House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 15 Nov 2004 (pt 68)

15 Nov 2004 : Column 1200W—continued

Fair Trade

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether it is his policy to ensure that hospitality within his Department is sourced from fair trade producers wherever possible within the boundaries set by the public procurement rules. [197056]

Jane Kennedy: The Department for Work and Pensions policy is always to ensure that hospitality is sourced from fair trade producers wherever possible and within the boundaries set by the public procurement rules. In making commercial decisions, ethical and fair trade issues are considered across the whole supply chain.

Free Television Licences (Rhondda)

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households in each ward of the Rhondda are (a) entitled to free television licences and (b) have claimed free television licences. [198302]

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

The latest data giving the numbers of those aged 75 or over in each ward of Rhondda is shown in the following table. The number of over 75s in a ward will not match the number of free TV licences issued, since television licences cover households rather than individuals.

Ward name Claimants aged 75 or over

Cwm Clydach 245

Cymmer 430

Ferndale 375

Llwyn-y-pia 195

Maerdy 245

Pentre 475

Pen-y-graig 480

Porth 450

Tonypandy 310

Trealaw 355

Treherbert 570

Treorchy 725

Tylorstown 295

Ynyshir 325

Ystrad 550

Notes:
1. The figures are based on recipients of winter fuel payments.
2. Data is the latest currently available, winter 2003–04.
3. All benefit counts at ward level are rounded to a multiple of five.
Source:
IAD Information Centre

Ward name	Claimants aged 75 or over
Cwm Clydach	245
Cymmer	430
Ferndale	375
Llwyn-y-pia	195
Maerdy	245
Pentre	475
Pen-y-graig	480
Porth	450
Tonypandy	310
Trealaw	355
Treherbert	570
Treorchy	725
Tylorstown	295
Ynyshir	325
Ystrad	550

Fuel Poverty

Linda Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what discussions he has had with colleagues at the (a) Department of Trade and Industry, (b) Department for Environment, Food and

15 Nov 2004 : Column 1201W

Rural Affairs and (c) Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on the case for the welfare benefits system to assist fuel-poor households who cannot be removed from fuel poverty by energy efficiency improvements; and if he will make a statement. [196772]

Mr. Pond: We are working closely with colleagues across Government, particularly the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department for Environment and Regional Affairs and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, to establish how the Department for Work and Pensions can best contribute to the eradication of fuel poverty. The Department for Environment and Regional Affairs will be publishing the Fuel Poverty Action Plan before the end of the year which will set out the Government's strategy on fuel poverty for 2005 and beyond.

We have already seen good progress in reducing fuel poverty through the assistance provided by Warm Front. The Department for Environment and Regional Affairs has introduced Benefit Entitlement Checks for those who, at the time of application, do not qualify for assistance from Warm Front. These checks provide both the potential of increasing household income and enabling households to benefit from measures under Warm Front.

15 Nov 2004 : Column 1202W

Incapacity Benefit

Mr. Keith Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people are claiming incapacity benefit in (a) the city of Manchester and (b) Manchester, Withington constituency. [196909]

Maria Eagle: The information is in the table.
Numbers of incapacity benefits claimants at May 2004

City of Manchester 37,200

Manchester Withington parliamentary constituency 4,500

Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.
2. Figures include all incapacity benefit (IB) and severe disablement allowance claims (including IB credits only cases).
Source:
IAD Information Centre, 5 per cent. sample


City of Manchester	37,200
Manchester Withington parliamentary constituency	4,500

Incapacity/Severe Disablement Benefit

Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many claimants who relinquished incapacity benefit and severe disablement allowances in each year from 1997 (a) entered training and employment programmes other than Access to Work, Work Preparation and Workstep, (b) moved on to other benefits and (c) reached pensionable age. [191690]

Maria Eagle: The information is in the table.
IB/SDA terminations⁽⁶³⁾ in a period, by whether entering a training/employment programme⁽⁶⁴⁾, another benefit 3 is claimed, or State Pension age is imminent

Period in which IB/SDA claim
terminates: All Terminations⁽⁶³⁾ Entered training/ employment programme⁽⁷⁸⁾ ^, ⁽⁶⁴⁾ ^, ⁽⁶⁶⁾ ^, ⁽⁶⁷⁾ ^, ⁽⁶⁸⁾ ^, ⁽⁶⁹⁾ ^, ⁽⁷⁰⁾ Moved to another benefit⁽⁷⁷⁾ ^, ⁽⁶⁵⁾ ^, ⁽⁷¹⁾ ^, ⁽⁷²⁾ ^, ⁽⁷³⁾ Terminated claim within six months of state pension age⁽⁷⁷⁾ ^, ⁽⁷⁴⁾ ^, ⁽⁷⁵⁾ ^, ⁽⁷⁶⁾

1 March 1996 to 28 February 1997 951,700 — 252,100 95,100

1 March 1997 to 28 February 1998 936,400 — 236,300 104,200

1 March 1998 to 28 February 1999 858,400 3,500 216,000 94,300

1 March 1999 to 29 February 2000 829,200 4,100 197,700 107,300

1 March 2000 to 28 February 2001 707,300 4,500 176,100 102,500

1 March 2001 to 28 February 2002 702,400 11,900 171,800 110,000

1 March 2002 to 28 February 2003 692,300 18,200 168,000 117,100

1 March 2003 to 29 February 2004 690,800 19,600 173,700 120,600

⁽⁶³⁾ Figures are based on persons claiming severe disablement allowance, long-term or short-term incapacity benefit, credits only cases, and those persons claiming IB but who have their benefit extinguished for reasons such as an overlap with another benefit, or because of hospitalisation.
⁽⁶⁴⁾ Training/employment programmes in this case are: New Deal for Young People (NDYP), New Deal for Long Term Unemployed (NDLTU), New Deal for Lone Parents (NDLP), New Deal for Partners Unemployed (NDPU), New Deal for Musicians (NDfM), New Deal Innovation Fund (NDIF), New Deal Disabled People (NDDP), Basic Skills, Joint Claims, Work Based Learning for Adults (WBLA), Employment Zones (EZs) and Action Teams. Data for employment/training programmes prior to 1998 is not available.
⁽⁶⁵⁾ Other benefits in this instance are income support (IS), jobseeker's allowance (JSA) and pension credit (Guarantee credit only/Guarantee and savings credit). Family credit and disability working allowance are excluded as "other benefits" as they were replaced in October 1999 by working families tax credit and disabled persons tax credit (subsequently replaced by new tax credits).
⁽⁶⁶⁾ Data for New Deal 50-Plus (ND50) is not included as the database for this programme is still under development.
⁽⁶⁷⁾ Movements to a training/employment programme include some people who have been on a programme at the same time as IB/SDA, but whose participation in the programme continues after the IB/SDA claim ceases.
⁽⁶⁸⁾ Only cases, which move to one of the listed training/employment programmes within 91 days from the end of their IB/SDA claim, will be counted. Some cases will move to training/employment programmes after 91 days: Such cases will not be counted as a move to a training/employment programme.
⁽⁶⁹⁾ Claimants shown as starting an employment/training programme may also appear in the 'Move to another benefit' column. For example they may have moved onto JSA and then almost immediately begun an employment/training programme.
⁽⁷⁰⁾ There will be some additional IB/SDA claimants who undertake training/employment programmes (e.g. New Deal for Disabled People) while remaining on IB/SDA for the whole period. These cases are not covered in the table, which only covers those who have ceased to claim IB/SDA.
⁽⁷¹⁾ Movements to another benefit includes some people who have claimed IS/PC at the same time as IB/SDA but whose IS/PC claim continues after the IB/SDA claim ceases.
⁽⁷²⁾ Only cases that move to one of the other listed benefits within 91 days from the end of their IB/SDA claim will be counted. Some cases will move to other benefits after 91 days: Such cases will not be counted as a move to another benefit.
⁽⁷³⁾
⁽⁷⁴⁾ Some of the cases shown as having moved to another benefit may have now terminated.
⁽⁷⁵⁾State pension age is currently 60 years for women and 65 years for men.
⁽⁷⁶⁾Claimants shown as terminating a claim within 6 months of state pension age may also appear in the "moved to another benefit" column, as they may have subsequently been awarded either IS or PC.

⁽⁷⁷⁾IB/SDA claimant data is held on a computer system called INCAP; RP (and WB and BB) data is held on a computer system called PSCS; INCAP and PSCS are linked because both cover contributory benefits and require information on the claimant's NI contributions history. Once an IB claimant gets within six months of SPA, their RP award can start to be built on PSCS i.e. PSCS and its operators begin calculating how much RP will be payable once SPA is reached. At that point, the claimant disappears from the INCAP side of the system and appears on the PSCS side (though obviously they continue to be paid the relevant rate of IB via PSCS until they reach SPA when RP kicks in). Since our IB/SDA data obviously comes from INCAP, these claimants reaching SPA can effectively disappear from our IB/SDA data (from INCAP) any time in the six months before they reach SPA.
Notes:
1. Caseload figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred. Totals may not sum due to rounding.
2. Figures based on a 5 per cent. sample, are subject to a degree of sampling variation.
3. Some IB/SDA end dates will have been estimated at the end of a quarter, where the true end date is not known.
4. A person is counted only once in each period, regardless of the number of times they claim and subsequently leave each benefit.
5. SDA is not available to new claimants from 6 April 2001. From this point, disabled people, whose period of incapacity begins before the age of 20 (or 25 if in education or training before the age of 20), may be able to receive incapacity benefit without having to satisfy the National Insurance contribution conditions. SDA recipients aged below 20 at the cut-off point will transfer on to IB at the long-term rate in April 2002. Existing recipients can continue to receive the benefit for as long as they satisfy the conditions of entitlement for the benefit.
Sources:
⁽⁷⁸⁾IAD Information Centre, 5 per cent. samples.
⁽⁷⁹⁾IAD Master Index, 100 per cent. database.

15 Nov 2004 : Column 1203W

Period in which IB/SDA claim terminates:	All Terminations⁽⁶³⁾	Entered training/ employment programme⁽⁷⁸⁾ ^, ⁽⁶⁴⁾ ^, ⁽⁶⁶⁾ ^, ⁽⁶⁷⁾ ^, ⁽⁶⁸⁾ ^, ⁽⁶⁹⁾ ^, ⁽⁷⁰⁾	Moved to another benefit⁽⁷⁷⁾ ^, ⁽⁶⁵⁾ ^, ⁽⁷¹⁾ ^, ⁽⁷²⁾ ^, ⁽⁷³⁾	Terminated claim within six months of state pension age⁽⁷⁷⁾ ^, ⁽⁷⁴⁾ ^, ⁽⁷⁵⁾ ^, ⁽⁷⁶⁾
1 March 1996 to 28 February 1997	951,700	—	252,100	95,100
1 March 1997 to 28 February 1998	936,400	—	236,300	104,200
1 March 1998 to 28 February 1999	858,400	3,500	216,000	94,300
1 March 1999 to 29 February 2000	829,200	4,100	197,700	107,300
1 March 2000 to 28 February 2001	707,300	4,500	176,100	102,500
1 March 2001 to 28 February 2002	702,400	11,900	171,800	110,000
1 March 2002 to 28 February 2003	692,300	18,200	168,000	117,100
1 March 2003 to 29 February 2004	690,800	19,600	173,700	120,600

Next Section

Index

Home Page