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20 Dec 2005 : Column 2868W—continued
Jobcentre Plus
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what percentage of telephone calls were (a) offered, (b) answered, (c) engaged and (d) given up in each Jobcentre Plus contact centre in each month from January to November; and if he will make a statement. [34170]
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, dated 20 December 2005:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question concerning how many and what percentage of telephone calls were offered, answered, engaged, and given up in each Jobcentre Plus contact centre in each month from January 2005 and November 2005. This is something, which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
I have arranged to place in the House of Commons Library details of calls offered and answered at each Contact Centre for both Jobseeker Direct and First Contact for benefit claims. I have included abandoned calls as we assume that this is what is meant by calls 'given up'. When customers call a contact centre and there is no agent free they are placed in a queue rather than hear an engaged tone, so no callers would hear an engaged tone.
Our aim is to answer 90% of all calls. The latest figures available for November show we answered 92.4% of all calls.
Finally, in my reply to your earlier question on this subject (PQ 32512—appearing in Hansard on the 7 December) there were two slight inaccuracies in the figures provided. The information I have placed in the Library now contains the correct figures. I apologise for this oversight.
Laptops
Lynne Featherstone:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many laptop computers have been used by (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and
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(c) officials in his Department in each year since 1995; how many have been (i) lost and (ii) stolen in that period; what the cost was of the use of laptops in that period; and if he will make a statement. [4113]
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Mrs. McGuire: The available information is provided in the tables. Figures are available from 2003 only. Prior to this, laptops were included in an overall workstation allocation and not accounted for separately.
| Number of laptops | Number of laptops used by Ministers | Number of laptops used by special advisers | |
|---|---|---|---|
| December 2003 | 1,478 | 4 | 2 |
| December 2004 | 6,951 | 3 | 4 |
| June 2005 | 6,218 | 2 | 0 |
Laptop numbers have increased due to a major IT modernisation programme within the Department and in line with flexible working practices.
Support costs for 2003 refer to the period June to December 2003 and were £173,730. Support costs for 2004 refer to the whole year, and were £250,140. Support costs for January to June 2005 were £165,092 1 .
The number of stolen laptops is as follows:
| Period (April to March) | Number stolen |
|---|---|
| 2002–03 | 4 |
| 2003–04 | 14 |
| 2004–05 | 5 |
Figures for lost laptops are not collected centrally and could be provided only at
1 The figures provided in the table were the recorded volumes at the points in time stated. The support costs noted over the yearly and half yearly periods may reflect a higher number of laptops as volumes fluctuate with demand.
Maladministration
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many payments for maladministration have been made by (a) his Department, (b) its agencies, (c) its non-departmental public bodies and (d) other bodies for which his Department has responsibility in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [32250]
Mr. Timms: The Department for Work and Pensions operates a discretionary, non-statutory scheme providing financial redress for maladministration. The operation of the scheme is delegated to the Department's agencies.
The following figures represent the number of awards of special payments by the Department's agencies in the last five years. A single person may be awarded redress (i) for financial losses incurred; and/or (ii) for delay; and/or (iii) for the inconvenience, worry and distress caused. Since one person can receive more than one award for their case, the number of awards is significantly higher than the number of people receiving redress.
(29) The Child Support Agency (CSA) does not regard the information prior to 1 December 2001 as robust.
The Independent Living Fund (ILF) has made five payments.
The Disability Rights Commission has made one payment.
No payments for maladministration have been reported for the years in question by any of the other non-departmental public bodies or other bodies for which the
1. The former Benefits Agency of DSS and Employment Services of DFES were replaced in 2002–03 by new agencies: (Disability and Carers Service (DCS), Jobcentre Plus (JCP) and The Pension Service (TPS).
2. Responsibility for the War Pensions Agency moved to MoD in April 2001. It is now referred to as the Veterans Agency.
3. Departmental figures for 2000–01 and 2001–02 include additional payments awarded in recognition of the then difficulties with the NIRS2 computer system.
4. The Pension Service figures for 2004–05 include payments awarded as a result of a special exercise to award a carer premium to some pension credit customers.
5. The figures shown in the tables represent payments authorised rather than payments made within each financial year and as such may differ from the total figures shown in the Department's Resource Account.
6. The term 'maladministration' is not defined in legislation but is considered to include a variety of failings including delays and errors by officials.
Ministerial Meetings
Peter Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent meetings he has had with the First Minister of the Welsh Assembly Government; what was discussed; and what decisions were taken. [35837]
Mr. Plaskitt: The Secretary of State has contact with colleagues across the devolved Administrations and discusses a variety of issues with them.
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Frank Field:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he will provide a substantive
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answer to the question from the hon. Member for Birkenhead tabled on 1 November reference 25136 on Pathways to Work pilots. [35813]
Margaret Hodge [holding answer 8 December 2005]: An answer was given on 12 December 2005, Official Report, column 1764W.
Pathways to Work
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the target is for the proportion of participants moving into employment in each Pathways to Work pilot area. [38247]
Margaret Hodge: The Pathways to Work districts are piloting new measures and innovative approaches to helping people with long term illnesses or a disability to return to work. As pilot schemes, they are a chance to assess what approaches may be more effective than the existing measures.
There are no targets specifically for the Pathways to Work pilots. However, the Pathways districts have the same range of job entry targets that all Jobcentre Plus districts have. We are essentially measuring the impact of the additional help offered through Pathways by comparing performance before and after the roll-out of the pilots and by comparison with national performance.
Early results show off-flows from incapacity benefit at six months of around 48 per cent. in the pilot areas compared with around 40 per cent. nationally, an improvement of eight percentage points.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the (a) total cost and (b) cost per participant moved into employment is of each Pathways to Work pilot area. [38251]
Margaret Hodge: By 2007–08, Pathways to Work will cover one-third of new incapacity benefit cases and support will be available to around 900,000 claimants. The total budget allocation for Pathways to Work for 2004–05 was £45 million, rising to £85 million in 2005–06.
Information on the cost per participant that moved into employment in each of the Pathways to Work pilot areas is not available.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the breakeven proportion of participants in pathways to work moved into employment is for each pilot area (a) overall and (b) for participants who have been receiving incapacity benefit for (i) less than a year and (ii) more than a year. [38494]
Margaret Hodge: Information in the form requested is not available. The Pathways to Work districts are piloting new measures and innovative approaches to helping people with long term illnesses or a disability to return to work. As pilot schemes, they are designed to test whether alternative approaches may be more effective than existing measures.
Early results show off-flows from incapacity benefit at six months of around 48 per cent. in the pilot areas compared with around 40 per cent. nationally, an
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improvement of 8 percentage points, resulting in a reduction in the incapacity benefit caseload which more than pays for the additional costs of the pilots.
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