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21 Nov 2005 : Column 1664W—continued
Ministerial Visits
Mike Penning: To ask the Prime Minister how many times he has visited (a) Dacorum and (b) Hertfordshire in his official capacity in the last 12 months; and what the purpose was of each visit. [29922]
The Prime Minister: I have visited Hertfordshire twice in the last year. My visits cover a range of matters including health, education, criminal justice and the economy. I travel making the most efficient and cost-effective arrangements. My travel arrangements are in accordance with the arrangements for official travel set out in Chapter 10 of the Ministerial Code, and the accompanying guidance document, Travel by Ministers".
Staff Discipline
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Prime Minister how many employees have been dismissed from his Office in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [29132]
The Prime Minister: For these purposes my office forms part of the Cabinet Office. I have therefore asked my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office to reply. A copy of the reply will be placed in the Library of the House.
Terrorism Legislation
Grant Shapps: To ask the Prime Minister pursuant to his oral answer of 9 November 2005, Official Report, column 298W, to the right hon. and learned Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Mr. Howard), what means he used to calculate the conversion between gigabytes and feet. [28485]
The Prime Minister: The method of calculation was taken from the 'New Perspectives Series' published by Thomson Leaning entitled 'Computer Concepts, Fourth Edition, Enhanced' (June Parsons and Dan Oja, Chapter 4, Section D), which calculates that a computer hard drive of 20.4 gigabytes would equate to 5.4 million sheets of single spaced normal text, which would in turn produce a stack of paper around 1,800 feet high. The computer hard drive in question equalled 750 gigabytes which would, therefore, have produced the equivalent of 198 million sheets of paper standing at 66,176 feet high.
Visits
Bob Spink: To ask the Prime Minister if he will visit Cyprus during his term of office. [30384]
The Prime Minister:
I have no current plans to do so.
21 Nov 2005 : Column 1665W
WORK AND PENSIONS
0870 Numbers
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the occasions in the last five years on which 0870 telephone numbers have been used by his Department as contact numbers for members of the public; and how much revenue was received from the use of 0870 contact numbers in each of the last five years for which records are available. [24467]
Mrs. McGuire: All contact numbers used by the Department for members of the public operate on 0845 (local rate) or 0800 (free) phone numbers. There are no records available of 0870 numbers having been used by the Department for Work and Pensions as contact numbers for members of the public.
Benefits
Mr. Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what proportion of incapacity benefit claimants do not have a first level 2 qualification; [25381]
(2) what proportion of lone parents on benefits do not have a first level 2 qualification. [25382]
Mrs. McGuire: The information is not available.
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 7 November 2005, Official Report, columns 144–45 to the right hon. and learned Member for Kensington and Chelsea (Sir Malcolm Rifkind) on new deal, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of people who registered with a new deal for disabled people job broker (i) found part-time work which was not sustained, (ii) found full-time work which was not sustained and (ii) did not find work, from July 2001 to May 2005. [28993]
Margaret Hodge [holding answer 15 November 2005]: Between July 2001 and May 2005, a total of 144,360 people had registered with a new deal for disabled people (NDDP) job broker. The number of people gaining a job up to May 2005, following registration with an NDDP job broker, was 59,560. Of these, 29,170 (20.2 per cent.) found sustained full-time jobs and 16,420 (11.4 per cent.) found unsustained full time jobs; 8,620 people (59.7 per cent.) found sustained part-time jobs and 5,340 (3.7 per cent.) found unsustained part-time jobs.
In the same period, 84,800 (58.7 per cent.) of those registered with an NDDP job broker had not yet found work. However, 67,230 of these were still participating in the programme and so may go on to gain a job.
1. For the purposes of new deal for disabled people, a job is regarded as sustained when a person, placed into work through an NDDP job broker, remains in work for 13 out of 39 weeks. Prior to October 2003, an NDDP job was regarded as sustained when a person, placed into work through an NDDP job broker, remained in work for 26 out of 39 weeks.
2. NDDP jobs data relates only to the number of individuals gaining a job through an NDDP job broker. A measure of sustainability is not available for non-job broker jobs.
3. Although data are now available on people into jobs through NDDP up to the end of August 2005, data provided is up to the end of May 2005, to allow three months for the job to be recorded as sustained.
4. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
21 Nov 2005 : Column 1666W
DWP Information Directorate
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of benefit claims are being handled manually because of flaws in the CMS IT system; and if he will make a statement. [28360]
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. David Laws, dated 21 November 2005:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question concerning the proportion of benefit claims being handled manually because of the flaws in the Customer Management IT System (CMS).
Jobcentre Plus is undergoing a massive change programme. We are making substantial investment to modernise our IT, which will result in an improved service to customers, irrespective of where they live. We currently have rolled out around 2/3 of the national network using the CMS system. Initially, we encountered some problems with performance and reliability, but these have been dealt with through a series of performance releases.
CMS now performs to agreed service levels. However, in recent weeks our customers have experienced difficulties in getting through to our contact centres. We have taken steps to tackle these problems, by introducing temporary adjustments, including some clerical activities, to streamline business processes whilst we go through this transition period.
The current position is that we have 9 of our 24 contact centres operating some clerical processes. The extent of clerical activity will vary between different offices. It is not possible to identify the proportion of claims not subject to the full CMS processes, but we continue to deliver full CMS supported processes in around two-thirds of our contact centres and in well over three-quarters of linked sites. This situation is changing all of the time. Early indications are encouraging, and we have seen week-on-week improvements in call handling since the beginning of September.
Mr. Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Gravesham constituency were in receipt of incapacity benefit in each year since May 1997. [28374]
Mrs. McGuire: The information is in the table.
Notes:
1. The parliamentary constituency figures for the years 1997 to 1999 have been produced using the 5 per cent. data and have been rated up proportionally using the Great Britain WPLS 100 per cent. IB/SDA totals.
2. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred. 'Claimant' figures include all IB and SDA (including IB credits only cases).
Source:
DWP Information Directorate, 5 per cent, Samples from 1997 to 1999 and Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS) 100 per cent. data thereafter.
21 Nov 2005 : Column 1667W
Mr. Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners in Gravesham constituency were entitled to an income-related benefit in each year since 1997. [28375]
Mr. Timms: The information requested is not available.
Estimates of the number of pensioners entitled to the main income-related benefits are available on a national basis only. These can be found in the DWP report series: Income Related Benefits Estimates of Take-Up"; copies of which are available in the Library.
Sir Malcolm Rifkind: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many working age incapacity benefit claimants receive income support with a disability premium; and how this number has changed since May 1997. [27980]
Mrs. McGuire: The information is in the table.
Notes:
1. The figures for 1997 have been produced using the 5 per cent. data and have been rated up proportionally using the Great Britain WPLS 100 per cent. IB/SDA totals.
2. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred. 'claimant' figures include all IB and SDA (including IB credits only cases).
Source:
DWP Information Directorate, 5 per cent. samples from 1997 to 1999 and Work and Pensions longitudinal study (WPLS) 100 per cent. data thereafter.
Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what percentage of benefit claims in integrated benefit system pilots areas have taken longer than the 12-day target to process; [28388]
(2) what the average time taken to process a benefit claim has been in the integrated benefit system pilot areas. [28389]
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. Graham Brady, dated 21 November 2005:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions concerning what percentage of benefit claims have taken longer than the 12-day target to process and the average time taken to process a benefit claim in the integrated benefit system pilot areas. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Jobcentre Plus is currently in the process of rolling out its integrated offices and so the number of such outlets changes quickly and, at the same time, we are rationalising and centralising the sites where benefit processing is carried out.
Jobcentre Plus administers many types of benefit. There are two that have a 12-day clearance target: Job Seeker's Allowance and Income Support.
Processing Centres keep statistics about the number of claims that are cleared and how long it took. The statistics only show where the claim was processed, not where it originated. Processing Centres have no means to differentiate between claims that have been made via its new integrated offices and existing service outlets. Unfortunately, this means that we cannot answer the question in the manner in which you requested the information.
We can say, however, that in September, Jobcentre plus had processed 180,639 claims to Job Seeker's Allowance and had completed 93.3% of these within the12 day clearance target. I am pleased to say that the Actual Average Clearance time for Income Support was 10.8 days, which is well within our target.
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