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20 Jul 2005 : Column 1822W—continued

Pension Credit

Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people were entitled to pension credit in (a) 2003 and (b) 2004; how many are currently entitled; and what estimate he has made of entitlement in (i) 2006, (ii) 2007 and (iii) 2008. [12695]

Mr. Plaskitt: National Statistics covering estimates of entitlement and take-up of pension credit in 2003–04 are planned for release in December 2005.

The current indicative projections of entitlement from 2004–05 onwards are shown in the table.
Projections of entitlement to pension credit £ million

	Entitled households	Entitled individuals
2004–05	3.80	4.90
2005–06	3.85	5.00
2006–07	3.95	5.15
2007–08	4.10	5.35

Notes:
1. All figures are for Great Britain. They are in millions and rounded to the nearest 50,000.
2. Entitlement levels for pension credit are estimated using the 2002/03 Family Resources Survey modelled using the Department's Policy Simulation Model.
3. Results are subject to sampling and reporting errors and estimation assumptions, and are therefore indicative only.
4. Analysis suggests that due to uncertainties, a margin of error of 250,000 should be placed around the central projections. So the projection for 2004–05 could lie in the range 3.55 million to 4.05 million households.
5. The projections of individuals include some people aged under 60 who are partners of claimants aged 60 or over.
Source:
Policy Simulation Model based on the 2002/03 Family Resources Survey.





 
20 Jul 2005 : Column 1823W
 

Pensions

Sir Malcolm Rifkind: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many occupational pension schemes have started winding up in each year since 1997. [12219]

Mr. Plaskitt: The information is not available in the form requested.

Such information as is available from the register of pension schemes that is maintained by The Pensions Regulator indicates that around 170 private sector defined benefit schemes started to wind up in 2000, around 170 in 2001, around 180 in 2002, and around 130 in 2003. In total around 720 private sector defined benefit schemes were recorded as having started to wind up sometime between 2000 and October 2004. These figures do not include schemes which completed wind up during that period. Figures on schemes starting to wind up between 1997 and 2000 are not available as the register does not contain information on whether the schemes that started to wind up before 2000 started before or after 1997.

Sir Malcolm Rifkind: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many stakeholder pension schemes have been opened in each year since 2002. [12220]

Mr. Plaskitt: The information requested is in the table.

Calendar year	Number of stakeholder pensions opened
2002	638,000
2003	560,000
2004	524,000
Total	1,722,000

Notes:
1. Figures from the Association of British Insurers (ABI).
2. Figures rounded to the nearest 1,000.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his latest estimate is of the expenditure on national insurance rebates for those contracted out of the (a) State Earnings Related Pension Scheme and (b) State Second Pension in each year from 1997–98 to 2009–10. [12395]

Mr. Plaskitt: The figures requested are given in the following table:

	Rebate in cash terms to 2004–05, constant 2005–06 prices thereafter (£ billion)
1996–97	6.9
1997–98	7.4
1998–99	7.8
1999–2000	8.2
2000–01	8.7
2001–02	9.0
2002–03	10.4
2003–04	10.1
2004–05	10.3
2005–06	10.7
2006–07	10.9
2007–08	10.4
2008–09	10.5
2009–10	10.6

Note:
Figures are for Great Britain only and are consistent with Budget 2005 estimates.
Source:
The Government Actuary's Department.




 
20 Jul 2005 : Column 1824W
 

Mr. Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) if he will estimate the cost of state second pension payments in 2026 if no new rights are accrued from 2006 onwards; [12792]

(2) if he will estimate the cost of payments on the state second pension in 2026. [12793]

Mr. Plaskitt: The information requested is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is as follows.

The long term projection for state earnings-related pension scheme (SERPS) payments and state second pension payments in 2026 is £21.1 billion. If no new rights were accrued for the state second pension from 2006 onwards, the estimated cost of SERPS and state second pension payments in 2026 would be £16.1 billion.

Notes:

1. Figures are for Great Britain in 2005–06 price terms, in billions rounded to the nearest £100 million.

2. The former costs are consistent with the pre-Budget report 2004.

For the latter figure:

3. The cost of future state earnings-related pension scheme payments and state second pension payments are calculated by using the December 2004 Update of the Government Actuary's Quinquennial Review of the National Insurance Fund, and use 2003 based population projections.

4. The cost is the net cost payable after accrued contracting out deductions have been made.

5. Contracting-out is also assumed to cease in 2006.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the proportion of retirement pension awards made in each of the last five years that were subsequently found to be incorrect and rectified. [10763]

Mr. Plaskitt: The information is not available in the form requested. Available information on state pension accuracy rates is set out in the following table:
State pension awards 2000–01 to 2003–04:estimated accuracy rates

	Accuracy rate
2000–01	97.8
2001–02	97.8
2002–03	97.0
2003–04	98.6

Notes:
1. The estimates are subject to sampling error.
2. The percentages quoted relate to the estimated proportion of cases where the payment is free of official error of 50p a week or more.
Source:
Pension Service Internal Assurance Services/Information Directorate, Department for Work and Pensions

Sir Malcolm Rifkind: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his latest estimate is of the number of active stakeholder pension schemes in existence. [12216]

Mr. Plaskitt: Information is not available in the format requested. Stakeholder pensions are designed to be flexible, with holders being permitted to take breaks in contributions without incurring penalty charges.
 
20 Jul 2005 : Column 1825W
 

In the tax year 2002–03, 1,060,000 stakeholder pension policies received a contribution.

Note:

1. It is not an indication that stakeholder pensions sold since launch in 2001 but not receiving a contribution in 2002–03, will receive no further contributions.

2. This information is derived from a sample of annual returns of information submitted to the Inland Revenue (now HM Revenue and Customs) by stakeholder pension providers.

3. The figure is rounded to the nearest 10,000.

Press Officers

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many press officers the Department and its predecessors employed in each year since 1997; and what the cost was in each year. [8136]

Mrs. McGuire: The Department for Work and Pensions was formed on 8 June 2001 from parts of the former Department of Social Security, the former Department for Education and Employment and the Employment Service. Information prior to 2001 is not held centrally and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Number of Press Officers employed

	National Press Officers(47)	Regional Press Officers(47)
2001–02	21	0
2002–03	16	13
2003–04	20	20
2004–05	19	23

⁽⁴⁷⁾The number of staff is the number in post at 31 March each year.

	Cost (£)
2001–02	816,725
2002–03	1,739,935
2003–04	1,146,255
2004–05	1,533,703

Note:
The costs are based on average salaries for the year and take into account the actual number of Press Officers and changes in post each month.

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