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Departmental Targets

Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions why a baseline year in the future has been used for the purposes of measuring performance against 2004 public service agreement target 10. [30278]

 
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Mr. Plaskitt: The PSA 10 target we are currently working towards was set in SR2002. As 2005–06 marks the end of the existing target cycle, we have taken the opportunity to develop and improve the measurement system used to estimate fraud and error in income support and jobseeker's allowance. This has led to a methodology for estimating fraud and error significantly different from that used before and it was therefore appropriate to use a new baseline figure for 2005–06, which will be measured using this new methodology. This was announced in SR2004.

This has been done in consultation with the National Audit Office and in such a way as to estimate the impact that the changes will have on the measure.

Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what data source he will use for the purposes of measuring performance against 2004 public service agreement target 6. [30287]

Mr. Timms: DWP National Statistics from the Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS) will be used to measure PSA target 6.

Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the data required to measure 2004 public service agreement target 7 are published. [30293]

Mr. Timms: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is on track to meet this public service agreement (PSA) target. PSA target 7 consists of two separate measures: the number of individuals regularly receiving a pension forecast and the number of successful pension traces undertaken. Further details of how the target is measured and reported are provided in DWP's SR2004 PSA technical note.
 
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Data on both measures will be reported in the 2005 DWP autumn performance report due to be published in December 2005. Subsequent progress reports will also be published in the spring departmental reports and the Pension Service annual reports and accounts. These reports are available to members of the public after they have been presented to the House.

We are committed to ensuring that the data used in monitoring and reporting on our PSA targets is robust and reliable and this target together with its measurement and reporting have all been agreed with Her Majesty's Treasury.

Departmental Websites

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what websites come under his Department's responsibility; and what the (a) cost and (b) number of visitors to those sites was in the last year for which figures are available. [16024]

Mr. Timms: The following table provides a list of departmental sites. Costs have been provided where possible. The table also includes number of visitors to those sites in the financial year 2004–05.

Notes:

1.Production, management and maintenance of DWP websites are carried out by the Department's in-house e-communications team. It is not possible to quantify internal costs for each site but contracted and quantifiable costs have been included where possible. 2.Departmental sites are hosted by our IT contractors. In most cases it is not possible to separate these costs from contracted costs. 3.The complex interactive nature of the services that Jobcentre Plus and Worktrain websites provide does allow for web hosting and other costs to be accounted separately. These have been included in the table.
DWP website and main agency sites: costs and numbers of visitors

		2004–05
Site	Address	Costs (£)	Number of visitors (visitor sessions)
DWP	www.dwp.gov.uk	101,467	2,562,156
Jobcentre Plus	www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk	8,639,571	31,317,249
The Pension Service	www.thepensionservice.gov.uk	—	2,093,739
Child Support Agency	www.csa.gov.uk	—	1,253,519
Direct gov Disability Franchise	www.direct.gov.uk/disability www.directgov.uk/caringforsomeone	750,000	769,486
Other DWP websites: costs and numbers of visitors
Worktrain	www.worktrain.gov.uk	2,241,918	2,733,351
European Social Fund	www.esf.gov.uk	28,500	392,038
New Deal	www.newdeal.gov.uk	—	902,476
Age Positive	www.agepositive.gov.uk	—	1,137,532
Employment Zones	www.employmentzones.gov.uk	—	155,889
Disability	www.disability.gov.uk	—	981,470
Targeting Benefit Fraud	www.targetingbenefitfraud.gov.uk	—	198,623

Disability Discrimination Act

Mr. Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what publicity and advice his Department is making available to small businesses in the 2005–06 financial year on compliance with their service provider obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. [23053]

Mrs. McGuire: Between December 2005 and May 2006 the Department will carry out the next phase of its on-going publicity campaign, aimed at informing small businesses of their obligations under the DDA.

The campaign will focus in turn on each region of the UK. It will be based on partnership working with both national trade bodies, and national and regional business organisations who cover small businesses, and
 
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will aim to remind them of the need to consider making the 'reasonable adjustments' appropriate to their business, both as service providers and as employers.

This activity will be supported with regional press and radio, and national on-line, advertising to alert small businesses to the need for action and to promote the campaign website where they will find practical information and guidance. The website is currently in development and will go live on 1 December.

Habitual Residence Test

John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will revise the habitual residence test to take into account the length of time claimants paid tax in the UK before moving abroad. [30711]

Mr. Plaskitt: The habitual residence test is working well preventing access to income-related benefits, such as income-based jobseeker's allowance and income support, ensuring that they are only paid to people with reasonable ties to the United Kingdom and who intend to settle here. Someone, with a right to reside in the UK, will be more likely to pass the habitual residence test if they have previously lived and worked in the UK and have returned to resume their residence here.

Someone who has paid sufficient national insurance contributions to satisfy the qualifying conditions for contributory benefits will not be subject to the habitual residence test.

Health and Safety Executive (Training Providers)

Ms Angela C. Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) improvement and (b) prohibition notices the Health and Safety Executive has issued in the last five years to (i) employers and (ii) learning providers, regarding the supervision of Learning and Skills Council learners and participants on the new deal scheme. [28902]

Mrs. McGuire: I regret this information could be provided only at disproportionate cost. HSE's data recording systems do not record whether the recipient of an improvement and prohibition notice was an employer or learning provider under a Learning and Skills Council or new deal scheme.

Ms Angela C. Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many inspections the Health and Safety Executive has conducted in the last five years of the arrangements made by training providers for the health and safety of learners and new deal participants contracted to (a) his Department and (b) the Learning and Skills Council; and what other means are being used by the Government to verify the effectiveness of these health and safety arrangements. [28903]

Mrs. McGuire: I regret that information on how many HSE inspections involve training providers under Learning and Skills Council or new deal schemes could be provided only at disproportionate cost. HSE's data recording systems do not require inspectors to state whether an employer whose premises they have inspected is a provider under these schemes.

Since 1 April 2005 the Learning and Skills Council has been engaged in a successful partnership arrangement with HSE, the aim of helping the Council
 
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meet its targets for reducing injuries and ill-health among learners. The work programme will examine, among other things, how learners are supervised and the competence of those assessing work experience providers.

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