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28 Feb 2006 : Column 695W—continued
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he will answer question 31033 from the hon. Member for Portsmouth, South tabled on 21 November 2005. [43878]
Mrs. McGuire: A reply was given to the hon. Member on 14 February 2006, Official Report, column 1948W.
Pension Liabilities
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the net present value of accrued pension liabilities in respect of (a) present and (b) former employees of his Department and its predecessors. [52119]
Mrs. McGuire: The Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme is an unfunded multi-employer defined benefit scheme and individual Departments' pension liabilities are not available. The Cabinet Office Civil Superannuation Resource Accounts for 2004–05 showed that the total pension liability at 31 March 2005 was £84.1 billion. The value of pension liabilities was assessed as follows:
Deferred pensions and contingent pensions for dependants in respect of members no longer contributing—£12.7 billion
As a result of a change in the discount rate used for calculating pension liabilities with effect from 1 April 2005, the total pension liability at 1 April 2005 increased by £10.6 billion to £94.7 billion.
Pensions
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people have taken up the stakeholder pension scheme since its introduction; and how much the average personal and employee contribution is. [23138]
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Mr. Timms [holding answer 28 October 2005]: 2,622,160 stakeholder pensions have been sold in the period 6 April 2001 to 30 September 2005. Average individual contributions to stakeholder pensions in the tax year 2003–04, broken down by status, are in the following table. I also refer the hon. Member to my answer of 14 December to his question (37530) with regard to average annual employer and individual contributions.
| Status of individual | Average contribution (£) |
|---|---|
| Employees | 1,290 |
| Self employed | 1,990 |
| In receipt of a pension | 2,580 |
| Child | 1,400 |
| Full-time education | 1,700 |
| Carer | 2,020 |
| Unemployed | 2,280 |
| Other | 1,780 |
| Total(37) | 1,430 |
(37) Average annual contribution by individual in the 2003–04 tax year.
Source:
Personal and stakeholder pensions. Number of individuals contributing and average contribution by status and earned income. HM Revenue and Customs Table 7.10
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent estimate he has made of the number of registered stakeholder pension schemes that have no members. [54467]
Mr. Timms: The information is not available in the format requested.
Based on data from the Employers Pension Provision Survey 2003, which was conducted shortly after the introduction of stakeholder pensions, it is estimated that in 2003:
(a) some 35 percent. of all companies provided access to stakeholder pension schemes (including companies with fewer than five employees who are not required to provide access to a stakeholder pension), and
Statutory Sick Pay
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average period of payment of statutory sick pay was for all claimants of statutory sick pay in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [51986]
Mrs. McGuire: Statutory sick pay (SSP) provides a measure of earnings replacement for employees unable to work because of short-term sickness. The SSP scheme is administered and paid for by employers, who have a statutory liability to pay SSP for up to 28 weeks to any employee incapable of work under their contract of service for four or more days in a row and who satisfy the qualifying conditions.
Information regarding the average length of payment of SSP is not available as it is not collected centrally.
Sunbeds
Mrs. James:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether all local authorities in England
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have received guidance from the Health and Safety Executive regarding the inspection of sunbed tanning retail outlets. [53105]
Mrs. McGuire: No. Inspection guidance has not been formally issued by HSE to local authorities. Relevant Industry guidance (INDG209) however is available on the HSE website and has been cited by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health Officers in their "tool kit" for skin care, published in 2004.
Mrs. James: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many accidents involving sunbeds were reported to local authorities in England in each year since 1995. [53107]
Mrs. McGuire:
Information in the form requested is not held by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Reports to local authorities about accidents are made under the same regulations and reporting system as
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those made to HSE. The information recorded does not include codes for specific pieces of equipment such as sunbeds or tanning facilities.
It would only be possible to identify accidents at such facilities through an incident by incident analysis of the descriptions provided by notifiers. This would require a disproportionate diversion of resources.
Mrs. James: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent discussions he has had with local authorities in England regarding the operation of sunbed tanning facilities in local authority leisure centres; and what representations has he received from local authorities regarding health issues associated with their use. [53110]
Mrs. McGuire: Neither I nor the Health and Safety Executive have not received any representations from local authorities regarding health issues associated with sunbed use within their leisure centres.
No discussions have been held with the local authority sector as a whole on this matter.