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14 Nov 2005 : Column 1006W—continued

Departmental Estate

Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what (a) land and (b) property his Department owns in Kettering constituency. [24781]

Mrs. McGuire: The Department for Work and Pensions does not own any land or property in the Kettering constituency. The majority of the buildings occupied by DWP have been transferred (for value) to Land Securities Trillium under the terms of the PRIME (Private Resource Initiative for Management of the Estate) contract. We currently occupy one property in Kettering, Derbyshire House in Lower Street.

Departmental Spending

David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department spent on items of art in 2004–05. [23459]

Mrs. McGuire: The Department for Work and Pensions has had no expenditure on items of art in 2004–05.
 
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Departmental Staff

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the (a) literacy and (b) numeracy skills of new recruits to his Department. [21006]

Mrs. McGuire: Literacy and numeracy skills are assessed as a mandatory part of the recruitment process. Applicants are required to pass literacy and numeracy tests that have been chosen or designed for the Department based on an analysis of the requirements of our jobs.

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of new recruits to his Department do not have a level 2 qualification in English and mathematics. [23765]

Mrs. McGuire: This information is not available.

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what methods of assessment of (a) literacy and (b) numeracy skills are used as part of the recruitment process by employees of his Department. [23798]

Mrs. McGuire: Literacy and numeracy skills are assessed through psychometric tests which have been chosen or designed specifically for the Department.

DNA-related Work

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many firms are being assessed by (a) his Department and (b) its agencies for DNA-related work; and if he will make a statement. [25227]

Mrs. McGuire: The Department for Work and Pensions and its agencies are not currently assessing any firms, as a part of the contracting process, for DNA-related work. However, the Health and Safety Executive (a DWP non-departmental public body) regularly assess
 
14 Nov 2005 : Column 1008W
 
firms registered to carry out DNA-related work under the Genetically Modified Organisms (Contained Use) Regulations 2000.

Jobcentres

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effect of changes in the funding of Jobcentre Plus on the number of (a) directly employed staff and (b) contracted staff. [25173]

Margaret Hodge: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. She will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Lesley Strathie to Mr. Stephen O'Brien, dated 14 November 2005:

The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question concerning what assessment he has made of the effect of changes in the funding of Jobcentre Plus on the number of directly employed staff and contracted staff. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.

At 1 March 2004, Jobcentre Plus employed the equivalent of 80,897 full time staff. At the end of September 2005, this figure has been reduced to 72,835 full time equivalents.

Separate information on the number of staff contracted to work for Jobcentre Plus through agencies or as consultants is not held.

I hope this is helpful.

Mental Health

Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people living in (a) Basingstoke, (b) Hampshire and (c) Great Britain who are not working due to mental health problems are in receipt of (i) incapacity benefit, (ii) income support and (iii) incapacity benefit and income support. [26203]

Mrs. McGuire: Figures are not available for income support-only cases by diagnosis. The available information is in the table.
Incapacity benefit (IB) and severe disablement allowance (SDA) claimants with a diagnosis in the 'mental and behavioural disorders' category at May 2005

	All IB/SDA cases with a mental and behavioural disorder diagnosis	IB/SDA with no income support	IB/SDA with income support
Great Britain	1,084,400	493,800	590,600
Hampshire	13,000	6,600	6,400
Basingstoke parliamentary constituency	1,000	600	400

Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred. Totals may not sum due to rounding.
2. Claimant' figures include all incapacity benefit and severe disability allowance (including incapacity benefit credits only cases).
3. 'Hampshire' includes the following local authorities: Basingstoke and Deane, East Hampshire, Eastleigh, Fareham, Gosport, Hart, Havant, New Forest, Rushmoor, Test Valley and Winchester.
Source:
DWP Information Directorate, Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent. data.

Parliamentary Questions

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he will answer the question reference 22185, tabled on 24 October by the hon. Member for Gordon. [27873]

Mrs. McGuire: An answer was given on 11 November.

Pathways to Work

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of the (a) new recipients and (b) stock of recipients of incapacity benefit in (i) Pathways to Work pilot areas and (ii) the UK have moved into sustained employment in each month since the Pathway pilots were launched. [23681]

Margaret Hodge: It is too early in the life of the pilots to provide robust information on sustainability.

This will be examined as part of the evaluation of the Pathways to Work pilots and we will publish this information once it becomes available.
 
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Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what percentage of (a) incapacity benefit and (b) severe disability living allowance claims have been terminated in the UK excluding the Pathways to Work pilot areas in each quarter since the first pilot areas came into operation. [27244]

Mrs. McGuire: The information is in the tables.
Number of incapacity benefit claims that have been terminated in the UK excluding Pathways to Work pilot areas

Quarter ending	All terminations (Thousand)	Terminations outside Pathways to Work areas (Thousand)	Percentage of terminations outside Pathways to Work areas
November 2003	180.5	173.1	95.9
February 2004	165.7	158.7	95.8
May 2004	168.5	151.2	89.7
August 2004	170.7	153.3	89.8
November 2004	170.8	154.7	90.6
February 2005	171.9	155.7	90.6
May 2005	128.1	115.9	90.5

Number of severe disability allowance claims that have been terminated in the UK excluding Pathways to Work pilot areas

Quarter ending	All terminations (Thousand)	Terminations outside Pathways to Work areas (Thousand)	Percentage of terminations outside Pathways to Work areas
November 2003	3.5	3.4	97.7
February 2004	2.8	2.7	93.7
May 2004	2.4	2.2	91.7
August 2004	2.9	2.8	97.9
November 2004	2.6	2.4	93.1
February 2005	3.1	2.8	91.5
May 2005	1.3	1.2	93.8

Notes:
1. Figures are shown in thousands and rounded to the nearest hundred. Totals may not sum due to rounding. Percentages are shown to one decimal place.
2. Figures for the latest quarter do not include any late notifications and are subject to major changes in future quarters.
3. Earlier quarters have been updated to include late notified terminations, including terminations for state pension.
4. Pathways to work pilot areas were introduced in October 2003 and updated in April 2004. The areas relevant to each quarter have been used i.e Bridgend, Renfrewshire and Derbyshire for all quarters, plus Gateshead and South Tyneside, Somerset, Essex and East Lancashire from quarter ending May 2004.
Source:
DWP Information Directorate, 5 per cent. Samples

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