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19 Apr 2006 : Column 719W—continued
National Insurance Numbers
Mr. Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on how many occasions in the last 12 months his Department checked the immigration status of applicants for national insurance numbers; and how many applications were refused as a result. [62274]
Mr. Plaskitt: Individuals entering the UK from abroad who require a National Insurance Number, must attend Jobcentre Plus for an Evidence of Identity interview. The interviewing process is primarily designed to guard against Identity fraud. If Jobcentre Plus becomes aware of immigration or right to work irregularities, it advises the Home Office Immigration and Nationality Directorate of this so that appropriate action can be taken. The number of cases referred to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate as 'potential immigration offenders' between 1 April 2005 and 28 February 2006 is 1,712.
Pathways to Work
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the proportion of pathways to work participants who would benefit from the condition management programme. [43142]
Margaret Hodge: Of all Pathways to Work participants who have accessed the Choices package, 42 per cent. are referrals to the Condition Management Programme (CMP).
1. The statistics quoted in this response are taken from the Pathways to Work Evaluation Database. 2. Data is to October 2005. 3. The Pathways to Work database only holds information on the number of referrals to the Condition Management Programme (CMP), we cannot tell from our data whether the customer has gone on to start CMP. Other management information suggests that approximately 75 per cent. of CMP referrals result in a CMP start.
Danny Alexander:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of talking therapists that will need to be recruited for a national roll-out of Pathways to Work, assuming that demand for the Condition Management
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Programme is at a level similar to the demand experienced in the pilot areas; and if he will make a statement. [59855]
Margaret Hodge: We recognise that for the success of our reforms, we need to ensure we have sufficient health professionals in a range of specialisation. We are currently creating a planning group to help identify likely requirements and potential solutions. The Department of Health, with whom we are working closely, are already looking at ways in which access to such therapies can be improved.
Post Office Card Account
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) for what reason he did not seek to negotiate (a) the contract with the Post Office on the card account and (b) a replacement product; [59005]
(2) what alternatives he has considered to the Post Office card account; and what estimate he has made of the income to be derived from them by rural sub-post offices. [59008]
Mr. Plaskitt: The Post Office card account contract is a finite contract, which ends in March 2010. The question of an extension or renegotiation, therefore, does not arise. It will be for Post Office Ltd. to bring forward proposals for new products and services. We are working with Post Office Ltd. with the best interests of our joint customers in mind.
Post Office Ltd. has already introduced one new savings account, and is developing other savings and banking products which are likely to be more attractive to many of its customers than the current Post Office card account. At this stage it is not possible to estimate how much income these new products might provide for rural sub-post offices.
There are already some 25 bank and building society accounts which can be used at Post Offices, with each transaction at the Post Office generating income for Post Office Ltd. We would like every customer of the Department who currently has a Post Office card account to do their banking at the Post Office if that is what they want.
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the impact on those living in isolated villages in the Vale of York of the withdrawal of the Post Office card account in 2010. [59006]
Mr. Plaskitt: For customers, there is, in practice, no real difference in accessing money at the Post Office via a bank account compared to a Post Office card account. Customers can collect the same money, on the same day as they do now at the Post Office, by using a plastic card and a personal identification number.
Around 25 or so different accounts can currently be accessed at Post Offices as well as the Post Office card account, and we hope there could be more in the future. Post Office Ltd. has already introduced one new savings account, and is developing other savings and banking products which are likely to be more attractive to many of its customers than the current Post Office card account.
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We want people to continue to access their cash at the Post Office by using a bank account there or new Post Office products, and we are working with Post Office Ltd. with the best interests of our joint customers in mind.
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people used a Post Office card account to access (a) pension credit and (b) child benefit in each of the three years. [62867]
Mr. Plaskitt: Information available shows that there were 54,000 pension credit accounts being paid by direct payment into a Post Office card account at February 2004, 826,900 at February 2005 and 934,500 at February 2006.
Child benefit information is not included as it is the responsibility of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.
Figures are rounded to the nearest 100 and refer to pension credit accounts live and in payment on the specified date.
Mr. David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what measures his Department employed at the time of the launch of the Post Office card account to alert (a) customers and (b) sub-postmasters to the fact that it was intended to be phased out in 2010. [63066]
Mr. Plaskitt: The contract for the Post Office card account was signed by DWP and Post Office Limited in March 2002. It was clear in the contract that Government funding for the Post Office card account would only continue until 31 March 2010.
As we were migrating customers from order books to Direct Payment we had to decide what information we provided customers with, and when, so that they could make informed choices about the accounts they wanted to use. Since the Post Office card account had a lifetime of seven years, our judgment was that this was a reasonably lengthy period for a financial product of this type and there was no need draw customers' attention to it at the outset.
Sub-postmasters are agents of Post Office Limited. Information provided to sub-postmasters is a matter for Post Office Limited.
Social Fund
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the real expenditure on the Social Fund was for each year from 1995–96; how much has been allocated for 2006–07 at 2004–05 prices; and if he will make a statement. [63373]
Mr. Plaskitt: The information is in the tables.
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| Cash terms | Real terms | |
|---|---|---|
| 2006–07 | 842 | 805 |
| Cash terms | Real terms | |
|---|---|---|
| 2006–07 | 298 | 285 |
Notes:
1. Figures are for Great Britain.
2. Real terms refers to 2004–05 prices.
3. Expenditure in real terms has been calculated using the Gross Domestic Product deflator published on the HM Treasury website. This incorporates outturn data to 2004–05 from the Office for National Statistics, last updated on 29 March 2006, and HM Treasury forecasts consistent with the Budget report 2006.
4. Expenditure and allocations have been rounded to the nearest £1 million.
Source:
DWP Social Fund Policy, Budget and Management Information System.
The gross discretionary social fund budget has benefited from extra AME funding of £90 million over the years 2003–04 to 2005–06, of which £60 million was invested in the national community care grants budget. The national community care grants budget for 2006–07 is over 45 per cent. higher in cash terms than in 1995–96 and 11 per cent. higher in real terms. Further AME funding totalling £210 million over the next three years 2006–07 to 2008–09 has been given to support changes to the national loans scheme.
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