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11 May 2006 : Column 492W—continued
Political Parties (Members Liabilities)
Chris Huhne: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the Government's policy is towards the liabilities of individual members of registered political parties in circumstances of (a) liquidation, (b) bankruptcy and (c) administration of such a party. [66675]
Mr. Straw: I have been asked to reply. The requirements for the registration and administration of political parties are set out in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA).
There are no specific rules regarding liquidation, bankruptcy or placing in administration of registered political parties in the Act. Whether individual members have liabilities, and the insolvency procedures applicable to a political party, are not matters governed by electoral law. Rather such matters will depend on how the particular political party has been set up, and its legal status in the general law: for example, some parties may be registered companies, and therefore would be subject to the specific requirements of companies’ legislation.
Electoral Commission Committee
Publications
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission how many publications were produced by the Electoral Commission during 2005; and what the total cost was. [69263]
Peter Viggers: I am informed by the Electoral Commission that during 2005 it produced 48 publications at a cost of £340,136. These included both statutory reports and publications providing training and support for those involved in the running of elections, political parties, agents and candidates.
Communities and Local Government
Brighton and Hove Albion
Norman Baker: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the dates of contacts between (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department and representatives of (i) Brighton and Hove council and (ii) Brighton and Hove Albion football club since 25 October 2005; and whether in each case the contact was by (A) telephone, fax or e-mail, (B) written correspondence and (C) meeting. [65222]
Angela E. Smith [holding answer 24 April 2006]: I have been asked to reply.
Given the hon. Gentleman's interest in the Palmer planning decision, I have restricted my answer to contact regarding that matter.
I am unable to provide details of telephone calls, faxes or emails as these records are not held centrally.
The letter setting out the Secretary of State's decision regarding the applications at Palmer was issued to all main parties on 27 October 2005.
No Ministers or officials in the Department for Communities and Local Government have had any meetings or written correspondence relevant to the planning decision with either the Council or the Football Club since the decision was issued.
Fire and Rescue Services
Ms Barlow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the impact on response times of the move to individual integrated risk management plans for the fire and rescue services in England. [69603]
Angela E. Smith: I have been asked to reply.
No assessment has been made. It is for individual Fire and Rescue Authorities to determine appropriate fire cover and the level of service in its area on the basis of local risk assessment and management.
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what guidance she has issued on the fitting of front-line fire service vehicles with satellite navigation systems; and what percentage of such vehicles in each fire service region is fitted with such devices. [68912]
Angela E. Smith: I have been asked to reply.
No guidance on the fitting of front-line fire and rescue service vehicles with satellite navigation systems has been issued to date.
Details of satellite navigation systems fitted into fire and rescue service vehicles are not collected centrally.
Home Information Packs
Mr. Drew: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what pilots have been undertaken prior to the introduction of home information packs. [63181]
Yvette Cooper: I have been asked to reply.
A pilot scheme was established in Bristol on 10 December 1999 and ran until July 2000. Some of the findings of that pilot will be updated through research to establish the baseline for home information packs. The first phase of this research is due to begin shortly with completion by September 2006. In addition, I refer my hon. Friend to the statement in the press notice issued on 7 April which gives details of a dry-run prior to introducing home information packs on 1 June 2007.
Neighbourhood Renewal
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has for neighbourhood renewal projects in Milton Keynes. [68141]
Mr. Woolas: I have been asked to reply
The Department does not have any plans to extend neighbourhood renewal programmes to Milton Keynes.
Neighbourhood Renewal funding is being allocated to the most deprived localities and neighbourhoods to help narrow the gap between these and the rest of the Country.
Milton Keynes does not meet these criteria.
As a growth area, Milton Keynes is already in receipt of targeted funding to improve the quality of life of residents and create sustainable communities.
Street Wardens (Peterborough)
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether he plans to provide funding from 2006-07 for the street wardens scheme in Peterborough; and if he will make a statement. [61256]
Mr. Woolas: I have been asked to reply.
There are no plans to further fund street warden schemes. The direct Office of the Deputy Prime Minister funding which ended in March 2005 was awarded on a short-term, pump priming basis, as was stated at the instigation of the funding.
Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority
Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the forthcoming White Paper on Local Government will clarify whether an executive mayor could replace the indirectly appointed Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority. [69220]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 10 May 2006]: We expect that the Local Government White Paper will clarify any proposals for directly elected mayors for city-regions or former metropolitan areas.
Work and Pensions
Benefit Claims
Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the time taken to rate a claim for (a) jobseekers' allowance and (b) income support was in Alloa in (i) May 2004 and (ii) May 2005. [69303]
Mrs. McGuire: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. She will write to the hon. Member.
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking what the time to rate a claim for Jobseeker's Allowance and Income Support was in Alloa in May 2004 and May 2005. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Our measure of the time taken to process a claim is the Actual Average Clearance Time. For 2005/06, the Jobcentre Plus Key Management Indicator level for processing claims for Income Support and Jobseeker's Allowance were 12 working days.
Jobcentre Plus does not record information separately for Alloa. However, it is included with the information for the Stirling area. The Actual Average Clearance Times for the Stirling area are in the table.
| Jobseeker's Allowance Clearance Time (Days) | Income Support Clearance Time (Days) | |
I hope this is helpful.
Child Poverty
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what measures the UK Government are assessing to target help to children in the UK that live below 27 per cent. of median income. [67281]
Margaret Hodge: The information is not available.
Specific information regarding low income for Wales, Scotland and the English regions of Great Britain is available in the latest publication of "Households Below Average Income 1994-95 to 2004-05".
Poverty is about more than low income. It is also about health, housing and the quality of the environment. Households who report the lowest incomes may not have the lowest living standards. Therefore households in the lowest range of income distribution should not automatically be considered to have the lowest living standards.
Our current approach in “Opportunity for All” is to present a range of low income thresholds (50, 60 and 70 per cent. of median income). This gives an idea of the depth of poverty and it is simple to interpret. Indeed, the incorporation of two different relative low income thresholds into our new child poverty measure (60 and 70 per cent. of median income), together with the absolute tier, further ensures that different depths of poverty will be looked at separately.
All publications listed are available in the Library.
Child Support Agency
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people came on to the Child Support Agency system in each of the last 12 months. [66831]
Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is the matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the right. hon. Member with the information requested.
In reply to your Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people came on to the Child Support Agency system in each of the last 12 months.
Following clarification received from your office, a table showing the change in the Agency's caseload over the last 12 months, as well as the Agency's intake of potential applications, is presented in the attached table.
Further information on the Agency's caseload and intake is available in the Child Support Agency's Quarterly Summary Statistics (QSS), published on 27th April 2006. A copy of this document is available in the House of Commons Library. Specifically in the QSS:
Table 1 shows the Agency's caseload, and a breakdown thereof.
Table 2.1 shows the number of potential applications received each month by the Agency.
I hope you find this useful.
| The Agency's caseload, and the change in the Agency's caseload relative to the previous month, for April 2005 to March 2006 | |||
| Caseload | Change in caseload relative to previous month | Monthly intake of potential applications | |
| Notes: 1. The Agency's caseload consists of all open pre-calculation/assessment cases, and cases with a maintenance liability (including those with both a nil and positive maintenance liability). 2. The size of the Agency's caseload will be affected by the Agency's intake and the number of cases that are closed within any given time period. 3. It is not possible to quantify the extent to which the Agency's clerical new-scheme caseload is or is not included in the above numbers. 4. Volumes are rounded to the nearest thousand. Components may therefore not sum, due to rounding. |
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the Child Support Agency (CSA) quarterly statistical summary, published on 27 April, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the reduction in the old scheme CSA caseload by 42,000 cases between March 2005 and March 2006. [67633]
Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is the matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the right hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 11 May 2006:
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