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29 Mar 2006 : Column 1011W—continued
Diana Memorial Fountain
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions her Department had with (a) the Health and Safety Executive and (b) the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents regarding the safety rules at the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain prior to its opening in July 2004. [61633]
Mr. Lammy: On 12 September 2002, the Health and Safety Executive was notified of the project on their standard form F10: Notification of Project, as required under the CDM Regulations 1994. There was no further discussion with the HSE prior to opening, and it is not normal practice to do so. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) was consulted in December 2002 about the memorials design, and in June 2004 was asked to advise on any further safety measures that should be taken before the memorial was opened to the public. RoSPA's recommendations were implemented.
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment her Department made of the safety rules at the Diana, Princess of WalesMemorial Fountain prior to its opening in July 2004. [61634]
Mr. Lammy: Before the memorial opened The Royal Parks Agency commissioned an independent operational risk assessment and implemented its findings. It also consulted The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) which advised that, because of the unusual nature of the site, safety measures would need to be closely monitored during the first months of operation until patterns of visitor behaviour became clear. When a persistent problem was identified, The Royal Parks acted swiftly to close the Memorial while designers, engineers and health and safety experts revised the management of the site.
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate her Department made of the likely visitor numbers to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain prior to its opening in July 2004. [61635]
Mr. Lammy: The Department estimated that there would be one million visitors to the memorial in its first year after opening, and between 500,000 and one million in subsequent years.
Digitisation Plan
Mark Fisher: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she is taking to implement the Dynamic Action Plan for the EU Coordination of Digitisation of Cultural and Scientific Content. [61637]
Mr. Lammy: The Government value the importance of digitisation—it is an important means of increasing access to cultural and scientific resources and making them available online in a form that is easy to find and interesting to use.
The National Representatives Group for the EU Co-ordination of National Digitisation Policies (NRG) will be responsible for implementing the Dynamic Action Plan within the EU. Activities carried out by the NRG already include identifying and comparing digitisation practices, setting technical standards across Europe and
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developing best-practice guidelines. During the Austrian Presidency of the EU, the NRG will launch five groups, each taking responsibility for one area of the Dynamic Action Plan.
Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of members of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme in her Department joined the scheme before the age of (a) 20, (b) 25, (c) 30, (d) 35, (e) 40, (f) 45 and (g) over 45-years-old. [62005]
Mr. Lammy: The information requested on the ages at which the Department for Culture, Media and Sport employees' joined the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Superannuation Liability
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what total amount of employers' normal contributions accruing superannuation liability charge has been accounted for by her Department in each of the last five years for which data are available. [61367]
Mr. Lammy: The amount of employers' accruing superannuation liability charges in respect of members of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme is published annually in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport Resource Accounts in the note on staff costs. Copies are placed in the Libraries of the House.
WORK AND PENSIONS
Access to Work Scheme
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost was of assessing entitlement to support under the Access to Work scheme in each of the last three years for which figures are available. [62097]
Mrs. McGuire: Jobcentre Plus does not collect discrete statistics on the cost of assessments. Some Access to Work customers do not require an assessment, while others are assessed by the most appropriate person. This could be an external expert in the particular disability or an adviser at a Regional Access to Work Business Centre.
Benefit Claims
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in what circumstances a relative may claim benefits on behalf of an elderly dependent member of the family who does not live locally. [59446]
Mr. Plaskitt: A relative who is the formal representative, such as an attorney or a Secretary of State appointee, may claim on behalf of a family member in all circumstances.
A relative who has not been formally authorised as a representative may still make a claim on behalf of an elderly family member. The relative can complete a claim form in writing or, in the case of pension credit or
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state pension, supply the necessary information by telephone. However, in the case of an informal representative, the elderly family member must still sign the claim form both to affirm that the information given is correct and complete and to validate the form as their claim to benefit.
When the Pensions Transformation Project completes its roll out, an informal representative may make a claim on behalf of a family member without a signature being required. In addition to confirming that the family member has given consent for a claim to be made on their behalf, the representative will be asked further questions for verification and security purposes.
Benefits (Administration Costs)
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the administration costs were for (a) incapacity benefit, (b) disability living allowance, (c) industrial injuries disablement benefits and (d) jobseeker's allowance in each of the last three years. [61782]
Mr. Plaskitt: The Department accounts for its administrative expenditure by strategic objective as set out in its public service agreements (PSA) and by individual requests for resources (RfRs) as set out in the departmental estimates and accounts, and not by benefit. Information on administrative expenditure by strategic objective is available in the annually published departmental report, copies of which are available in the Library.
Benefits (Medical Assessments)
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many medical assessments took place to assess entitlement for (a) incapacity benefit, (b) disability living allowance and (c) industrial injuries disablement benefit in each of the last three years; and at what total cost. [62098]
Mrs. McGuire: The information is in the table.
Note:
Figures include examinations and advice that took place to assess entitlement for incapacity benefit, disability living allowance and disability living allowance.
Source:
Medical Services MI
Cold Weather Payments
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people have received cold weather payments so far in 2006 (a) in total and (b) broken down by parliamentary constituency. [61783]
Mr. Plaskitt:
The total number of people who have received cold weather payments so far in the winter of 2005–06 in Great Britain is estimated to be 650,000. A breakdown by parliamentary constituency is not available.
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2. If the average temperature has been recorded as, or is forecast to be, 0°C or below over seven consecutive days at a weather station, then a cold weather payment is triggered" for all eligible customers whose postcode is linked to that weather station.
3. The number of people who are estimated to have qualified because the weather station linked to their postcode has triggered was obtained from the benefit systems at the end of October 2005. It excludes people on income support and income-based jobseeker's allowance who qualified because they had a disabled child aged five or over and who received support for that child via child tax credit.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the locations of weather stations from which information is collected to assess entitlement to cold weather payments. [61785]
Mr. Plaskitt: The weather stations used to collect information in order to assess entitlement to cold weather payments are:
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