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7 Mar 2005 : Column 1585W—continued
Means-tested Benefits
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost of incapacity benefit and other means-tested benefits paid to incapacity benefit recipients was in the last year for which figures are available. [219397]
Maria Eagle
[holding answer 4 March 2005]: The information is in the following table.
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Notes:
1.All figures have been rounded to the nearest million pounds.
2.Figures for income support, housing benefit and council tax benefit include expenditure for people receiving incapacity benefit credits and a small amount of money paid to disabled people who do not receive incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance.
3.Figures do not include pension credit, housing benefit and council tax benefit paid to people between the ages of 60 and 64.
4.Figures exclude severe disablement allowance for people over state pension age.
5.Figures may not sum due to rounding
Source:
DWP expenditure tables.
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost of income support for claimants of the disability premium and other means-tested benefits which are drawn by these claimants was in the last year for which figures are available. [219398]
Mr. Pond [holding answer 4 March 2005]: It is not possible to accurately state the cost of income support, housing benefit or council tax benefit for claimants of the disability premium. The available information is in the table.
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| Income support | 4,621 |
| Housing benefit | 3,009 |
| Council tax benefit | 660 |
| Total | 8,290 |
Notes:
1.All figures have been rounded to the nearest million pounds.
2.Figures quoted are for 2003–04 are estimated outturn.
Source:
DWP expenditure tables—pre-Budget report 2004.
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Pathways to Work
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of claimants within the Pathways to Work pilots have completed five compulsory work focussed interviews. [214632]
Maria Eagle: Just under one fifth of customers expected to have participated in the repeat work focused interviews process are recorded as attending five repeat work focused interviews by the end November 2004. A proportion of customers are likely to have had one or more of their WFIs deferred or waived.
Pension Credit
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people receiving pension credit have earnings. [219702]
Malcolm Wicks: As at August 2004, the latest date for which this information is available, there were 21,300 households in Great Britain in receipt of pension credit in which the claimant or a partner was receiving earnings. These households comprised 35,000 individuals.
1.Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred. 2.Figures are based on a 5 per cent. sample and are therefore subject to a degree of sampling variation. 3.Individuals may include a small number of partners under the age of 60. 4.For couples, earnings are either the claimant's or the partners' earnings.
IAD Information Centre, Department for Work and Pensions, 5 per cent. sample.
Pensioners
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assistance his Department provides to pensioners during the coldest winter months. [219665]
Malcolm Wicks: Winter fuel payments are available to people aged 60 or over who are ordinarily resident in the UK. These payments of £200 are paid to all eligible households. Households which include people aged 80 or over can receive an extra payment of £100. Over 11 million payments are made automatically each year.
In addition, cold weather payments provide extra help towards heating costs for the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society, including pensioners receiving pension credit, in periods of exceptionally cold weather.
The cold weather payment is made automatically to people awarded pension credit when the average temperature is recorded as, or forecast to be, 0 degrees Celsius or below over seven consecutive days at the weather station linked to the customer's postcode. Savings are not taken into account and cold weather payments are paid in addition to winter fuel payments.
In 2003–04 a total of 418,000 cold weather payments were made, to pensioners and other vulnerable groups, worth £3.5 million.
Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers' Compensation) Act
David Hamilton:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Midlothian
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were paid compensation under the Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers' Compensation) Act 1979 in (a) 2003 and (b) 2004. [220073]
Jane Kennedy: The information is not available in the format requested. The available information is that during the period April 2003 to March 2004, a total of 1,501 awards were made in Great Britain. Of these 255 were made to people resident in Scotland. During the period April 2004 to February 2005 the total awards were 1,422, of which 220 were made to Scottish residents.
Special Advisers
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the occasions between 31 March 2003 and 31 March 2004 when special advisers attended meetings with external representatives at which Ministers were not present. [210551]
Maria Eagle: From time to time special advisers hold meetings with a wide range of external representatives in their official capacity. All such meetings are conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers.
Specifically, in so far as records are kept, the Department's special advisers met with:
A range of different media representatives on 29 June 2003, 23 July 2003, 24 July 2003, 3 November 2003, 11 December 2003 and 5 February 2004.
Sure Start (Battersea)
Martin Linton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many mothers have received the Sure Start maternity grant in the Jobcentre Plus district which includes Battersea. [218525]
Mr. Pond: Battersea is included in the Jobcentre Plus district of Lambeth, Southwark and Wandsworth. Thisdistrict was created for Social Fund purposes in January 2004.
| Number of awards | |
|---|---|
| 2003–04 January to March | 1,162 |
| 2004–05 April to January | 3,650 |
Notes:
1.Data are given for all awards, irrespective of whether the award was made to the mother or her partner.
2.Data for 2003–04 include awards made in January 2004 which covered the relevant area before the district was formally created for Social Fund purposes.
Source:
DWP Social Fund Policy, Budget and Management Information System
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HOME DEPARTMENT
Special Constables
14. Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the work of special constables. [219843]
Ms Blears: Special constables are a vital part of our modern police service. They work with regular police officers and community support officers to reduce crime, disorder and anti—social behaviour by providing high visibility patrols and public reassurance. Last week I took part in the national specials weekend to raise awareness of the vital and valuable work of specials.
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