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27 Feb 2006 : Column 226W—continued

Benefit Recipients (Bank Access)

Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of people in receipt of benefit, including pensioners, who are not within a 30-minute public transport journey to a bank. [48942]

Mr. Plaskitt: The Department has made no estimate of the number of customers who are not within a 30-minute public transport journey to a bank.

There are a wide range of options available to people in receipt of benefit or pensions for collecting their money without travelling to their bank. For example they can get their money from one of 33,000 free cash machines or by using the cashback" facility offered by many supermarkets and other retail outlets.

In addition, most customers with bank accounts no longer have to acquire goods or services through the use of cash, with a very wide network of retailers accepting payment via debit cards, in person, by telephone or via the Internet.

Also, many basic and normal bank accounts can be accessed at post offices and there are around 14,500 post offices within the network.

Benefits

Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people received housing benefit in Scotland in each year since 1995, broken down by local authority; and what total spending on housing benefit in Scotland has been since 1995. [53296]

Mr. Plaskitt: The available information is in the following tables. Because of local authority boundary changes in 1995 and 1996, information for those years is given in separate tables.
Housing benefit (HB) recipients in Scotland by local authority: August 1995 Thousand

	Number
Scotland	544.9
Aberdeen	17.0
Angus	6.8
Annandale and Eskdale	2.5
Argyll-Bute	5.4
Badenoch	0.8
Banff and Buchan	5.5
Bearsden and Milngavie	0.9
Berwickshire	1.3
Caithness	2.1
Clackmannan	4.5
Clydebank	6.6
Clydesdale	4.6
Cumbernauld	2.9
Cumbernauld (Dev C)	2.7
Cumnock and Doon	5.2
Cunninghame	13.7
Dumbarton	7.2
Dundee	23.1
Dunfermline	10.5
East Kilbride	1.4
East Kilbride (Dev C)	4.7
East Lothian	6.8
Eastwood	1.3
Edinburgh	42.8
Ettrick and Lauderdale	2.3
Falkirk	14.3
Glasgow	124.5
Glenrothes (Dev C)	3.1
Gordon	2.9
Hamilton	11.4
Inverclyde	10.6
Inverness	4.7
Irvine (Dev C)	1.8
Kilmarnock	8.4
Kincardine and Deeside	1.7
Kirkcaldy	14.0
Kyle and Carrick	9.9
Livingston (Dev C)	3.5
Lochaber	1.5
Midlothian	4.8
Monklands	13.2
Moray	5.6
Motherwell	18.6
Nairn	0.8
Nithsdale	4.2
North East Fife	3.5
Orkney Isles	1.0
Perth and Kinross	8.4
Renfrew	21.1
Ross and Cromarty	4.0
Roxburgh	3.1
Scottish Homes	30.3
Shetland Isles	1.0
Skye and Lochalsh	0.8
Stewartry	1.5
Stirling	6.8
Strathkelvin	3.6
Sutherland	1.0
Tweeddale	0.9
West Lothian	10.8
Western Isles	1.7
Wigtown	3.2

 
27 Feb 2006 : Column 228W
 

Housing benefit (HB) recipients in Scotland by local authority: August 1996 Thousand

	Number
Scotland	548.3
Aberdeen	17.3
Aberdeenshire	10.3
Angus	7.2
Argyll and Bute	6.7
Clackmannanshire	4.6
Cumbernauld Dev Corp	2.5
Dumfries and Galloway	12.3
Dundee	22.5
East Ayrshire	13.6
East Dunbartonshire	3.8
East Lothian	7.6
East Renfrewshire	3.7
Edinburgh	42.7
Falkirk	14.4
Fife	30.6
Glasgow	120.2
Highland	16.3
Inverclyde	10.5
Irvine Dev Corp	1.7
Livingstone Dev Corp	3.2
Midlothian	5.9
Moray	5.9
North Ayrshire	13.8
North Lanarkshire	37.3
Orkney Islands	1.0
Perth and Kinross	8.6
Renfrewshire	18.6
Scottish Borders	7.7
Scottish Homes	24.1
Shetland Islands	1.1
South Ayrshire	9.7
South Lanarkshire	30.5
Stirling	6.9
West Dunbartonshire	12.5
West Lothian	11.3
Western Isles	1.7

Housing benefit (HB) recipients in Scotland by local authority: each August 1997–2005 Thousand

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Scotland	532.0	515.1	504.8	479.2	457.6	448.2	438.4	450.8	440.5
Aberdeen	16.7	15.7	16.1	15.8	15.4	15.4	15.4	16.0	15.4
Aberdeenshire	10.1	9.8	9.6	9.3	9.3	9.5	9.6	10.2	10.2
Angus	8.2	7.8	7.6	7.8	7.5	7.1	7.1	7.5	7.7
Argyll and Bute	6.7	6.6	6.5	6.3	6.1	6.1	5.8	5.9	5.8
Clackmannanshire	4.5	4.9	5.3	4.9	4.9	4.6	4.6	4.6	4.6
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	1.7	1.6	1.6	1.5	1.2	1.4	1.2	1.4	1.3
Dumfries and Galloway	12.2	11.9	11.6	10.8	10.6	10.4	10.1	10.7	10.6
Dundee	21.7	22.9	21.4	20.7	19.1	19.3	17.8	18.5	18.2
East Ayrshire	13.9	13.4	10.8	10.5	12.2	11.9	12.1	12.4	12.2
East Dunbartonshire	3.5	3.8	4.2	4.3	4.2	4.0	3.9	3.9	3.9
East Lothian	7.7	7.6	7.0	6.6	5.6	5.7	5.9	6.0	5.9
East Renfrewshire	3.4	3.6	3.5	3.5	3.6	3.5	3.4	3.5	3.3
Edinburgh	41.5	38.0	37.1	33.2	33.2	32.3	31.3	33.0	33.5
Falkirk	14.5	15.1	14.4	13.7	13.0	13.0	12.6	12.8	12.4
Fife	31.0	31.6	30.5	32.0	27.9	26.9	26.6	27.1	26.8
Glasgow	113.7	109.3	109.2	102.5	98.5	97.2	100.2	98.3	91.8
Highland	16.3	16.0	14.6	14.5	14.0	13.5	12.9	13.6	13.6
Inverclyde	11.2	10.1	10.9	9.5	9.4	9.6	9.4	9.5	9.5
Midlothian	6.1	5.9	5.9	5.6	5.4	5.1	5.1	5.2	4.9
Moray	5.6	5.7	5.8	5.5	4.9	4.4	4.4	4.7	4.7
North Ayrshire	14.3	14.0	14.3	14.0	14.0	13.4	12.9	13.7	13.9
North Lanarkshire	37.7	37.0	37.7	34.5	33.6	33.8	28.6	33.4	33.0
Orkney	1.0	1.0	0.9	0.9	0.9	0.8	0.8		0.8
Perth and Kinross	8.5	8.3	8.1	7.7	7.4	7.3	7.3	7.6	7.6
Renfrewshire	18.8	19.6	20.4	19.5	18.4	17.7	15.8	16.9	16.5
Scottish Borders	7.9	7.5	7.6	7.4	6.7	7.0	7.2	7.1	7.2
Scottish Homes	19.4	12.7	9.4	7.0	3.2	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Shetland	1.1	1.0	1.0	1.0	0.9	0.9	0.9	1.0	1.0
South Ayrshire	9.9	7.6	8.7	8.5	8.7	8.6	8.5	8.6	8.6
South Lanarkshire	30.3	30.9	30.0	28.3	27.5	27.5	27.0	26.3	25.3
Stirling	6.5	6.3	6.1	5.7	5.5	5.5	5.4	5.3	5.2
West Dunbartonshire	12.3	13.0	12.4	12.5	11.8	12.0	11.8	11.9	11.6
West Lothian	14.4	15.1	14.7	13.6	13.1	12.7	12.7	13.2	13.1

n/a = not applicable.
Notes:
1. The data refers to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple.
2. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100 and expressed in thousands.
3. Figures for any non-responding authorities have been estimated.
4. Housing benefit figures exclude any extended payment cases.
5. Local authority boundaries in Scotland have changed since 1995.
Source:
Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information System Quarterly 100 per cent. caseload stock-count taken between August 1995 to August 2005.






 
27 Feb 2006 : Column 229W
 

Housing benefit expenditure in Scotland £ million

	Housing benefit and discretionary housing payments (nominal terms)	Housing benefit and discretionary housing payments (real terms 2005–06 prices)
1995–96	907	1,163
1996–97	967	1,197
1997–98	1,014	1,219
1998–99	1,039	1,218
1999–2000	1,054	1,211
2000–01	1,073	1,218
2001–02	1,118	1,238
2002–03	1,243	1,334
2003–04	1,150	1,202
2004–05	1,188	1,217

Note:
2004–05 figures are estimated outturn.
Source:
DWP Benefit expenditure tables.

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in the Peterborough constituency received (a) widow's benefit, (b) housing benefit, (c) council tax benefit and (d) income support in each year since 1997. [53708]

Mr. Plaskitt: Widows benefit is not available broken down geographically prior to 1999. Housing benefit and council tax benefit figures are not available broken down by parliamentary constituency; local authority figures have been provided.

The available information is in the tables.
 
27 Feb 2006 : Column 230W
 

Widows benefit and bereavement benefit claimants in the Peterborough parliamentary constituency: each August 1999–2005

	Widows benefit	Bereavement benefit
August 1999	400	n/a
August 2000	400	n/a
August 2001	400	n/a
August 2002	400	100
August 2003	300	100
August 2004	300	100
August 2005	200	100

n/a = figures are not applicable.
Notes:
1. Numbers are rounded to the nearest hundred.
2. Bereavement benefit, which replaced widows benefit for new claims, was introduced in April 2001.
Source:
DWP Information Directorate Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent.





Housing benefit and council tax benefit case loads: Peterborough city council; each August from 1997 to 2005

	Housing benefit	Council tax benefit
August 1997	13,400	14,500
August 1998	12,800	13,900
August 1999	11,800	13,700
August 2000	11,000	13,100
August 2001	11,200	12,900
August 2002	11,100	12,700
August 2003	10,800	12,600
August 2004	11,000	13,300
August 2005	11,500	13,700

Notes:
1. The data refer to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple.
2. Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred.
3. Council tax benefit totals exclude any second adult rebate cases.
4. Housing benefit figures exclude any extended payment cases.
Source:
Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information System Quarterly 100 per cent. case load stock-count taken in August 1997 to August 2005.





 
27 Feb 2006 : Column 231W
 

Income support claimants (excluding minimum income guarantee) in the Peterborough parliamentary constituency; each August from 1997 to 2005

	Number
August 1997	5,300
August 1998	5,100
August 1999	4,800
August 2000	4,900
August 2001	4,900
August 2002	4,900
August 2003	4,900
August 2004	4,900
August 2005	4,600

Notes:
1. Figures for August 1999 to August 2005 are from the DWP 100 per cent. Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study, while figures for August 1997 and August 1998 are derived by applying 5 per cent. proportions to 100 per cent. totals.
2. Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred.
3. Income support figures exclude minimum income guarantee (MIG); pension credit replaced MIG on 6 October 2003 and ended IS entitlement to customers aged 60+. Pension credit cases are not included in the figures in the table.
Source:
DWP Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS) and DWP Information Directorate 5 per cent. samples.

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