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Pensions

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average amount of basic state pension paid to (a) men in their own right, (b) women in their own right and (c) couples was in (i) 1997 and (ii) 2003; and how many people were in each group in each year. [194752]

 
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Malcolm Wicks: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the table.

	Average basic state pension (£)	Number of recipients of Category A basic state pension (Thousand)
1997
Men	61.51	3,490
Women	50.54	1,626
2003
Men	75.94	3,808
Women	62.71	1,912

Notes:
1. Basic state pension refers to Category A pensions obtained from a person's own national insurance contributions plus basic state pensions derived from a former spouse's national insurance contributions. It excludes people with entitlement to a Category A pension where their Category B pension is more than their Category A pension.
2. Amounts are rounded to the nearest pence and numbers of recipients are rounded to the nearest thousand.
3. Amounts and numbers are for Great Britain.
Source:
Figures are derived from a 5 per cent., sample of DWP administrative data taken at September in each year.





 
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Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the (a) median and (b) mean pension income was in each year since 1997, broken down between (i) state benefits, (ii) occupational pension, (iii) personal pension, (iv) earnings and (v) other sources. [196418]

Malcolm Wicks: The information requested is in the tables.
Table A: Mean incomes of pensioner units from 1996–97 to 2002–03, broken down by source income £ per week

	1996–97	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03
All pensioner units
Gross income	230	234	243	252	265	273	277
Benefit income	121	123	124	130	133	139	142
Occupational pension	59	61	63	65	70	72	74
Personal pension	3	4	4	5	7	7	8
Investment income	27	27	29	29	30	28	24
Earnings	18	18	20	21	23	25	25
Other income	1	1	2	2	3	3	3
Pensioner couples
Gross income	334	340	349	357	379	392	388
Benefit income	148	149	149	156	159	165	170
Occupational pension	97	100	102	102	114	113	114
Personal pension	5	7	9	11	12	14	14
Investment income	45	47	47	47	48	46	39
Earnings	37	35	39	39	42	49	47
Other income	1	2	2	2	3	4	4
Single pensioners
Gross income	165	167	176	183	192	194	203
Benefit income	104	106	109	114	115	121	124
Occupational pension	36	37	38	41	42	44	48
Personal pension	1	1	1	1	3	2	3
Investment income	16	15	18	17	19	16	15
Earnings	6	8	8	8	10	9	11
Other income	1	1	2	2	2	2	3

Table B: Net median income of pensioner units after housing costs £ per week

	1996–97	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03
All pensioners	126	131	134	142	148	159	164
Pensioner couples	197	202	208	216	227	235	242
Single pensioners	88	91	95	103	109	117	122

Table C: Median values of different sources of pensioner incomes for those in receipt £ per week

	1996–97	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03
Occupational pension
All pensioners	56	60	60	63	66	71	74
Pensioner couples	79	86	88	94	101	106	107
Single pensioners	42	44	45	45	48	50	55
Personal pension
All pensioners	29	31	32	31	34	41	35
Pensioner couples	35	32	40	41	38	44	37
Single pensioners	23	27	21	19	29	34	26
Investment income
All pensioners	6	5	6	5	5	5	4
Pensioner couples	11	10	11	10	10	9	8
Single pensioners	3	3	3	3	3	3	2
Earnings
All pensioners	130	125	158	146	155	137	156
Pensioner couples	157	142	173	164	180	148	174
Single pensioners	90	97	141	104	127	120	128

Notes:
1. Incomes are presented as pounds per week. Figures for incomes are given in 2002–03 prices and rounded to the nearest pound. Totals may not equal their components due to rounding.
2. The Pensioners' Incomes Series analysis is for pensioner units, which are either: single pensioners (ie people over state pension age) or pensioner couples (i.e. married or cohabiting pensioners where the man is over state pension age.)
Source:
Tables A, B and C: The Pensioners' Incomes Series 2002–03 which is based on data from the Family Resources Survey.





 
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Redeployment Units

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff in his Department and its agencies were in redeployment units during 2003; and how many have been in such units in 2004. [196518]

Maria Eagle: The Department did not have any redeployment units in 2003. The Pension Service redeployment unit was set up in July 2004 and is currently the only redeployment unit within the Department. 228 staff have been in the redeployment unit, 120 of whom have moved on.

Sign Language

Rev. Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans there are to include (a) British and (b) Irish Sign Language in the European Charter of Minority Languages. [196887]

Maria Eagle: The Council of Europe's Charter for Regional or Minority Languages does not include provision for sign languages. The Council's Parliamentary Assembly made a recommendation to the Council on the protection of sign languages used in member states to which the Council's Committee of Ministers responded on 5 July 2004. The reply notes that before deciding on the question of any possible future instrument a study of the needs of sign language users should be conducted in consultation with them and their organisations. The Government have indicated a willingness to participate in further work to move the process forward.

Social Security Benefits

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has following the introduction of the Mental Capacity Bill to modernise the system for appointment to receive social security benefits in lieu of the beneficiary. [194820]

Maria Eagle: We are looking at our current appointee arrangements in the light of the Mental Capacity Bill, in particular the initial assessment of incapacity and 'best interests'. The proposed codes of practice will provide
 
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the opportunity to review and bolster our existing guidance and arrangements. We are also looking at possible post-appointment monitoring systems.

TV Licence Fees

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what discussions he has had, and with whom, on the possibility of changes to the present television licence fee for people who are in receipt of state retirement pension. [195372]

Estelle Morris: I have been asked to reply.

A range of matters relating to BBC funding, including television licence fee concessions, need to be considered in the context of BBC Charter Review. As part of the Charter Review process, the Government have carried out an extensive public consultation exercise and have also commissioned supplementary research. In the course of this process a wide range of issues have been raised concerning the television licensing regime.

Women Pensioners

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the reasons for differences in the percentages of women pensioners entitled to a full basic state pension in England and Wales and in Northern Ireland. [197013]

Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the reasons for the differences between the number of women pensioners in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) England and Wales in receipt of the full basic state pension. [197075]

Malcolm Wicks: The differences between the proportions of women receiving a full basic state pension in England and Wales and in Northern Ireland can be attributed to variations in the extent to which women's own contribution records entitle them to qualify for a full basic state pension in their own right: and numbers of women who are widowed or divorced and qualify for a full basic state pension based on their late or former husband's contributions.
 
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