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15 Nov 2004 : Column 1183W—continued
Benefit Claimants (Coventry)
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people are claiming a working age benefit in Coventry. [197465]
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Mr. Pond: As at May 2004, there were 29,600 working-age claimants of key benefits in the Coventry city council area.
Benefit Entitlement (Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many pensioners have benefited from the winter fuel payment in Newcastle-under-Lyme in each year since it was introduced; [198536]
(2) how many pensioners in Newcastle-under- Lyme will be eligible for the winter fuel allowance in 2004–05. [198599]
Malcolm Wicks: The number of pensioners in the Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency who have benefited from the winter fuel payment in each year since 1999–2000 is in the table. Information relating to the 1997–98 and 1998–99 winters is not available.
It is not possible to provide an estimate of the number of people in the Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency who are eligible to receive a winter fuel payment for winter 2004–05 as DWP administrative data do not contain complete information on household circumstances and payments are based on household composition. We expect the figure to be similar to that of winter 2003–04.
| Payments made | |
|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 16,720 |
| 2000–01 | 18,450 |
| 2001–02 | 18,480 |
| 2002–03 | 18,630 |
| 2003–04 | 18,815 |
Note:
Numbers are rounded to the nearest 5.
Source:
IAD Information Centre, 100 per cent. samples.
Benefit Fraud
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether his future spending projections on principal benefits are net of projected savings from his Department's targets to reduce fraud and error in income support, jobseeker's allowance and housing benefit. [197080]
Mr. Pond: Future spending projections are in part based upon the trends of spending in the past. These past expenditures are directly affected by, among other things, our success in detecting fraud and error and therefore future projections are influenced by this success.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost of (a) operating and (b) advertising the benefit fraud hotline was in 2003; and how many people have been successfully prosecuted for fraud as a result of evidence from the hotline since its inception. [196851]
Mr. Pond:
The operational cost of the national benefit fraud hotline (NBFH) for year ending 2002–03 (April-March) was £959,277, and for year ending 2003–04 was £1,038,505. The cost of advertising is not separately assessed.
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1. Since the Targeting Benefit Fraud advertising campaign started in 2003, the NBFH has been included in the campaign advertising and has not been the subject of its own advertising. 2. Operational costs include staffing and goods and service costs. 3. The operational costs of administering the NBFH include the costs of administering report-a-cheat-online. These costs cannot be separated.
National Benefit Fraud Hotline
The available information on the number of successful prosecutions as a result of evidence from the NBFH is in the table.
Notes:
1. Full information on the number of successful prosecutions resulting from calls to the NBFH is available only from April 1999
Source:
Fraud Information By Sector (FIBS).
Benefit Processing (Workington)
Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the proposals for the ending of processing benefit claims in Workington have been subject to rural proofing. [196383]
Jane Kennedy: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, David Anderson. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from David Anderson to Tony Cunningham, dated 15 November 2004:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about whether proposals to end the processing of benefit claims in Workington have been subject to rural proofing. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
We are committed to ensuring that everyone is able to access our services, whether they live in urban or rural areas. Increased accessibility is one of our key objectives in modernising welfare delivery. This modernisation is helping us to deliver the commitment made in the Rural White Paper to ensure access to 'high quality public services—services often delivered in new ways, and through new outlets'.
The centralisation of benefit processing is part of the drive within Jobcentre Plus to modernise and improve services and meet the Government's efficiency challenge.
Benefit processing is one of the largest and most important business areas within Jobcentre Plus and for some time the Agency has been exploring ways of making it more efficient. Rationalising the number of sites from which benefits are processed will improve service to customers by bringing greater consistency to processes, allow staff to develop more in-depth benefit knowledge and experience, reduce costs (for example in management and overheads) and make better use of the estate.
In the case of Workington, the existing estate would not support an enlarged processing facility. The proposed move to Carlisle will allow us to capitalise on the facilities available at the former Social Security Office at Rufus House which is capable of being developed into a benefit processing centre housing up to 180 people. Rural considerations have been taken into account when making these planning proposals.
We hope that many of those currently employed at Workington will transfer with the work to Carlisle. Others may be re-deployed to alternative roles within the Department of Work and Pensions in West Cumbria. Carlisle is an accessible location for many residents in Allerdale and Copeland as well as being the centre for the large rural catchment area of Eden and Dumfries and Galloway. Centralising work in Carlisle should not mean an overall loss of employment opportunities in rural communities.
The decisions we make about where and how we deliver services are based upon consultation with our partners. These include local authorities and Regional Development Agencies, and reflect local circumstances and most importantly, the needs of the local community. The consideration of rural issues is an integral part of the consultation process. It should also be remembered that unchanged access to a full range of Jobcentre Plus services will still be available to the public through the Workington Jobcentre Plus office.
The Rural Proofing checklist produced by the Countryside Agency forms part of the initial planning process and, where appropriate, the Countryside Agency itself is consulted as a stakeholder. We produce an internal annual Rural Proofing Report for the Countryside Agency; this includes examples of how the department has addressed service delivery issues in rural areas. We also regularly discuss policy development and implementation with DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and the Countryside Agency.
I have asked the District Manager for Cumbria to keep you up-dated on developments and he can be contacted on 01539 795550.
Benefit Take-up (Hendon)
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Hendon aged 18 to 25 years had been unemployed for six months or longer (a) in May 1997 and (b) on the latest date for which figures are available; how many people living in Hendon have benefitted from the New Deal for Young People since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [197517]
Jane Kennedy: The available information is in the tables.
| Period | Number |
|---|---|
| May 1997 | 310 |
| September 1997 | 225 |
| May 2004 | 155 |
| September 2004 | 140 |
Notes:
1. Information for the age group 18–25 is not available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
2. All figures are seasonally unadjusted. To take account of any seasonal fluctuation in the figures, latest data should be compared with the same month in 1997.
3. Data provided are claimant count figures.
4. All figures are rounded to the nearest 5.
Source:
Office of National Statistics
| Number of individuals | |
|---|---|
| Starting the programme | 1,730 |
| Gaining a job | 810 |
Notes:
1. Data are from the start of the programme in January 1998 to June 2004 which is the latest date for which information is available.
2. All figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
Source:
DWP Information and Analysis Directorate
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