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Pension Protection Fund

Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what meetings he has had with the Board of the Pension Protection Fund. [21721]

Mr. Timms: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State met with the chair on 22 November 2005.

I met with members of the Board of the Pensions Protection Fund on 25 May 2005 and 12 December 2005, with the chief executive on 2 June 2005 and the chair on 15 November 2005

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the operation of the Pension Protection Fund. [38529]

Mr. Timms: The Pension Protection Fund became operational on 6 April 2005. It will pay compensation to members of eligible non money purchase pension schemes where an employer becomes insolvent and the scheme is unable to afford to pay benefits at the level of PPF compensation.
 
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The board will produce an annual report and set of accounts for its activities in respect of each financial year, which the Secretary of State will present to Parliament. It published proposals for calculation of the levy which will fund its activities on 16 December.

To date, there are 28 schemes in an assessment period for the fund, accounting for over 18,000 scheme members.

Pension Schemes

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what discussions he has had with (a) the Financial Services Authority and (b) life assurance companies about what constitutes best advice with regards to private funded pensions following the pensions regulator's assessment of the deficit of final salary schemes; and if he will make a statement. [24930]

Mr. Timms: The responsibility for keeping members of final salary schemes informed and up to date about their scheme and its funding rests with the trustees of the
 
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scheme. Trustees can seek advice from their professional advisers; in addition, the pensions regulator produces a number of documents designed to help trustees in their work, including codes of practice. A code of practice on scheme funding is due to be published this month. The new funding provisions to replace the minimum funding requirement, due to come into force this month, promote greater transparency in scheme funding. Trustees of final salary schemes will be required to send regular statements of their scheme's funding position to all scheme members.

Pensioners

Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number and percentage of pensioners in each county of the UK who had no private income in the last year for which figures are available. [22988]

Mr. Timms: The following tables show the percentage and number of pensioners with no private income in each of Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England. The data are from the 2003–04 Family Resources Survey. Because the data are from a sample survey the results are subject to a degree of uncertainty.
(a) Percentage of pensioners with no private income

	Pensioner couples	Single pensioners	All pensioner units
Northern Ireland	20	42	33
Wales	11	24	19
Scotland	12	22	18
England	6	18	13
United Kingdom	7	19	15

 
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Notes:

1.Private income is defined as income from occupational and personal pensions, investment income, earnings, and 'other' income. The definition is consistent with that used in table 7 of the Pensioners' Income Series. 2.Pensioner couples are couples where the man is over State Pension Age—the table shows the percentage and number of pensioner couples without some form of private income. Pensioner units are either single pensioners or pensioner couples.
(b) Number of pensioner couples and single pensioners with no private income

	Pensioner couples	Single pensioners	All pensioner units
Northern Ireland	10,000	40,000	60,000
Wales	20,000	60,000	70,000
Scotland	30,000	90,000	120,000
England	150,000	660,000	810,000
United Kingdom	210,000	850,000	1,050,000

Notes:
1.Numbers are rounded to the nearest 10,000. The number of single pensioners and pensioner couples may not equal the total number of pensioner units due to rounding.
2.Pensioner couples are couples where the man is over State Pension Age—the table shows the percentage and number of pensioner couples without some form of private income. Pensioner units are either single pensioners or pensioner couples.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of (a) single women, (b) single men and (c) couples aged (i) 60 to 64, (ii) 65 to 69, (iii) 70 to 74 and (iv) 75 years or over receive less than a full basic state pension by up to (A)50p, (B) £1, (C) £5, (D) £10, (E) £20 and (F) £30 per week. [35372]

Mr. Timms: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the following table.

	Rate of basic pension
	Less than £50		£50.00 to £59.99		£60.00 to £60.99		£70 to £70.99		Full basic pension
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Men
Aged 65–69	25,700	2.1	28,500	2.3	45,200	3.7	94,100	7.7	1,030,300	84.2
Aged 70–74	22,100	2.1	20,000	1.9	32,000	3.1	56,100	5.4	914,300	87.5
Aged 75+	17,200	1.0	16,200	1.0	21,900	1.3	39,800	2.4	1,553,900	94.2
Women
Aged 60–64	543,600	40.9	161,000	12.1	139,200	10.5	126,900	9.5	358,100	26.9
Aged 65–69	680,500	52.2	95,900	7.4	62,900	4.8	65,900	5.1	397,200	30.5
Aged 70–74	577,400	48.9	42,000	3.6	30,900	2.6	36,400	3.1	494,400	41.9
Aged 75+	668,900	24.9	35,200	1.3	32,100	1.2	47,500	1.8	1,903,800	70.8

Notes:
1.Data are taken from 5 per cent. extract of PSCS as at 31 March 2005, therefore figures are subject to a degree of sampling. The cases are also adjusted to be consistent with the overall caseload from the WPLS.
2.Caseload figures are rounded to the nearest 100 and are for Great Britain only.
3.A full basic Category A state pension was £79.60 per week for 2004–05.
4.The figures are for men and women getting either a Category A pension or a Category B pension based on their own or their spouse's or late or former spouse's National Insurance contribution record—it is not possible to identify recipients by marital status.
Source:
DWP Information Directorate five per cent. Sample—GB figures.

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what percentage of pensioners were living in absolute poverty in (a) each constituency in Wales and (b) each ward of the Vale of Clwyd constituency in each year since 1994. [39301]

 
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Mr. Timms: No robust geographical breakdown is available of the number of pensioners in absolute poverty in Wales.

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Workand Pensions what his Department's estimate is of the amount paid in rent rebate to pensioners in 2004–05. [37818]

Mr. Plaskitt: An estimated £2,242 million was paid in housing benefit rent rebate to pensioners in 2004–05.

Note:

This figure is rounded to the nearest million and is consistent with the pre-Budget report 2005. The estimate is based on local authority subsidy returns, combined with local authority-supplied statistical data in order to estimate how much is paid to pensioners. Estimates include both rent rebate reimbursed to local authorities by DWP, and that which is met from local authorities' own funds.

Source:

DWP Expenditure Tables.

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his Department's estimate is of the amount paid in council tax benefit to pensioners in 2004–05. [37819]

Mr. Plaskitt: An estimated £1,818 million was paid in council tax benefit to pensioners in 2004–05.

Note:

This figure is rounded to the nearest million and is consistent with the pre- Budget report 2005. The estimate is based on local authority subsidy returns, combined with local authority-supplied statistical data in order to estimate how much is paid to pensioners. Estimates include both council tax benefit reimbursed to local authorities by DWP, and that which is met from local authorities' own funds.

Source:

DWP Expenditure Tables.

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