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15 Nov 2005 : Column 1158W—continued
Lone Parents
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of lone parents on income support have been on the benefit for (a) less than two years, (b) less than five years and (c) less than 10 years. [25260]
Margaret Hodge: The information is in the table.
Notes:
1. Caseloads are rounded to the nearest hundred.
2. Percentages are given to one decimal place.
3. Totals may not sum due to rounding.
4. 'Lone Parents' are defined as single recipients of income support aged under 60, with a child under 16, and who are not in receipt of incapacity benefit or severe disability allowance.
Source:
DWP Information Directorate Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study.
Pensions
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the net cost to his Department of raising the level of the basic state pension to that of minimum income under the Pension credit system. [23287]
Mr. Timms: The additional cost to the Exchequer, net of savings in income-related benefits and additional tax revenues, of paying a basic state pension at the rate of the guarantee credit element of pension credit is £8.1 billion in 2006–07.
1. Figures are for Great Britain in 2005–06 price terms, using the GDP deflator index, rounded to the nearest £100 million. It assumes that the policy change takes place from 2006–07.
2. The costs which are all net take into account income-related benefit offsets such as pension credit and housing benefit, and tax offsets, which are calculated using the DWP simulation model and April 2006 benefit rates and are projected forward.
3. Gross costs are estimated by the Government Actuary's Department and are consistent with Budget 2005 assumptions and use 2003 based population projections.
4. The standard method of treatment of couples and category B rates were used. This implies that the category B rates are not the guarantee credit couple-single rates, but approx 60 per cent. of the single rate.
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will change the policy on the starting date for an individual's state pension from the Monday after their 65th birthday, to the day of their 65th birthday. [26109]
Mr. Timms:
Entitlement to state pension begins with the pay-day on or following the day on which the individual attains state pension age—currently age 60 for women and 65 for men. The payday is commonly a Monday. There are no plans to change these arrangements.
15 Nov 2005 : Column 1159W
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how much tax relief was given to people with stakeholder pensions in each year since their introduction; [26147]
(2) what representations he has received on (a) the future of stakeholder pensions and (b) the level of tax relief levels they receive. [26218]
Mr. Timms: The last written consultation exercise undertaken on stakeholder pensions was on the 2005 amendment regulations, which introduced provisions on lifestyling, and the charge cap. The consultation ended on 17 December 2004, and we received 22 responses to the exercise, none of which commented on the tax relief.
The estimates for the cost of tax relief on contributions to stakeholder pensions for each year are in the table.
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 250 |
| 2002–03 | 400 |
| 2003–04 | 600 |
| 2004–05 | 750 |
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether research has been commissioned into the pension prospects for (a) lone parents and (b) black and minority ethnic women over the next 20 years. [26545]
Mr. Timms: The report Women and pensions: The evidence" published on 2 November, and available in the Library, provides a detailed analysis of women's pension position and draws together the latest research findings on key influences on women's ability to build up pension entitlement. The report considers the impact of lone parenthood and family caring responsibilities and examines pension entitlement among ethnic minority women.
The Department for Work and Pensions has also commissioned new research which will examine the expectations, priorities and saving and working decisions among both working-age people and pensioners from ethnic minority groups.
David Mundell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Scotland are in receipt of a state pension. [28453]
Mr. Timms: The information is in the table.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Total | 939,700 |
| Female | 602,300 |
| Male | 337,400 |
Note:
Case load figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.
Source:
DWP Information Directorate: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent. data.
15 Nov 2005 : Column 1160W
State Pension Claimants
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many recipients of the UK state pension were resident in (a) Pakistan and (b) the Indian sub-continent in the last year for which figures are available. [26850]
Mr. Timms: The information is in the table.
| Country | Number of recipients of UK state pension as at 31 May 2005 |
|---|---|
| Pakistan | 4,900 |
| India | 4,100 |
| Bangladesh | 2,600 |
| Nepal | (17)— |
| Bhutan | (17)— |
| Sri Lanka | 600 |
| Maldive Islands | (17)— |
(17) Less than 50.
Note:
Caseload figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.
Source:
DWP Information Directorate: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent. data.
Telephone Helplines
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many telephone calls were made to the pension credit helpline in each month from April 2001 to September 2005; how many of these calls (a) were handled, (b) received an engaged tone and (c) were abandoned; and if he will make a statement. [24539]
Mr. Timms: The administration of The Pension Service is a matter for the Chief Executive, Miss Alexis Cleveland. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Alexis Cleveland to Mr. David Laws, dated 15 November 2005:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question concerning how many calls were made to the Pension Credit Application Line (PCAL) in each month from April 2001 to September 2005; and how many of these calls were (a) handled (b) received an engaged tone and (c) abandoned. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Pension Service.
Advance applications to Pension Credit commenced in April 2003 and PCAL opened their lines to the public on 7th April 2003. Since its opening, the Pension Credit Application Line has answered over five million phone calls up to the end of September 2005.
I am sorry to say that an error has been identified in my previous reply to your question To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pension, how many calls made to the Pension Service have (a) met an engaged tone (b) been received and (c) been handled by an adviser in the last 24 months broken down by call centre. [18621]". The correct figure for the sub total calculations for PCAL, calls answered should be 5,083,496 and not 5,083,456.
The following table shows calls received at the centre, calls answered by an advisor; calls receiving an engaged tone and calls abandoned. The data is from 7th April 2003 until the end of September 2005.
Note:
Some clients abandon their call during the PCAL recorded welcome message. These calls are not available to agents to answer, and therefore in terms of PCAL performance against targets, calls abandoned during the recorded message are not included in the abandoned calls calculation. This can result in calls answered and abandoned not totalling calls offered.
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