| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
24 Jan 2005 : Column 53W—continued
State Pension
22. Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) men and (b) women were in receipt of state retirement pension in the Coventry, South constituency in (i) 1999 and (ii) 2004. [209993]
Malcolm Wicks:
The information is in the following table.
24 Jan 2005 : Column 54W
| Men | Women | |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 6,300 | 10,200 |
| 2004 | 6,000 | 10,100 |
Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100.
2. Figures are based on a 5 per cent. sample and are therefore subject to a high degree of sampling variation.
3. Parliamentary constituencies are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant Office for National Statistics postcode directory.
4. Figures show all people getting a state pension i.e. a Category A, B, C or D state pension or graduated retirement benefit.
Source:
IAD Information Centre 5 per cent. sample as at 30 September 1999 and 31 March 2004.
Older Workers
23. Mr. Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he plans to take to encourage and help older workers in employment. [209994]
Malcolm Wicks: The Government is committed to tackling age discrimination in employment and extending opportunities for older workers. New Deal 50 plus is part of the campaign to improve the employment prospects of older people and encourage them to return to work.
Budget 2004 announced a new high profile national guidance campaign to raise employers' awareness of, and ability to adopt, flexible employment and retirement opportunities in order to increase the recruitment, retention and training of older workers.
Pension Credit
24. Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of how many pensioners are not claiming the pension credit to which they are entitled. [209995]
Malcolm Wicks: The information requested is not currently available. We plan to publish definitive National Statistics on take-up and entitlement for the first six months of pension credit by the end of 2005.
I am pleased to inform my hon. Friend that as at the end of last year 4,072 pensioner households (4,870 individuals) were receiving pension credit, with an average weekly payment of £41.68 per household.
Mr. Ivan Henderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many old age pensioners within the Harwich constituency are in receipt of pension credit. [210685]
Malcolm Wicks: At 31 October 2004, 7,125 pensioner households in Harwich, comprising 9,010 individuals, were in receipt of pension credit.
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest five.
2. Individual recipients include a small number of partners under age 60.
3. Pension credit figures are available for 31 October 2004 as the final output of processes that were put in place to deliver special monthly reporting during the first year of the roll-out of pension credit. As Parliament was told in the statement accompanying the last such report, data will in future be available on a quarterly basis, in line with standard departmental practice.
24 Jan 2005 : Column 55W
Action for Employment
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what (a) grants he has made to and (b) contracts he has made with Action for Employment (A4e) in each of the last five years; and what conditions apply to the use of such grants for the production of marketing materials. [207771]
Jane Kennedy [holding answer 13 January 2005]: Around 200 contracts have been placed with Action for Employment since 2001. A list of these contracts has been placed in the Library.
Information on contracts with Action for Employment prior to the formation of the Department for Work and Pensions is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
The Department has not made any grants to Action for Employment.
Benefit Fraud
Mr. Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the effectiveness of measures his Department has taken to tackle benefit fraud. [209978]
Malcolm Wicks: We have made excellent progress in the fight against fraud. By March 2004 we had reduced fraud in the two main working age benefits by half.
Since 1997 we have saved the equivalent of over £1 billion through the effectiveness of our counter-fraud measures. And that can only be good news for the taxpayer.
Child Support Agency
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what systems are in place (a) to assess the relative urgency of cases referred to the MP's hotline in the South West Business Unit of the Child Support Agency and (b) to prioritise cases accordingly. [209367]
Mr. Pond: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Andrew Turner, dated 24 January 2005:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what systems are in place (a) to assess the relative urgency of cases referred to the MP's hotline in the South West Business Unit of the Child Support Agency and (b) to prioritise them accordingly.
All cases referred by Members of Parliament, including those referred to the 'MP Hotline', are regarded as high priority. If a case is drawn to the Agency's attention as one of a critical nature the resolution manager will engage with it immediately and if necessary deploy additional resource to investigate it.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff in each business unit of the Child Support Agency have been diverted to deal with complaints about the new system for assessing claims. [209735]
24 Jan 2005 : Column 56W
Mr. Pond: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to my hon. Friend with the information requested.
Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. David Drew, dated 24 January 2005:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff in each business unit of the Child Support Agency have been diverted to deal with complaints about the new system for assessing claims.
I do not have the information you seek. I can however say that there are currently around 870 staff within the Agency employed either directly in teams handling complaints and/or teams handling correspondence from members of parliament, stakeholder groups or clients who may have earlier made a complaint. The broad analysis between current business units is:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Midlands | 140 |
| South East | 110 |
| Scotland and North East England | 120 |
| South West | 110 |
| Wales and North West | 180 |
| Eastern | 210 |
Mr. Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects Child Support Agency (CSA) cases in Sittingbourne and Sheppey on the old CSA system to be transferred to the new system. [210117]
Mr. Pond: I refer my hon. Friend to the written answer I gave the hon. Member for Ashford (Mr. Green), on 8 December 2004, Official Report, column 568W.
Mr. Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when C. R. Ward, CSA reference 1036830004, will be switched from the old to the new CSA system. [210600]
Mr. Pond: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Derek Wyatt:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when C. R. Ward Child Support Agency reference 1036830004 will be switched from the old to the new Child Support Agency system.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |