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3 Mar 2006 : Column 1029W—continued

Child Support Agency

Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the total number of staff
 
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employed by the Child Support Agency was in the UK during each of the last 18 months for which figures are available. [54245]

Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.

Letter from Stephen Geraghty:



Month
Full-time equivalent staff in post (ONS standard)
2004
August10,465
September10,299
October10,125
November10,080
December10,041
2005
January9,963
February9,937
March9,985
April9,981
May9,971
June10,001
July10,047
August10,102
September10,269
October10,478
November10,672
December10,649
2006
January10,671

Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many days training have been provided to staff at the Child Support Agency in each of the last five years; how many are planned to be provided in 2005–06; and if he will make a statement. [30024]

Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Mr. Stephen Geraghty. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
 
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Letter from Stephen Geraghty:


Training daysStaff trained
2001–02108,515(22)
2002–03133,19913,143
2003–0478,62911,366
2004–0567,68711,376
2005–0666,7045,826


(22) Not available.


Disabled Volunteers

Tom Levitt: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will extend (a) Access to Work measures and (b) protection from discrimination to disabled volunteers who are working as part of a work experience or rehabilitation scheme. [47226]

Mrs. McGuire: Access to Work does not provide support to people who are engaged in unpaid voluntary work and there are currently no plans to extent Access to Work in this way.

The first priority of Access to Work is to assist unemployed disabled people into paid employment, thereby helping to remove or reduce their dependence on benefits.

We have asked the Disability Rights Commission to consider producing a voluntary code of practice on volunteering as we do not believe at this stage that it would be appropriate to extend the disability discrimination legislation to cover volunteers. There are likely to be practical difficulties in legislating to cover volunteers because of the diversity in the nature of volunteering and in the relationships between volunteers and the organisations that engage them.

Energy Sector (Industrial Injuries)

Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many industrial (a) injuries and
 
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(b) fatalities occurred in UK (i) nuclear, (ii) coal-fired and (iii) gas-fired power stations in each year since 1990. [49215]

Mrs. McGuire: The Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) systems record the number of workplace injuries reported in Great Britain under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR 95). Across the five-year period 2000–01 to the provisional year 2004–05: 756 industrial injuries in Great Britain were reported to HSE that occurred in Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code 40.11 'Electricity generation'. Of these industrial injuries, six fatal injuries were reported. The table provides yearly breakdowns. Further disaggregation to identify the means of electricity generation (e.g. nuclear, coal/gas-fired) is not possible from centrally held statistics. The information provided covers the planning years 2000–01 to 2004–05 (provisional). Access to older data at the required level of detail is not readily available and would require the restoration of archived databases.
Industrial (a) injuries and (b) fatalities in Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code 40.11 'Electricity generation' reported to HSE in Great Britain in each year since 2000–01

Employment statusIndustrial (a) injuriesOf which
(b) fatalities:
2000–01Workers259
Members of Public3
Total262
2001–02Workers2124
Members of Public3
Total2154
2002–03Workers1331
Members of Public2
Total1351
2003–04Workers851
Members of Public
Total851
2004–05(23)Workers58
Members of Public1
Total59
Total7566


(23) Provisional.


Financial Assistance Scheme

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether in the case of an interim 60 per cent. payment being made under the Financial Assistance Scheme for a terminally ill member the balance will be paid to the spouse when wind-up is completed. [54603]

Mr. Timms: Any balance will be paid to the member's estate.

Incapacity Benefit

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people have had their incapacity benefit stopped in each month during the last three years. [43343]


 
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Mrs. McGuire: The information is not available in the format requested. Termination information is not available broken down on a monthly basis. The quarterly figures for incapacity benefit and severe disablement allowance claim terminations are in the table.
Incapacity benefit (IB) and severe disablement allowance (SDA) terminations in the quarters shown

Number
1 June 2002 to 31 August 2002176,300
1 September 2002 to 30 November 2002185,700
1 December 2002 to 28 February 2003170,300
1 March 2003 to 31 May 2003165,900
1 June 2003 to 31 August 2003183,100
1 September 2003 to 30 November 2003186,900
1 December 2003 to 29 February 2004172,800
1 March 2004 to 31 May 2004174,700
1 June 2004 to 31 August 2004177,400
1 September 2004 to 30 November 2004176,200
1 December 2004 to 28 February 2005179,200
1 March 2005 to 31 May 2005132,300




Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.
2. Terminations figures for the latest quarter do not include any late notifications and are subject to major increases in future quarters.
3. Earlier quarters have been updated to include late notified terminations, including terminations for state pension.
4. "Terminations" includes all terminations, whether initiated by the claimant or DWP; it includes cases where the claimant has died.
Source:
DWP Information Directorate 5 per cent. samples.




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