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WORK AND PENSIONS

Access to Work Scheme

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what assessment has been made of the (a) effectiveness and (b) effects of the Access to Work scheme; [7079]

(2) how much has been spent in each of the last five years promoting Access to Work. [7080]

Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many people have made use of Access to Work in each of the past five years; [7326]

(2) what the cost of the Access to Work scheme has been in each of the last five years; [7327]

(3) how much the Department has spent advertising Access to Work in each of the last five years. [7328]

Mrs. McGuire: Access to Work provides practical advice and support aimed at overcoming work-related obstacles resulting from disability. It does this through a system of grants towards the cost of providing support. Types of help available include the additional costs in travelling to work; providing human intervention support in the workplace; adapting work premises, and providing special aids and equipment in the workplace. Access to Work is open to those who are employed as well as people moving out of unemployment and is a highly effective job retention measure.

A report published in June 2004 by the Disability Employment Coalition 'Access to Work for Disabled People', found that for every pound spent, the Exchequer recouped £1.48 in additional revenue. This report is available in the Library.

In an internal study published in September 2002, 'Evaluating the Impact of Access to Work: A Case Study Approach' report reference WAE 138, clear evidence was demonstrated that Access to Work helps people retain a specific job that they would otherwise have lost. This report is also available in the Library.

In the last five years we have invested around £300,000 a year in marketing and publicising our disability services and programmes. As Access to Work represents an integral part of this, separate information on Access to Work promotional costs is not available.

Promotional material is available for employers and disabled people in a wide range of media including leaflets, audiotapes and videos as well as on the Jobcentre Plus website. A new suite of leaflets about Access to Work has also recently been produced for promotion at conferences and exhibitions.

Our Disability Employment Advisers regularly meet local employers to promote the full range of disability services, including Access to Work, and information on Access to Work is also available to individuals and employers through our Access to Work Advisers. Many disability organisations actively promote Access to Work and some include information about Access to Work on their web pages, which we regularly quality assure.
 
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Information on spend on the Access to Work programme in the last five years is in the following table:
Access to Work spend

	£ million
1999–2000	24.4
2000–01	32.5
2001–02	42.5
2002–03	50.3
2003–04	56

Source:
DWP Disability and Rehabilitation Division

Information on the number of people helped by Access to Work in each of the last five years is in the following table:
Number of people helped by Access to Work in the last five years

	Beneficiaries
	New	Existing	Total
1999–2000	9,786	10,943	20,729
2000–01	12,318	13,569	25,887
2001–02	13,137	19,661	32,798
2002–03	15,199	21,407	36,606
2003–04	15,433	19,411	34,844

Note.
New beneficiaries are people who receive Access to Work assistance for the first time ever within the financial year. Existing beneficiaries are people who received Access to Work assistance in a previous financial year, and continue to receive financial support.
Source:
Jobcentre Plus internal Management Information.

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much money has been spent on publicising the Access to Work scheme in 2004–05; and what the budget for promoting the scheme in 2005–06 is. [10685]

Mrs. McGuire: In 2004–05, we allocated around £300,000 for marketing and publicising our disability services and programmes, including access to work. The same amount has been allocated for 2005–06. Information is not yet available for costs incurred in promoting our disability services and programmes in 2004–05. Separate information on access to work promotional costs is not available.

Administrative Costs

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent estimates he has made of the administrative cost of delivering (a) pension credit, (b) retirement pension and (c) child benefit for a period of one year, calculated on the same basis as that used by the Department to inform paragraph 13 of the Committee of Public Accounts Twelfth Report of Session 2002–03, Tackling Pension Poverty: Encouraging Take-up of Entitlements. [10764]

Mr. Plaskitt: Information is not currently available in the format requested. We expect information on administration costs to be available after our new suite of resource management systems is introduced in early 2006. Preliminary work will provide some data in the autumn of this year. In the meantime, the department's administration costs are set out by individual request for resources (RfR) in the departmental resource accounts, copies of which are placed in the Library.
 
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Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his latest estimate is of the (a) administrative and (b) total costs in a year of (i) the winter fuel payment, (ii) free television licences for the over 75s, (iii) the pensioner Christmas bonus and (iv) the age-related pension top-up at age 80; and if he will make a statement. [1599]

Mr. Timms: Information on administrative costs is not currently available in the format requested. We expect information on administration costs to be available after our new suite of Resource Management systems is introduced in late 2005 and early 2006. In the meantime, the Department's administrations costs are set out, by individual Request for Resources (RfR), in the Departmental Resource Account for 2003–04, a copy of which was placed in the Library.

The 2003–04 outturn figures for total expenditure in cash terms are in the following table:

	Cost (£ million)
Winter fuel payments	1,935
TV licences	405
Christmas bonus	123
Non-contributory state pension	30

Notes:
1. Figures are for GB—but see note 2.
2. TV licence payments figure has been corrected since Budget 2005 and includes Northern Ireland expenditure.
3. Christmas bonus figure reflects contribution-based expenditure and includes expenditure on children and people of working age.
4. A non-contributory state pension (a Category D Pension) is paid to those from age 80 who are getting no state pension or a state pension that is lower than the level of a Category D Pension—£46.35 in 2003–04.
5. Benefit expenditure figures are consistent with Budget 2005.
Source:
DWP Forecasting Division's Expenditure Table 1. This table can also be found on the internet at: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd4/expenditure.asp

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his latest estimate is of the annual cost tohis Department of administering the (a) state pension and (b) pension credit; and if he will make a statement. [1036]

Mr. Timms: Information is not currently available in the format requested. We expect information on administration costs for state pension and pension credit to be available after our new suite of Resource Management systems is introduced in The Pension Service in early 2006. Preliminary work will provide some data in the autumn of this year. In the meantime, the department's administration costs are set out by individual Request for Resources (RfR) in the Departmental Resource Accounts, copies of which are placed in the Library.

Benefit Fraud Hotline

Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Workand Pensions how many calls have been made in each year to the benefit fraud hotline since the service started. [8188]

Mr. Plaskitt: Information regarding calls made to the National Benefit Fraud Hotline has only been available from April 2004. Between April 2004 and March 2005,
 
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278,513 calls were made. However, available information regarding the number of calls actually answered from 1997 is in the table.
Calls answered by the National Benefit Fraud Hotline

April to March	Number
1997–98	188,038
1998–99	170,032
1999–2000	162,067
2000–01	208,201
2001–02	205,999
2002–03	159,290
2003–04	211,054
2004–05	199,004

Note:
Information not held prior to April 1997.
Source:
National Benefit Fraud Hotline

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