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Customer Management System

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average time taken for claimants to receive the first payment of benefits has been since the introduction of the Customer Management System computer system. [38385]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 20 December 2005]: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. She will write to my hon. Friend.

Letter from Lesley Strathie:

The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question concerning the average time taken for claimants to receive the first payment of benefits since the introduction of the Customer Management System (CMS). This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.

Jobcentre Plus measures how long it takes to clear a benefit claim to the date a decision is taken, and not to when the first payment is received. This is expressed as the Actual Average Clearance Time (AACT). The target clearance times for each of the main benefits are:

Benefit	Target AACT (days)
Jobseekers Allowance (JSA)	12
Income Support (IS)	12
Incapacity Benefit (IB)	19

In 2003/2004, the AACT for JSA was 11 days, and for IS it was10.5 days. In 2004/2005, the respective figures were 12.1 days and 10.8 days.

For the current year, the latest information on average clearance times of benefits is in the table below:

	AACT
	October 2005	November 2005	December 2005
Jobseekers Allowance	15.4	15.6	14.7
Income Support	11.6	11.7	11.6
Incapacity Benefit	15.7	16.1	15.5

I hope this is helpful.

Mr. Anthony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many planned job reductions in his Department depend on the successful implementation of the Customer Management computer system. [46828]

 
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Margaret Hodge: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. She will write to my hon. Friend.

Letter from Lesley Strathie:

The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking how many planned job reductions in his Department depend on the successful implementation of the Customer Management computer system. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.

The Customer Management System business case, recently given to the Department for Work and Pensions Parliamentary Select Committee, shows a total headcount saving of 1,076 full-time equivalent staff by 2008.

I hope this is helpful.

Departmental Estate

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what (a) land and (b) property his Department (i) owns and (ii) rents in each constituency; and if he will make a statement. [33250]

Mrs. McGuire: The Department for Work and Pensions does not own or rent any land.

The Department for Work and Pensions does not own any property, with the exception of one building in Hull where contracts have been exchanged and are due to be completed in February 2006.

The remainder of the Department's estate has been sold or transferred under a PFI partnership deal to Land Securities Trillium (LST) and in return for the payment of a unitary charge, LST is responsible for providing a full facilities management service across the estate. Therefore, the Department does not rent any properties.

A list of the estate sold or transferred to LST is not maintained by constituency but by Government office region and it has been placed in the Library.

This response excludes the Health and Safety Executive, an Executive non- departmental public body and the Rent Service, an Executive agency, as their records are not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was paid by his Department in 2004–05 in rent for properties in (a) total, (b) each (i) region and (ii) nation of the UK and (c) London. [35947]

Mrs. McGuire: The Department's estate has been sold or transferred under a PFI partnership deal to Land Securities Trillium (LST) and in return for the payment of a unitary charge LST is responsible for providing a full facilities management service across the estate. Therefore, the Department did not pay any rent for properties in 2004–05.

This response excludes The Health and Safety Executive, an Executive non-departmental public body and The Rent Service, an Executive Agency, as their records are not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
 
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Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the former (a) buildings and (b) land of (i) his Department and (ii) (A) non-departmental public bodies, (B) agencies and (C) independent statutory bodies for which his Department is responsible which have been sold since 7 May 1997; what the sale price of each (1) was at the time of sale and (2) is at current prices; and whether the money accrued was (x) retained by his Department and (y) claimed by the Treasury. [40143]

Mrs. McGuire: The Department's estate was sold or transferred under a PFI partnership deal to Land Securities Trillium (1ST) in 1998 and extended in 2003. The buildings and their base value are listed in a table that has been placed in the Library. HM Treasury, on behalf of the Department, received a total cash consideration of £350 million for the assets sold or transferred. The additional value of £105 million is being recovered through discounted facilities prices for the serviced accommodation.

The Department does not hold current market values for the properties and these could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.
 
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The Department has sold two buildings outside of the PFI:

Ranmoor Hall, Sheffield sold for £4.5 million retained by the Department in November 2005

For completion in February 2006, Storey Street, Hull for £575,000 to be retained by the Department.

The Department sold one piece of land, at Alvaston Raynesway, which was transferred to LST under the PFI partnership deal for £947,671 in 1998. The Department does not hold a current market value for the land.

The vast majority of NDPB, agencies and independent statutory bodies are accommodated in the Department's own buildings and separate information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The exception is Remploy Ltd. (a NDPB) and The Rent Service and Health and Safety Executive (HSE) (which are agencies).

Remploy Ltd. has sold buildings and land but they are not able to provide a breakdown in the format requested without incurring disproportionate cost. The information in the table shows all year end disposals of all property and have been inflated using Retail Price Index (RPI) from March in the respective year of disposal. All proceeds have been retained by Remploy.

Property disposals(Total proceeds to)	Date	Retail Price Index @ disposal	Proceeds received	Retail Price Index indexed proceeds	Current price
Y.E. 31 March 1998	March 1998	160.8	432,000	88,000	520,000
Y.E. 31.March 1999	March 1999	164.1	2,034,000	366,000	2,400,000
Y.E. 31 March 2000	March 2000	168.4	1,556,000	233,000	1,789,000
Y.E. 31 March 2001	March 2001	172.2	503,000	63,000	566,000
Y.E. 31 March 2002	March 2002	174.5	2,975,000	326,000	3,301,000
Y.E. 31 March 2003	March 2003	179.9	2,583,000	197,000	2,780,000
Y.E. 31 March 2004	March 2004	184.6	1,130,000	55,000	1,185,000
Y.E. 31 March 2005	March 2005	190.5	2,571,000	42,000	2,613,000
30 November 2005	—	193.6	—	—	—

The Rent Service has provided a nil return.

In January 2005, HSE sold the land and buildings of the Health & Safety Laboratory (HSL) site at Broad Lane Sheffield as part of the PFI arrangements for a new site for the laboratory at Harpur Hill, Buxton. Receipts, of approximately £6 million, were recycled back into the scheme. HSE does not track property prices and is therefore unable to assess the current value.

In July 2005, HSE sold a Crown freehold building known as Royal Exchange Building, Sheffield for £530,000, the same as the net book value of the property. There was therefore no gain or loss on disposal. The cash sale provided additional capital spending for HSE. HSE does not track property prices and is therefore unable to assess the current value. HSE has not sold any land.

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what (a) land and (b) property his Department owns in Southend West constituency. [41759]

Mrs. McGuire: The Department's estate has been sold or transferred under a PFI partnership deal to Land Securities Trillium (LST) and in return for the payment of a unitary charge LST is responsible for providing a full facilities management service across the estate. Therefore the Department does not own any (a) land or (b) property in the Southend West constituency.

This response excludes The Health and Safety Executive, an Executive non-departmental public body, and the Rent Service, an Executive agency, as their records are not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what (a) land and (b) property is owned by his Department in Castle Point. [42901]

Mrs. McGuire: The Department's estate has been sold or transferred under a PFI partnership deal to Land Securities Trillium (LST) and in return for the payment of a unitary charge LST is responsible for providing a full facilities management service across the estate. Therefore the Department does not own any (a) land or (b) property in the Castle Point constituency.

This response excludes The Health and Safety Executive, an executive non- departmental public body, and the Rent Service, an Executive agency, as their records are not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
 
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