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20 Oct 2004 : Column 806W—continued

Endometriosis

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to add endometriosis to the list of conditions taken into account when considering eligibility for disability living allowance; and if he will make a statement. [192178]

Maria Eagle: Entitlement to disability living allowance is not linked to particular disabling conditions, but on the extent to which a severely disabled person has personal care needs and/or walking difficulties as a result of their disability. People with endometriosis can qualify for the allowance if they satisfy the rules which govern entitlement.

Green Ministers

Mr. Horam: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many meetings of the Ministerial Sub-Committee of Green Ministers were attended by the Department's Green Minister in (a) 2002–03 and (b) 2003–04. [190852]

Mr. Pond: My noble Friend Baroness Hollis of Heigham is the Green Minister for the Department for Work and Pensions. It has been established practice under successive Governments not to disclose information relating to the proceedings of Cabinet Committees. This practice is now in line with Exemption 2 of Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Pension Credit

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the level of take-up of pension credit. [192154]

Malcolm Wicks: I refer my hon. Friend to the written statement that I made on 16 September 2004, Official Report, column 185WS. At 31 August, there were 4,580 pension credit households in Coventry, South, comprising 5,430 individuals (figures rounded the nearest five).

Poverty (Yeovil)

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) children and (b) pensioners were estimated to be living in poverty in Yeovil constituency in each year from 1995–96; and if he will make a statement. [192067]

Mr. Pond: Poverty is about more than low income; it also impacts on the way people live—their health, housing and the quality of their environment. The sixth annual 'Opportunity for All' report (Cm 6239 ) sets out the Government's strategy for tackling poverty and social exclusion and presents information on the
 
20 Oct 2004 : Column 807W
 
indicators used to measure progress against this strategy. The sixth annual "Opportunity for All" report was published on 13 September 2004.

Specific information regarding low income for Great Britain and the United Kingdom for children and pensioners is available in "Households Below Average Income 1994–95—2002–03". Data are not available below regional level.

"Measuring Child Poverty", published in December 2003, outlines the Government's measure of UK child poverty for the long term. This new measure will begin from 2004–05.

All publications listed are available in the Library.

Service Delivery Arrangements

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what measures have been put in place of service delivery during the period of change caused by restructuring. [190883]

Jane Kennedy: The Department for Work and Pensions has a Public Service Agreement (PSA) target to improve the delivery of services of each of its businesses by setting published annual targets addressing accuracy, unit costs and customer service. The annual targets are announced in Parliament via a written statement and in the Agencies Business Plan, as well as being published on the Department's website. Progress against the Department's PSA targets and the annual Agencies targets are monitored by the Department and published in the Department's Annual Report.

Unclaimed Benefits

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the level of each unclaimed benefit in (a) England, (b) Essex and (c) Castle Point. [190965]

Mr. Pond: The information is not available in the format requested.

Latest estimates of the amount of benefits unclaimed are available on a national basis only and relate to the minimum income guarantee, income support for non-pensioners, housing benefit, council tax benefit and income-based jobseeker's allowance. Statistics for 2001–02—the latest year for which information is available—are published in the DWP report, "Income Related Benefits Estimates of Take-Up in 2001/2002". Copies of the publication can be found in the Library.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Child Support Agency

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when the new computer system for the Child Support Agency in Northern Ireland was installed; and what the cost was. [192378]

Mr. Spellar: The new computer system for the Northern Ireland Child Support Agency began to process new child support applications on 3 March 2003.
 
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The Northern Ireland Child Support Agency has paid £3 million to date towards the new computer system's running costs.

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the current backlog of cases being processed by the Child Support Agency in Northern Ireland is. [192379]

Mr. Spellar: The Northern Ireland Child Support Agency considers 3,670 applications as a viable and accepted level of work in progress on applications under the new child support scheme. There are currently 5,645 applications for child maintenance at various stages of the assessment process.

The difference between the acceptable level of work to be progressed and the actual can be attributed to the many applications under the reformed rules that have become unprogressible because of defects with the new computer system.

The cases that are unprogressible because of system defects are being addressed as part of the recovery plan which the service provider, Electronic Data Systems Limited (EDS), has implemented.

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many cases have been processed manually by the special group set up within the Child Support Agency in Northern Ireland to deal with the current backlog. [192380]

Mr. Spellar: A total of 53 cases are currently being managed clerically due to defects with the new computer system.

Closed Circuit Television

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many towns and cities in Northern Ireland have CCTV schemes in operation; and how many cameras are deployed in each scheme. [192548]

Mr. Spellar: At present there are seventeen town centre CCTV systems operating in Northern Ireland, which have received assistance from public funds, as listed. We do not maintain records centrally in relation to the number of cameras at each location, but we estimate that approximately 200 cameras are in operation across these sites:

Armagh

Ballymena

Ballynahinch

Banbridge

Belfast

Coleraine

Craigavon

Dungannon

Dunmurry

Fivemiletown

Hillsborough

Lisburn

Londonderry

Moira

Moy

Omagh

Portadown

 
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Assistance from public funds has also been given to two further systems in Maghera and Magherafelt, which are expected to become operational shortly. Finally, I have recently agreed to provide funding to Newtownabbey borough council to assist with the establishment of a new CCTV system in Glengormley town centre.

There may be other town centres which have had CCTV cameras installed, without assistance from central Government and we would not be aware of the full extent of such systems.

On 14 June 2004, I announced that Government had made available a further £2 million to assist with the development of CCTV in Northern Ireland, including funding for the development of new town centre systems as well as the expansion and enhancement of current systems. Officials have now gathered 32 Expressions of Interest from across Northern Ireland for further support of town centre CCTV systems.

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