropriate public and private sector organisations in the relevant locations as well as our trade unions.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what funding has been set aside to retrain staff of his Department that are likely to lose their jobs. [186030]
Maria Eagle: Following the Spending Review announcement, detailed business and staffing plans continue to be developed across all parts of the Department in order to manage the reduction of 30,000 posts by March 2008. Until these plans are finalised it is too early to predict the numbers of staff requiring retraining, the exact nature of the training and the level of funding provision required.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many jobs it is proposed will be lost in his Department, broken down by pay grade in (a) percentage and (b) actual terms; [186031]
(2) if he will express the number of proposed job cuts in his Department as a (a) total and (b) percentage of the work force in each region of the UK. [186032]
Maria Eagle: Following the Spending Review announcement, detailed business and staffing plans continue to be developed across all parts of the Department in order to manage the reduction of 30,000 posts by March 2008. Until these plans are finalised it is too early to say how the planned reduction in posts will affect each grade in the Department or the percentage reductions in each region.
The first phase of the plans were announced in a written statement by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 29 June 2004, Official Report, columns 8–9WS. Further detailed plans are currently being developed. These plans will enable us to determine how the staffing reductions will be profiled across each Government office region.
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Departmental Staff (Wales)
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people were employed by his Department in Wales in each of the last 15 years, broken down by location. [186076]
Maria Eagle: Information on staff numbers broken down by location in Wales is not available. Information on the number of staff in Wales as a whole is not available prior to September 2001. Information at that date and each year thereafter is in the following table.
| As at 30 September | Number |
|---|---|
| 2001 | 6,581 |
| 2002 | 7,491 |
| 2003 | 7,697 |
Notes:
1. Numbers are based on headcount not Whole Time Equivalents.
2. Numbers are consistent with Cabinet Office definitions other than the inclusion of staff on paid maternity leave.
3. Numbers are point in time at the date shown.
Disability Living Allowance
Mr. Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many applications for disability living allowance were initially (a) granted and (b) refused in the last year for which figures are available; and how many of those refused were subsequently allowed after review or appeal. [186054]
Maria Eagle: The available information is set out in the table.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Initial Awards(7) | 217,300 |
| Claims Disallowed(7) | 220,200 |
| Awards increased on review(8) | 56,400 |
| Appeals in favour of appellant(9) | 37,200 |
(7) Figures taken from a 100 per cent. sample at 29 February 2004.
(8) Figures are rounded to the nearest 100.
(9) Figures taken from 100 per cent. sample at 29 February 2004.
(10) Figures are rounded to the nearest 100.
(11) Figures include reconsiderations and supersessions.
(12) All figures are subject to change as more up to date data becomes available.
(13) Figures are rounded to the nearest 100.
Sources:
1, 2 MIS
(14) 100 per cent. download of the Generic Appeals Processing System.
Fatal and Major Injury Accidents
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the incidence rate of fatal and major injury incidents was in each of the last seven years. [184676]
Jane Kennedy:
The incidence rate of fatal and major injuries (per 100,000 employed), reported to all enforcing authorities in the period 1997–98 to 2002–03 is shown in the following table:
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| Employee | Self-employed | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fatal injury rate | Major injury rate | Fatal injury rate | Major injury rate | |
| 1996–97 | 0.9 | 127.5 | 2.3 | 38.4 |
| 1997–98 | 0.9 | 127.6 | 1.8 | 23.3 |
| 1998–99 | 0.8 | 121.7 | 1.9 | 20.3 |
| 1999–2000 | 0.7 | 116.6 | 1.7 | 19.7 |
| 2000–01 | 0.9 | 110.2 | 2.4 | 19.2 |
| 2001–02 | 0.8 | 110.9 | 1.3 | 27.8 |
| 2002–03(15) | 0.7 | 113.0 | 1.3 | 31.9 |
(15) Provisional.
Notes:
1. Incidence rates are derived from reports made to HSE and local authorities under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 1995.
2. Incidence rates are expressed per hundred thousand employees or self-employed people as appropriate.
3.The annual basis is the planning year from 1 April to 31 March.
4. Statistics are those reported to all enforcing authorities.
Formal Child Care (Take-up)
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how he plans to increase the take-up of formal childcare by lower income families. [185061]
Jane Kennedy: The Government are committed to helping children in low income families by providing and improving take up of good quality formal childcare. We are working to increase the availability, accessibility, affordability and variety of formal childcare and, importantly, to ensure parents understand the choices open to them.
We have provided substantial investment via the Sure Start Unit and its predecessors—£4.2 billion invested since 1997 and a further £4.3 billion earmarked in the Spending Review for the period up to 2008—and have broadened the range of childcare opportunities available. For example, we have introduced Extended School Childcare Pilots to provide the childcare lone parents need to enter employment and Childcare Taster Pilots to give lone parents the opportunity to experience formal childcare.
To further increase parents' knowledge, we have made individual and tailored advice available through the new deal and Jobcentre Plus and as part of the range of services offered by Sure Start Local Programmes and Children's Centres. Meanwhile, Jobcentre Plus has introduced dedicated Childcare Partnership Managers to coordinate Jobcentre Plus's programmes and strategies with local childcare development plans.
Through tax credits we have made significant improvements to the financial assistance for child care available to working parents—up to £140 a week can be claimed—and have made plans for a voluntary accreditation scheme, extending the types of childcare
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that parents can receive financial support for. We have also invested in the Support Childminder Scheme, to engage existing childminders in supporting new people, including informal carers, in registering with Ofsted.
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