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13 Feb 2006 : Column 1661W—continued

Benefit Statistics

Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in the Kettering constituency received (a) widow's benefit, (b) housing benefit, (c) council tax benefit and (d) income support in each year since 1997. [22605]

Mr. Plaskitt [holding answer on 28 October 2005]: The available information is in the tables.
Bereavement benefit and widows benefit recipients in the Kettering parliamentary constituency: May 2000–2005

As at August	Bereavement benefit	Widows benefit
2000	n/a	400
2001	n/a	400
2002	100	300
2003	100	300
2004	100	200
2005	100	200

n/a=Not applicable.
Notes:
1. Bereavement benefit replaced widows benefit for new claims in April 2001
2. Caseload figures are rounded to the nearest 100.
3. Breakdown by parliamentary constituency is not available prior to May 2000.
Source:
DWP Information Directorate: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study.

Housing benefit and council tax benefit caseloads in Kettering borough council: May 1997 to May 2005

As at August	Housing benefit	Council tax benefit
1997	4,400	6,100
1998	4,300	5,900
1999	4,000	5,500
2000	3,400	4,800
2001	4,000	5,400
2002	3,500	4,800
2003	3,800	5,100
2004	3,800	5,400
2005	3,900	5,500

Notes:
1. Figures for housing benefit and council tax benefit are not available for parliamentary constituencies.
2. The data refers to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple.
3. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100.
4. Council tax benefit totals exclude any Second Adult Rebate cases.
5. Housing benefit figures exclude any Extended Payment cases.
Source:
Housing benefit and council tax benefit Management Information System. Quarterly 100 per cent. caseload stock-count taken between August 1997 and August 2005.




 
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Income support claimants in the Kettering parliamentary constituency: May 1997 to May 2005

As at August	Claimants
1997	2,400
1998	2,200
1999	2,400
2000	2,400
2001	2,400
2002	2,400
2003	2,300
2004	2,200
2005	2,100

Notes:
1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100.
2. For comparison purposes, the income support figures do not include pensioners. Income support has not been payable to pensioners since October 2003.
Source:
DWP Information Directorate, combination of Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study and 5 per cent. sample data.

Benefits

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what arrangements are made for assessing over time the (a) quality of advice and (b) delivery to claimants of benefit systems adopted by the Department. [45199]

Margaret Hodge: The Department monitors the quality and effectiveness of service delivery to customers through a set of targets and key management indicators. Our mystery shopping monitoring programme measures the speed, accuracy and quality of the advice given and other targets measure the efficiency and accuracy of six key processes against a set of agreed standards. Together they provide an overall assessment of performance at a local, regional or national level.

We also regularly analyse customer complaints data about the advice and information we provide to enable us to target areas for improvement; and additionally the Department's disability and carers service works with voluntary sector organisations to enable them to provide consistent and accurate information about benefits available to disabled people.

Child Poverty

Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether progress towards the target of halving child poverty by 2010 will be measured (a) before and (b) after taking into account housing costs. [43819]

Margaret Hodge: The document 'Measuring child poverty' published in December 2003 outlines the Government's measure of UK child poverty for the long term. This measure forms the basis for the Public Service Agreement (PSA) target set in the 2004 spending review to halve the number of children in relative low-income households between 1998–99 and 2010–11, on the way to eradicating child poverty by 2020.

The new measure will consist of three tiers; absolute low income, relative low income and material deprivation and low income combined. In 2006, we are planning to set the material deprivation and relative low income measures.
 
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Across all three tiers income is equivalised, that is, adjusted to take into account variations in both size and composition of the household, and aiming to match current European conventions to make international comparisons easier, as we aim to be among the best in Europe. The modified Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) equalisation scale will be used; this scale is used with income on a before housing costs basis.

The Government will continue to monitor progress on an after housing costs basis in order to monitor the impact of high housing costs on child poverty. Meanwhile the new material deprivation tier contains a range of items which capture housing deprivation including: the number of bedrooms for children, heating adequacy, and keeping the home in a decent state of decoration.

Housing is also an important part of the Government's overall strategy on poverty and social exclusion. Our annual opportunity for all report monitors the proportion of children in non-decent homes, and includes an indicator that monitors the proportion of families with children in temporary accommodation.

Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress has been made to date in meeting the Government's child poverty targets (a) before and (b) after taking into account housing costs. [43823]

Margaret Hodge: The Prime Minister made a pledge in March 1999 to eradicate child poverty within 20 years. Since then the Government have succeeded in arresting and reversing the previous trend in rising child poverty.

The most recent data shows that between 1998–99 and 2003–04 the number of children in relative low-income households fell from 3.1 million to 2.6 million on a before housing cost basis (BHC) and from 4.1 million to 3.5 million on an after housing cost basis (AHC).

The Government are broadly on track to meet their target, set in the 2002 spending review, to reduce the number of children in low-income households by at least a quarter by 2004–05, as a contribution towards the broader target of halving child poverty by 2010 and eradicating it by 2020.

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the Government's plans to end child poverty. [47106]

Margaret Hodge: The seventh annual 'Opportunity for all' report (Cm 6673) sets out the Government's strategy for tackling poverty and social exclusion and reports progress against a range of indicators.

The Government's target, set in the 2002 spending review, is to reduce the number of children in low-income households by at least a quarter by 2004–05, as a contribution towards the broader target of halving child poverty by 2010 and eradicating it by 2020.

The technical note setting out details of how the child poverty PSA target announced in the 2004 spending
 
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review will be measured has now been published on the DWP and HM Treasury websites. We have made a clear commitment to set a target on the new material deprivation measure when data on material deprivation becomes available. All of these targets will need to be met for us to have fully realised our ambition to halve child poverty by 2010.

We will continue to report progress on the target to decrease the number of children living in relative low income by 2004–05. Final data for this target will be published later this year.

As set out in Households Below Average Income (HBAI), between 1998–99 and 2003–04 (the latest data available) the number of children living in relative low-income households fell by 500,000 on a before housing costs basis and by 600,000 on an after housing costs basis.

The Government are broadly on track to meet its 2004–05 target. Final data for the 2004–05 target will be available in March 2006.

Mr. Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of children were living in families which received below 60 per cent. of median household income in (a) England, (b) each English region, (c) Scotland and (d) Wales in 2004–05. [49189]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer on 6 February 2006]: The information requested is in the tables.
Proportion of children living in households with less than60 per cent. of contemporary median household income—2001–02 to 2003–04

	Percentage
Before housing costs
England	20
of which:
North East	27
North West and Merseyside	23
Yorkshire and Humberside	24
East Midlands	22
West Midlands	24
Eastern	14
London	23
South East	13
South West	17
Wales	23
Scotland	23
After housing costs
England	29
of which:
North East	32
North West and Merseyside	30
Yorkshire and Humberside	30
East Midlands	27
West Midlands	31
Eastern	22
London	38
South East	21
South West	27
Wales	29
Scotland	27

Source:
Family Resources Survey




 
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Number of children living in households with less than 60 per cent. of contemporary median household income—2001–02 to 2003–04 Million

	Number
Before housing costs
England	2.2
of which:
North East	0.1
North West and Merseyside	0.4
Yorkshire and Humberside	0.3
East Midlands	0.2
West Midlands	0.3
Eastern	0.2
London	0.4
South East	0.2
South West	0.2
Wales	0.1
Scotland	0.2
After housing costs
England	3.1
of which:
North East	0.2
North West and Merseyside	0.5
Yorkshire and Humberside	0.3
East Midlands	0.3
West Midlands	0.4
Eastern	0.3
London	0.6
South East	0.4
South West	0.3
Wales	0.2
Scotland	0.3

Source:
Family Resources Survey

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