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27 Jan 2005 : Column 496W—continued
Child Support Agency
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether it is possible to trace cases by (a) name and (b) address on the new Child Support Agency computer. [209368]
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 26 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, whether it is possible to trace cases by name and address on the new Child Support Agency computer.
The client's full surname, forename(s) and gender (with date of birth being an optional additional criteria).
Independent Living Fund
Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of its budget the Independent Living Funds made available to (a) people with severe learning impairments and (b) families or carers with caring responsibilities for people with severe learning impairments in each year since 2001. [211244]
Maria Eagle: The Independent Living Funds (ILFs) make payments direct to the disabled client, they do not make payments to families or carers. However, some users may have third parties who provide assistance with managing personal assistance (PA) support and finances, but the ILFs database does not contain sufficient information to analyse payments according to who manages the money. The following table shows the percentage of the ILFs budget that has been paid directly to clients with severe learning impairments, since financial year 2001–02 to financial year 2003–04.
|
Total ILFs budget (£ million) | Proportion paid to clients with severe learning impairments (percentage) | |
|---|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 155.9 | 17.3 |
| 2002–03 | 178.0 | 18.5 |
| 2003–04 | 194.0 | 20.9 |
Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the Independent Living Fund is required to explain the reasons for alterations in its funding arrangements to parties affected by such alterations. [211245]
Maria Eagle: Awards from the Independent Living Funds (ILFs) depend on the extent to which a person requires help towards personal care and domestic support. The ILFs conduct review visits of each client every two years and if it is apparent that clients' circumstances have changed, alterations to their awards would be made and clients would be made fully aware of the change and the reasons for the change.
Where the ILFs make policy alterations that may have a potential impact on clients' awards, they also notify clients of these changes and the reasons associated with these changes.
Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the budget of the Independent Living Fund was for each year since 2001. [211246]
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Maria Eagle: There are two Independent Living Funds—the Independent Living (Extension) Fund and the Independent Living (1993) Fund.
The budget for both funds since 2001 is as follows:
| Budget (£ million) | |
|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 155.9 |
| 2002–03 | 178.0 |
| 2003–04 | 194.0 |
| 2004–05 | 214.3 |
Pensions
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 13 January 2005, Official Report, columns 624–25W, on pensions, how many (a) men and (b) women aged 54 years and over are contracted out with an appropriate personal pension or stakeholder pension. [211456]
Malcolm Wicks: The information is in the table.
(25)Figures for stakeholder pensions are subject to a high degree of sampling error and should be used only as a guide.
Note:
1.Figures are based on scheme membership at the end of the 2002–03 tax year, the latest year for which the information is available.
2.They include those with earnings below the LEL (for example people on a career break or who are unemployed) who would not qualify for an age-related rebate for the 2002–03 tax year.
3.Figures for appropriate personal pensions do not include those for stakeholder pensions.
Source:
Second Tier Pension Provision" published by the Department for Work and Pensions using the Lifetime Labour Market Database which uses a 1 per cent. sample of national insurance records.
EDUCATION AND SKILLS
Adoptions
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many adoptions have taken place in each of the last five years of children in care for (a) less than and (b) more than six months. [210258]
Margaret Hodge: The following table shows the number of looked after children adopted for the last five years by duration of care.
(26)Period of care refers to a continuous period of being looked after, which may include more than one placement or legal status.
Note: Figures over 1,000 have been rounded to the nearest 100. All other figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.
Source: AD1, KS1 and SSDA903 returns
27 Jan 2005 : Column 499W
A-levels
Mr. Clappison:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many GCE A-level entries of 16 to 18-year-old students there have been in (a) biological sciences, (b) chemistry, (c) physics, (d) mathematics, (e) French, (f) German, (g) Spanish
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and (h) media studies in each year since 1997; and what the mark required for an A grade has been in each subject by each of the examination boards offering them in each year. [209810]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: The information requested on GCE A-levels entries for 16 to 18-year-olds in all schools and colleges between 1997 and 2004 is given in the table:
Since 2002 the A-level standard has been set and maintained year on year through the setting of grade boundaries for assessment. These grade boundaries are then translated into fixed points on a uniform mark scale (UMS). For A-level the maximum total UMS score is always 600. An A grade is awarded for a score of 480+ UMS marks.
The information for pre-2002 boundaries will be placed in the House of Commons Library when available.
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