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17 Jan 2005 : Column 776W—continued

Press Officers

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many press officers are employed in the Department. [206523]

Mr. Lammy: At 1 April 2004, my Department employed 14 press officers.

Stolen Property

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs (1) if he will list the property belonging to his Department that has (a) been stolen and (b) been reported lost in each year since 1997, broken down by type of article; [206368]

(2) how many items of civil service property within his Department are unaccounted for, broken down by type. [205574]

Mr. Lammy: The information requested is as in the following table.
Financial yearItems stolen/lost by type of article
1997–98
Colour TV and file server1
Laptop5
PC mouse2
Pocket memo recorder1
TV/video2
Video recorder3
1998–99
Laptop3
Printer1
Printer cables1
Safe and laser printer1
Specialist phone1
1999–2000
Keyboard and Printer1
Laptop1
Mobile phone1
Payphone1
PC2
2000–01
Cashbox1
Laptop1
Mobile phone2
Tape recorder1
2001–02
Conference Phone1
Laptop12
Machines1
Mobile1
PC1
Server1
Telephone1
2002–03
Laptop1
Lost mobile phone1
PC2
Stolen camera1
Stolen computer1
Stolen Epsom printer1
Theft of CCTV camera1
2003–04
PC2
Laptop1
2004–05 (to date)
Laptop2

 
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WORK AND PENSIONS

Benefit Fraud

Mr. Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what percentage of benefit fraud cases he estimates would be caught by the use of identity cards. [209030]

Mr. Pond: I refer my right hon. Friend to the written answer I gave the right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden (David Davis) on 21 December 2004, Official Report, column 1723W.

Benefit Rates

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people who have been in hospital for more than a year live on the weekly benefit rate of £15.90; and what proportion suffer from mental ill-health. [207736]

Malcolm Wicks: The information is not available in the format requested. However, such information as is available is set out in the table:
Benefit typeNumber of people on adjusted personal benefit rate
State pension and bereavement benefits(15)7,030
Severe disablement allowance8,000
Income support3,500
Incapacity benefit3,500


(15) This figure is an average of the September 2003 and March 2004 figures and includes approximately 2,100 recipients of pension credit.
Notes:
1. Figures for the number of people receiving state pension, in hospital over 52 weeks are from a 5 per cent. sample from the pensions strategy computer system at 30 September 2003 and 31 March 2004. pension credit figures are based on the proportion of the pensioner population who receive pension credit, as no data are currently available for those in hospital longer than one year.
2. Disability living allowance and attendance allowance are not paid if the benefit recipient is in hospital over four weeks, so have not been included. The unemployment supplement in industrial injuries disablement benefit is downrated but there are few cases where this applies and no cases where hospital downrating has been recorded.
3. The incapacity benefit/severe disablement allowance admin data are from the Incapacity Benefit/Severe Disablement Allowance Quarterly Summary Statistics (four quarterly averages have been used) and the income support data are from the Income Support Quarterly Statistical Enquiry.




 
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Child Poverty

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what percentage of children in poverty have been lifted out of poverty in each of the last seven years, broken down by (a) constituency, (b) county and (c) region. [207714]

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), published in September 2004, sets out the Government's strategy for tackling poverty and social exclusion and presents information on the indicators used to measure progress against this strategy.

Specific information regarding low income for the United Kingdom is available in "Households Below Average Income 1994–95 to 2002–03". Data are not available below the regional level and are only available as proportions at the regional level. It should be noted that the reporting of year on year changes in the regional low-income rates are not reliable.

"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.

Departmental Credit Cards

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many credit cards for official expenditure are held by his Department. [206443]

Maria Eagle: As of 21 December 2004, there are 184 credit cards in issue for official expenditure.

Departmental Expenditure

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost of travel within the UK for the Department was in each year since 1997; and how much of this was spent on (a) hire cars, (b) helicopter hire, (c) hotel accommodation and (d) subsistence. [206477]

Maria Eagle: The information is not available in the format requested. The available information is in the table. DWP was formed in June 2001 from Department of Social Security (DSS) and parts of the former Department for Education and Employment, including the Employment Service. Information for the period prior to June 2001 refers to the former DSS.
 
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£

Hire carsHotel accommodationSubsistence
1997–1998869,2069,494,120
1998–19991,231,62510,325,573
1999–20001,265,55910,629,555
2000–20011,670,05416,364,631
2001–20021,977,78011,823,7866,537,830
2002–20031,820,21212,945,9394,447,904
2003–20042,006,13613,230,0464,141,234




Notes:
1. Information provided includes travel costs for both Ministers and civil servants
2. Separate information for hotel accommodation and subsistence costs is only available from 2001–2002. For previous years, hotel accommodation costs are included within subsistence costs.
3. There were no costs for helicopter hire.
4. All travel complied with the requirements of the Ministerial Code, Travel by Ministers and the Civil Service Management Code.



Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much the Department spent on first-class travel in each year since 1997. [206563]

Maria Eagle: The available information is in the table.
Cost of first-class travel

Number of journeysCost (£)
2002–0351,5648,315,975
2003–0445,2897,082,711




Notes:
1. Information provided includes travel by both Ministers and civil servants.
2. Information is not available for the period prior to 2002–03.
3. The figures refer to first class rail travel in the UK and abroad. No first-class air journeys were made.
4. All travel complied with the requirements of the Ministerial Code, Travel by Ministers and the Civil Service Management Code.
5. Information relating to overseas travel by Ministers is published on an annual basis. Information for the period 2 May 1997 to 31 March 2004 is in the Library. Information on the financial year 2004–05 will be published as soon as possible at the end of the current financial year.



Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many overseas trips, and at what total cost, have been made by his Department in each year since 1997; and what the costs of (a) flights, (b) internal travel, (c) hotel accommodation and (d) subsistence were of each trip. [206662]

Maria Eagle: The available information is in the tables.
Overseas Travel for 2002–2003
£

Journeys/nightsCost
Overseas air travel736600,572
Overseas hotels41546,566
Overseas rail travel43043,676
Ferry travel796,385
Overseas Travel for 2003–04
Overseas air travel974637,383
Overseas hotels55453,274
Overseas rail travel62557,061
Ferry travel27226,105




Notes:
1. The information provided includes travel by both Ministers and civil servants.
2. Information is not available for the period prior to 2002–03 or for individual journeys.
3. All travel complied with the requirements of the Ministerial Code, Travel by Ministers and the Civil Service Management Code.
4. Information relating to overseas travel by Ministers is published on an annual basis. Information for the period 2 May 1997 to 31 March 2004 is in the Library. Information on the financial year 2004–05 will be published as soon as possible at the end of the current financial year.




 
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