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4 Apr 2005 : Column 1262W—continued

Disabled People

Mr. Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department is taking to implement the recommendations made in the report Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People. [224411]

Maria Eagle: This is an important report requiring action by a number of Departments. My Department is co-ordinating the overall implementation process. In particular we will be ensuring the involvement of disabled people and other relevant groups in this work, including the setting up of a national forum for disabled people. We have also set up the new Ministers Group—the first meeting is later today—and we will be working closely with other Departments to establish early pilots to test out aspects of the recommendations.

Guarantee and Savings Credits

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) individuals and (b) households are in receipt of (i) guarantee credit only, (ii) savings credit only and (iii) both guarantee and savings credit. [221517]

Malcolm Wicks: The information is given in the table:
Recipients of pension credit by type, Great Britain, 31 December 2004

	Households	Individuals
All	2,653,175	3,222,700
Guarantee element only	767,985	948,070
Guarantee element and savings element combined	1,312,945	1,513,045
Savings element only	572,245	761,580

Notes:
1.Figures are based on 100 per cent. Generalised Matching Service (GMS) data. Data taken as at 10 December 2004 have been rated up to give month end figures.
2.Figures are rounded to the nearest 5.
3.Individual recipients may include a small number of partners under the age of 60.
Source:
Information Directorate, Department for Work and Pensions, 100 per cent. sample.

Incapacity Benefit

Barbara Follett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment his Department has made of the merits of extending mortgage assistance to those on incapacity benefit. [224432]

Maria Eagle: The Government believe that homeowners should take responsibility for ensuring that mortgage payments are made when they are unable to work.
 
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Help with mortgage interest is already available to those on incapacity benefit, who are also entitled to income related benefits. We believe that this is the best way of ensuring assistance is targeted at those who need it most.

We have no plans to extend this assistance to non income-related benefits.

Jobcentres

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many job centres there are in the UK; and how many are to be closed as part of the Jobcentre roll-out programme and centralisation of benefit processing. [219299]

Jane Kennedy: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, David Anderson. He will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from David Anderson to Mr. David Willetts dated 4 April 2005:

The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about the number of offices we have and the number that will close due to the roll-out of the new service and the centralisation of benefit processing. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.

When Jobcentre Plus was formed in 2002 we inherited the infrastructure of the former Employment Service and those parts of the Benefits Agency delivering services to people of working age. The estate comprised some 1,100 Jobcentres and 450 social security offices and was entirely unsuitable for delivering the new service and operating the new processes. Over a four year period we are introducing the new, integrated service across the country and we are acquiring, building and refurbishing premises to enable us to deliver the new service. Once the roll-out is completed nationwide the total number of outlets from which our services can be accessed is likely to be around 1000.

 
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A full list of sites already closed or planned for future closure as part of the Jobcentre Plus rollout programme can be found in the Library. This list includes a number of sites which are closing through merging with co-located offices. While the majority of these sites will be disposed of in due course, a number will be retained by Jobcentre Plus to accommodate non-customer facing activity.

I should stress that this is a snapshot of our plans based on the best information available. The list of offices will inevitably change as we progress through rollout of the new, integrated service and continue to refine our plans for centralising benefit processing in Jobcentre Plus. For example, a significant number of the site closures are dependent on construction of new buildings or acquisition of new premises and these are often subject to delays and other issues.

We continue to review the plans for our network, and will ensure that local stakeholders are kept informed of progress and any changes to our plans.

I hope this is helpful.

New Deal

16. Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the effect of the New Deal has been in Nottingham, North. [224424]

Jane Kennedy: The New Deal has had a major impact in my hon. Friend's constituency helping more than 3,400 people into work and helping to reduce the number of those long-term unemployed by 81 per cent. and long-term youth unemployment by 70 per cent.

Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) over 25s, (b) lone parents, (c) over 50s and (d) young people have participated in the New Deal in (i) Jarrow constituency, (ii) South Tyneside, (iii) the North East and (iv) the UK in each year since its inception. [223872]

Jane Kennedy: The information is in the table.

	NDYP		ND25plus		NDLP			ND50plus
	Starts	Jobs	Starts	Jobs	Starts	Jobs	ND50plus EC starts	(from April 2003)
Jarrow
1998	590	160	160	20	20	0	—	—
1999	420	250	270	40	140	140	—	—
2000	280	240	240	50	170	190	50	—
2001	250	230	290	100	170	140	70	—
2002	250	180	240	130	190	120	90	—
2003	260	200	260	180	290	130	20	10
2004	230	210	160	130	460	160	—	0
South Tyneside
1998	2,680	760	870	80	60	20	—	—
1999	1,750	1,050	1,330	220	460	400	—	—
2000	1,210	1,040	940	250	550	550	230	—
2001	1,090	920	1,060	380	670	510	320	—
2002	1,080	800	1,120	560	820	450	340	—
2003	1,120	880	980	690	1,080	540	90	210
2004	980	820	760	550	1,620	720	—	160
North East
1998	16,030	3,810	6,310	450	440	130	—	—
1999	12,720	7,750	8,790	1,660	3,290	2,390	—	—
2000	9,410	7,710	4,340	1,600	3,210	3,030	1,450	—
2001	8,120	6,880	5,790	2,300	4,200	3,140	2,290	—
2002	7,440	5,970	5,480	3,090	5,730	3,650	2,160	—
2003	7,470	5,870	4,450	3,200	6,880	3,840	450	1,140
2004	6,510	5,450	3,280	2,550	10,620	4,660	—	950
Great Britain
1998	211,570	54,340	77,700	6,640	9,380	2,680	—	—
1999	170,060	104,360	121,540	25,870	59,170	34,900	—	—
2000	123,160	95,610	67,220	26,200	60,020	48,330	24,830	—
2001	105,940	78,470	80,380	31,500	70,030	48,470	35,080	—
2002	105,670	71,180	76,910	41,650	98,070	60,250	31,830	—
2003	110,750	73,150	71,950	41,770	113,710	56,710	6,300	17,720
2004	104,250	73,720	64,090	40,070	164,830	67,290	—	16,140

Notes:
1.The new deal for young people started in January 1998; new deal 25 plus started in July 1998; new deal for lone parents started in October 1998; new deal 50 plus started in April 2000.
2.New deal 50 plus EC starts information gives the number of starts to employment credit up to March 2003.
3.New deal 50 plus data are the number of people finding jobs from new deal 50 plus from April 2003. No starts information is available for new deal 50 plus from April 2003.
4.All data are to December 2004.
5.All figures have been rounded to the nearest 10 and for this reason, components may not necessarily sum to totals.
6.South Tyneside information is given for the Jobcentre Plus district of Gateshead and South Tyneside.
7.Information is for Great Britain rather than the UK as the Department's new deals do not operate in Northern Ireland.





 
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Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in York have been assisted into work through the new deal. [224427]

Maria Eagle: The new deal has been a huge success, so far helping over 1.2 million people into work, including more than 2,000 people in York.

Since 1997, in my hon. Friend's constituency, the new deal has helped to reduce long term adult unemployment by 88 per cent. and long term youth unemployment by 90 per cent.

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