---

19 Oct 2004 : Column 637W—continued

New Deal for the Disabled

Mr. Challen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in (a) Morley and Rothwell and (b) England have taken up the New Deal for the Disabled. [192514]

Jane Kennedy: 69,190 people have started the New Deal for Disabled People in England. The information is not available at constituency level.

Note:

1. Figures relate to registrations with a Job Broker from June 2001 when the programme was introduced nationally to June 2004 and are rounded to the nearest 10.

Pensions

Diana Organ: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of the number of eligible pensioners in the Forest of Dean who have not taken up pension credit; and how many are women. [192029]

Malcolm Wicks: The information is not available in the form requested. However, we estimate that approximately 300,000 households in the South West Government Office Region (GOR), corresponding to approximately 400,000 individuals (rounded to the nearest 50,000), are likely to be eligible for Pension Credit in 2004–05. Information on the number of Pension Credit recipients in the South West GOR and in the Forest of Dean is given in the table.
Pension Credit recipients, 31 August 2004

	South West GOR	Forest of Dean
Household	216,360	3,825
Individual recipients	264,230	4,770
Female individual	177,270	3,175

Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest five
2. Individual recipients include a small number of partners under age 60.

Mr. Martlew: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many senior citizens in Carlisle have benefited from the winter fuel allowance since 1997. [191599]

Malcolm Wicks: The number of senior citizens in the Carlisle constituency who have benefited from the winter fuel allowance since 1999–2000 is in the table. Information relating to the 1997–98 and 1998–99 winters is not available.

	Payments made
1999–2000	15,080
2000–01	16,470
2001–02	16,610
2002–03	16,780
2003–04	16,810

Note:
Figures are rounded to the nearest 5.
Source:
IAD Information Centre, 100 per cent. sample.



 
19 Oct 2004 : Column 638W
 

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people living in the London Borough of Wandsworth are in receipt of a state retirement pension. [191962]

Malcolm Wicks: As at 31 March 2004, the number of people living in the London Borough of Wandsworth in receipt of state pension was 29,000. Of these 10,100 were male and 19,000 were female.

Notes:

1. State pension recipient figures relate to people getting any state pension (basic or additional) or graduated retirement benefit who reside in the London Borough of Wandsworth. 2. Figures are obtained from a 5 per cent. sample of cases and are therefore subject to a high degree of sampling variation. 3. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred and totals may not sum due to rounding. 4. Local authorities are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant Office for National Statistics, postcode directory.

Source:

IAD Information centre, 5 per cent. sample.

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of SERPs pension can be inherited by (a) a woman aged over state pension age and (b) a man aged over state pension age, if their spouse dies before reaching pension age; and what assessment has been made of the compatibility of this policy with the Human Rights Act 1998. [192562]

Malcolm Wicks: Subject to the entitlement rules, the maximum percentage of a state earnings-related pension scheme (SERPS) pension that may now be passed on to a surviving spouse depends on when the person who paid into SERPS reached or would have reached State Pension age. This applies equally to men and women.

Where the late spouse is under State Pension age when they die different rules on inheriting a SERPS pension apply to men and women. A widower in this situation can not currently inherit any of his late wife's SERPS pension whereas a widow can. From 6 April 2010, the rules will be equalised so that a man will be able to inherit a proportion of his late spouse's SERPS pension in the same way as a woman can.

Our assessment is that the changes over time for both the inheritance of SERPS and equalisation of State Pension age comply fully with both Community law and the European Convention on Human Rights.

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he will take to ensure that widows and widowers whose spouse opted out of SERPs inherit the same proportion of their spouse's pension as people of the same age who did not opt out. [192563]

Malcolm Wicks: Widows and widowers whose spouse was contracted-out of SERPS already inherit the same proportion of SERPS as those whose spouse did not. However, where the spouse had been contracted-out, the survivor also inherits a proportion of the contracted-out rights—the Guaranteed Minimum Pension. In order to avoid double provision from public funds the amount of SERPS paid to those whose spouse was contracted-out is reduced by the inherited Guaranteed Minimum Pension. In general this is intended to result
 
19 Oct 2004 : Column 639W
 
in a widow or widower whose spouse had been contracted-out receiving the same amount as the widow or widower of an individual who did not.

SERPS

Mr. Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the state earnings related pension scheme element of the state pension is annually up-rated at the same rate as the basic element of the state pension; and if he will make a statement. [190309]

Malcolm Wicks: Section 150 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 requires the Secretary of State to review the amount payable in respect of both the basic and the additional state pension annually and to increase them in line with the general level of prices. He is not required to increase them by the same rate. We have undertaken for this Parliament to increase the basic state pension each year by the higher of 2.5 per cent. or price inflation. Both the basic and the additional state pension were increased in April 2004 by 2.8 per cent., which represented the increase of the general level of prices for that year.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

EU Constitution Referendum

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what plans he has for a campaign to encourage people to turn out to vote in the referendum on the European Constitution. [191890]

Mr. Leslie: The Government has no plans to supplement the role already played by the Electoral Commission, who have responsibility for any initiatives related to encouraging turnout or participation in referendums.

FOI Act

Tony Wright: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs which public authorities the Secretary of State intends to designate for the purpose of section 53(1) (a) (iii) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000; and which public authorities have been the subject of consultation under section 53(5) of that Act. [191947]

Mr. Leslie: No decisions have been taken about whether to introduce an order under section 53(1)(a)(iii) of the Freedom of Information Act. If a decision were taken to introduce an order under section 53 (1)(a)(iii), we would consult with the relevant public authorities as set out in section 53(5).

International Private Law

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what action his Department is taking to strengthen its capacity to (a) monitor, (b) handle and (c) advise other Government Departments and agencies on developments in international private law. [191143]

 
19 Oct 2004 : Column 640W
 

Mr. Leslie: On 16 July this year, Lord Filkin, then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Constitutional Affairs, announced that the Advisory Committee on Private International Law would have a greatly remit. The task of this Committee is to advise Ministers and officials on all significant issues which arise in this area, whether in the context of developments within the European Community, other international negotiations or in relation to our national law. The Committee is chaired by Sir Peter North QC and consists of eminent judges, practitioners and academics with particular expertise in this complex and important area of the law.

---