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14 Mar 2005 : Column 99W—continued
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the projects being undertaken by his Department in respect of which information cannot be given in answer to parliamentary questions as a result of commercial confidentiality. [216636]
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Maria Eagle: The Department considers each request for information on an individual basis. Any decision not to release information relating to a project as a result of commercial confidentiality would be made on the basis of the specific request.
Pensioners
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department spent on pensioners in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each year since 1997. [219664]
Malcolm Wicks: The information is in the table.
Notes:
1.The information in the table provides benefit expenditure for pensioners in Great Britain.
2.Benefit expenditure in Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Office and is not included in the above table.
3.Table consists of the expenditure on the main pensioner benefits: pension credit, winter fuel payments to all those 60 and over, retirement pension, disability living allowance and attendance allowance to people over state pension age, the over-80s payment.
4.Housing benefit and council tax benefit has been excluded from the table as the local authority level data cannot be broken down between pensioners and other recipients, and no information is available at constituency level.
5.Expenditure has been apportioned to pensioner groups using Quarterly Statistical Enquiry data for the relevant benefits, which is based on a 5 per cent. sample and therefore subject to a degree of sampling variation.
Benefit expenditure forecast information is published on the Internet at: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd4/expenditure.asp
Social Security Fraud
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many cases of social security fraud were dealt with by officers in benefit offices in Weymouth in (a) 2001–02, (b) 2002–03 and (c) 2003–04. [221159]
Mr. Pond: The information is in the following table.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 598 |
| 2002–03 | 735 |
| 2003–04 | 811 |
Source:
Fraud Information by Sector database
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Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many fraud officers he expects will be based in benefits offices in Weymouth in 2005–06; and if he will make a statement. [221160]
Mr. Pond: There are currently five benefit fraud investigators based in benefit offices in Weymouth. Staffing levels for 2005–06 have not yet been decided.
Targets
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the public service agreement target to reduce losses from fraud and error for people of working age in income support and jobseeker's allowance by 33 per cent. by 2004 was met. [220133]
Mr. Pond: Our tough action against fraud and error is paying off for the taxpayer. We have reduced fraud and error in income support and jobseeker's allowance by 37 per cent., exceeding the original target of 33 per cent. by March 2004.
This shows we are getting results in preventing, detecting and deterring fraud.
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what recent progress has been made towards the public service agreement target to improve children's communication, social and emotional development; [220135]
(2) what recent assessment he has made of whether the public service agreement target to ensure that 50 per cent. of children reach a good level of development at the end of Foundation Stage by 2008 will be met; [220136]
(3) what recent assessment he has made of whether the public service agreement target to increase the take-up of formal child care by lower income families by 50 per cent. by 2008 will be met; [220139]
(4) what recent assessment he has made of whether the Public Service Agreement target to introduce a successful light-touch child care approval scheme by April will be met. [220140]
Mr. Pond: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by the Minister for Children, Young People and Families (Margaret Hodge) on 8 March 2005, Official Report, column 1784W.
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent assessment he has made of whether the public service agreement target to increase the stock of Ofsted-registered child care by 10 per cent. by 2008 will be met. [220138]
Mr. Pond: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by the Minister for Children, Young People and Families (Margaret Hodge) on 8 March 2005, Official Report, columns 1785–86W.
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent progress has been made towards the public service agreement target of full employment in every region. [220142]
Jane Kennedy:
Since 1997, employment nationally has risen by over two million and the number of people in work is up in every region. While every region has an employment rate above the EU average, describing the
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labour market at regional level can be misleading as there is much greater variation within, rather than between, regions.
Around 90 per cent. of all local authority districts in Great Britain have an employment rate above the EU average, and a key element of the Government's labour market policies is improving the performance of the relatively small number of areas within each region where this is not the case.
Since 1997 claimant unemployment has halved, long-term unemployment has fallen by more than three quarters and the number of lone parents on benefit has fallen by a fifth. In addition, the number of people on incapacity benefits has peaked after two decades of substantial growth. The improvements have been greatest in the areas where, in 1997, benefit receipt was highest.
While this has moved us closer to the aim of full employment in every region, the Department's five year strategy set out the Government's long-term aspiration to achieve an employment rate equivalent to 80 per cent. of the working age population. This will mean continuing to focus on those who can get back into work, including people on incapacity benefits, lone parents, older people and the long-term unemployed.
Women's Employment
Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what discussions the Ethnic Minority Employment Taskforce has had with the Equal Opportunities Commission on ensuring that research for the taskforce identifies issues specific to women's employment; [220801]
(2) what discussions he has had with the Equal Opportunities Commission on commissioning research into the factors affecting ethnic minority women entering and re-entering the labour market. [220834]
Jane Kennedy: The Taskforce recognises that addressing gender issues will be essential to the success of the ethnic minority employment strategy. Officials from the Department for Work and Pensions have had a number of discussions with the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) on issues affecting the employment of ethnic minority women. The EOC have submitted a research proposal on factors affecting the progression of ethnic minority women entering and re-entering the labour market and officials are currently considering the proposal in the context of the ethnic minority employment strategy.
I am meeting with the Chief Executive of the EOC on 16 March to discuss these issues further.
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