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11 Jan 2006 : Column 690W—continued

Websites

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many visits to the website www.thinkuknow.co.uk there were in each month since its inception; and if he will make a statement. [32787]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The number of visits follows. The data system 'Sitestat' has only been used since April 2003, so only data from that date are available.
Total visits

Date	Visits
February 2003	3
March 2003	2
April 2003	10,122
May 2003	21,073
June 2003	24,923
July 2003	5,637
August 2003	6,351
September 2003	18,675
October 2003	20,481
November 2003	22,501
December 2003	21,310
January 2004	55,743
February 2004	71,223
March 2004	87,126
April 2004	43,535
May 2004	31,933
June 2004	31,537
July 2004	28,645
August 2004	25,256
September 2004	11,364
October 2004	35,618
November 2004	48,802
December 2004	38,885
January 2005	53,089
February 2005	15,771
March 2005	450
April 2005	367
May 2005	359
June 2005	307
July 2005	300
August 2005	298
September 2005	371
October 2005	402
November 2005	253
December 2005	55
Total	732,767
Maximum March 2004	87,126
Average	15,266
Total unique visitors	515,234

 
11 Jan 2006 : Column 691W
 

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Brownfield Land

Greg Clark: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) what records his Department keeps of the amount ofdevelopment on different categories of brownfield land; [40528]

(2) what assessment his Department has made of trends in the loss of privately-owned green space as a result of new residential development. [40531]

Yvette Cooper: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) records amounts of land use change in its Land Use Change Statistics. The most recent results were published on the ODPM website in November, as 'Land Use Change in England to 2004: Additional Tables'.

Land Use Change Statistics show the amount of land being developed according to its previous use, including previously-developed (brownfield) uses. Information on the ownership of the land is not, however, recorded so that there is no information on any loss of privately owned green space.

Council Tax Revaluation

Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether council-appointed inspectors visiting private properties take photographs of the interiors for council tax revaluation purposes. [40731]

Mr. Woolas: Councils do not appoint inspectors to visit properties for council tax revaluation purposes—that is a function undertaken by Valuation Office Agency staff, and I would refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 13 July 2005, Official Report, column 1071W. It would be extremely rare that photographs are taken inside a person's home and this would only be done with the occupier's permission.

Local Government Finance

Mr. Pope: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the percentage change was in central Government funding to Rossendale borough council in each of the last five years. [40034]

Mr. Woolas: The percentage change in central Government funding to Rossendale borough council in each of the last five years for which data are available is shown in the following table.
 
11 Jan 2006 : Column 692W
 

	Change in all central Government funding on previous year (percentage)	Of which percentage change in formula grant (revenue support grant, police grant and redistributed business rates)
2000–01	4.1	3.9
2001–02	5.5	4.8
2002–03	2.8	2.3
2003–04	15.9	9.5
2004–05	38.3	-6.7

Notes:
1. These figures are as reported by Rossendale borough council on the revenue out-turn (RO) returns submitted to ODPM.
2. Central Government funding is defined here as the sum of specific grants inside aggregate external finance (AEF) and formula grant (revenue support grant, redistributed business rates and police grant). Specific grants inside AEF are those revenue grants paid for councils' core services (such as waste collection), excluding funding for local authorities' housing management.
3. The information provided excludes capital funding and funding for local authorities' housing management responsibilities.
4. The information excludes those grant programmes, such as European funding, where authorities are simply one of the recipients of funding paid towards an area.
5. Comparisons across years may not be valid because the figures shown are not adjusted for changes in local authority responsibilities.

The increase in central Government funding in 2003–04 is in part due to housing benefit and council tax benefit administration specific grant doubling from £243,000 in 2002–03 to £493,000 in 2003–04.

The large increase in total central Government funding 2004–05 is principally due to a £2.2 million grant for a Housing Stock Options Appraisal Project.

The decrease in formula grant between 2003–04 and 2004–05 is due largely to the removal, with effect from 2004–05, of local authorities' responsibility for paying part of the costs of council tax benefit and housing benefit.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Asbestos Regulations

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the evidential basis is in relation to (a) risk and (b) cost of the Health and Safety Executive's recent proposals for modifying the Asbestos Regulations and revising the related code of practice. [38853]

Mrs. McGuire: The proposals for revised asbestos regulations and an approved code of practice take account of evidence on risk from a risk assessment, and on cost from a regulatory impact assessment. These documents are attached as annexes to the consultative document.

Benefit Claimants Living Overseas

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what reports he has received concerning benefit fraud by British citizens resident in Thailand; what steps he has taken to investigate them; and if he will make a statement on his policy on investigating allegations in newspapers. [41059]

 
11 Jan 2006 : Column 693W
 

Mr. Plaskitt: As with all allegations of benefit fraud, those involving people claiming benefits while living abroad are investigated where there is evidence that benefit is wrongly being claimed. Where benefit fraud is established appropriate action will be taken, which can include prosecution leading to imprisonment for the more serious offences.

Allegations in newspapers are considered on the same basis as all allegations of benefit fraud and will be investigated where there is evidence that benefit has been wrongly claimed.

Benefit Fraud

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Workand Pensions (1) how many investigations into benefit fraud have been undertaken in each of the last 10 years; [27639]

(2) how many prosecutions have been brought for benefit fraud in each of the last 10 years; and how many were successful. [27640]

Mr. Plaskitt [holding answer 11 November 2005]: The available information is in the tables.
Benefit fraud investigations,, prosecution, convictions and sanctions by DWP

	Referrals accepted for investigations	Prosecutions	Convictions	Sanctions
1995–96	720,617	12,181	9,993	n/a
1996–97	938,770	16,887	9,801	n/a
1997–98	925,501	11,523	11,386	n/a
1998–99	923,853	10,129	9,967	n/a
1999–2000	564,543	9,272	9,129	11,030
2000–01	441,368	11,584	11,403	15,560
2001–02	389,633	11,355	11,183	13,550
2002–03	334,974	9,396	9,267	14,270
2003–04	325,706	9,204	9,091	16,160
2004–05	309,343	8,670	8,573	18,505

Notes:
1. 'Referrals accepted for investigations' exclude general Matching Service cases.
2. The fraud database shows completed cases that commenced in the relevant period. Due to the time between commencement of investigation and completion of prosecution, some cases will be included data collated for earlier periods. All totals are therefore correct at the time when quoted but subject to adjustment at a later date.
3. The significant reduction in 1998–99 results from a changed definition of cases to be referred to investigation. Prior to this year any cases in error was referred. After that date any case in error where there was a suspicion of fraud was referred.
4. The decline in referrals from 1999–2000 reflects our success in reducing the level of fraud significantly over that period—down by over 60 per cent. in IS/JSA.
5. Sanctions include Administrative Penalties and Cautions. Administrative Penalties as an alternative to prosecution, were introduced by the Social Security Administration (Fraud) Act (1997) with effect from December 1998. Cautions were made available to local authorities as a sanction from the start of 2001–02.
Source:
Fraud Information By Sector system and data from Fraud Investigation Service (Serious and Organised Operations Branch)





 
11 Jan 2006 : Column 694W
 

Benefit fraud investigations, prosecution and convictions by local authorities

	Referrals accepted for investigations	Prosecutions	Convictions
1995–96	n/a	n/a	n/a
1996–97	n/a	n/a	n/a
1997–98	n/a	n/a	700
1998–99	n/a	n/a	800
1999–2000	n/a	n/a	900
2000–01	n/a	n/a	1,100
2001–02	214,722	2,101	1,732
2002–03	185,723	3,187	2,503
2003–04	163,231	4,601	3,747
2004–05	163,247	5,544	4,688

Notes:
1. The investigations figures only cover the local authorities that have submitted the relevant information on their stats 124 and WIB5 forms and are therefore a reflection of the information that we hold, which might not be complete.
2. For local authorities, figures prior to 2001–02 have been rounded to the nearest 100 because they include estimated values for non-responding local authorities.
3. Figures for local authority prosecutions which did not lead to conviction are not available prior to 2001–02.
4. The figures only cover the local authorities that have submitted the relevant information on their stats124 and WIB5 forms and is therefore a reflection of the information that we hold, which might not be complete.
Sources:
1. The data for the numbers of investigations have been taken from HB MIS stats124.
2. From 2001–02 onwards the numbers of prosecutions and convictions are taken from subsidy claim forms. Prior to this the numbers are taken from management information returns.

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