| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
12 May 2006 : Column 638W—continued
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much (a) the largest and (b) the smallest payment has been from the Financial Assistance Scheme. [66468]
James Purnell: The information requested is as follows:
(a) The largest gross payment has been £7,557.72 a year, or £629.81 a month;
(b) The smallest gross payment has been £600.96 a year, or £50.08 a month.
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how much capital investment in technology systems there has been for the Financial Assistance Scheme; [66469]
(2) if he will list the main IT suppliers for the Financial Assistance Scheme; and how much has been spent with each supplier. [66470]
James Purnell: There has been no capital investment in IT systems for the Financial Assistance Scheme. The FAS IT system is being designed and built by BT and delivered in phases. At 31 March 2006 we had made payments totalling £483,707.
The IT application is also supported by BT in the live environment for a monthly charge of £13,698 since November 2005. EDS provide the hosting service for the FAS IT system at a charge of £4,252.50 per month, also since November 2005.
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people were receiving payments from the Financial Assistance Scheme on 31 May 2005; and how many he expects will be in receipt of payments on 31 December 2006. [66473]
James Purnell: The first payments were made to 13 people on 21 December 2005. In the longer term we expect up to 15,000 people to be eligible for payments. We have no estimates for 31 December 2006.
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many of his Department's staff are employed to administer the Financial Assistance Scheme; [66474]
(2) what the total staff cost of the Financial Assistance Scheme has been, broken down by (a) managers and (b) administrative staff. [66475]
James Purnell: The Financial Assistance Scheme Operational Unit in York employs 69 people to administer the scheme. Reflecting actual working patterns, this equates to a whole time equivalent of 62 people.
The costs for the financial year 2005-06 are for (a) managers: £234,281.29 and (b) administrative staff: £1,052,724.76.
Note:
Assumes managers are in grades of Higher Executive Officer and above.
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many surviving spouses of scheme members have received payments from the Financial Assistance Scheme; [66476]
(2) how much is the average amount of payment made from the Financial Assistance Scheme to surviving spouses of pension scheme members; [66477]
(3) how much is the (a) largest and (b) smallest payment made from the Financial Assistance Scheme to surviving spouses of pension scheme members. [66478]
James Purnell: Under the Data Protection Act it is unlawful to reveal data which relate to a living
individual who could be identified from those data. As there is only one surviving spouse currently receiving assistance, I cannot provide the information requested.
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many appeals have been made against a decision concerning eligibility for the Financial Assistance Scheme; and what proportion have been (a) successful, (b) unsuccessful and (c) not yet determined. [66479]
James Purnell: To date, no appeals have been made.
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what mechanisms are in place to reclaim overpayments made by the Financial Assistance Scheme. [66480]
James Purnell: In accordance with regulations, recovery of overpayments of financial assistance will be handled in the same way as recoveries of overpayments of social security benefits.
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his latest estimate is of the average time taken to process applications to the Financial Assistance Scheme in the last 12 months. [66481]
James Purnell: As the Financial Assistance Scheme Operational Unit opened on 1 September 2005, information is only available for the last eight months.
Applications are generally made by trustees in the form of a notification of the scheme details to the Operational Unit.
Between 1 September 2005 and 25 April, 915 notification decisions have been made and on average it has taken 11 calendar days to process each notification.
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many calls were received by the financial assistance scheme operational unit in each quarter for which figures are available; and how many calls (a) were answered, (b) met an engaged tone and (c) were abandoned in each quarter. [66914]
James Purnell: The information requested is as follows.
| September-November 2005 | December 2005-February 2006 | March-April 2006 | |
| (1 )15 of the 17 abandoned calls were abandoned within two seconds, giving staff no chance of answering the call. |
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much of the £400 million made available for the financial assistance scheme he expects to be spent on (a) administrative costs, (b) capital costs and (c) payments to beneficiaries. [66915]
James Purnell: There are no capital costs and the administrative costs will be met from the Department's existing administration resources, separately from the £400 million. The provision of £400 million is to be used entirely for payments to beneficiaries.
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many people aged 60, 61 and 62 years are not eligible for assistance from the financial assistance scheme because their scheme had a retirement age of 65; [67153]
(2) how many people with a retirement age of 65 years who are over 60 years will not fall within the financial assistance scheme's three year window; [67154]
(3) how many people fall outside (a) the financial assistance scheme's three year window and (b) the
three year window but are within 10 years of retirement. [67155]
James Purnell: We estimate that around 70,000 of the 85,000 who may otherwise be eligible for assistance under the financial assistance scheme may fall outside the three year window and that around 55,000 may fall outside the three year window but are within 10 years of retirement.
We will not be able to provide more specific figures on the number of members with a particular retirement age and of a particular age, until detailed data have been collected from eligible schemes as they complete winding up.
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pension schemes will be eligible only for interim financial assistance scheme payments due to the wind up being delayed by trustees seeking to recover additional funds through legal action. [67156]
James Purnell: We cannot pay full financial assistance scheme payments until the final scale of individual losses can be established at the end of wind- up. ‘Initial payments' allow us to pay some money at a lower rate to those qualifying members who become entitled to assistance before their scheme completes wind up. While the wind-up process may take some time to complete and this may be affected by ongoing court action, all FAS qualifying schemes will ultimately complete wind-up and all eligible qualifying members will then receive full FAS payments.
Vehicle Excise Duty
Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will introduce a category of attendance allowance which exempts an individual from vehicle excise duty; and if he will make a statement. [69468]
John Healey: I have been asked to reply.
Attendance allowance is available for those who become disabled after the age of 65 and, unlike disability living allowance, does not have a mobility component. While some of those in receipt of attendance allowance may have mobility difficulties, receipt of attendance allowance does not of itself necessarily represent mobility needs; rather, it contributes towards the personal care needs of those with disabilities who are over the age of 65.
The Government believe that the benefit arrangements in place for disabled people are both fair and sensible and, in particular, that it is right to give the most help with the extra costs of disability to those who are severely disabled earlier in life. The Government have no plans to change the rules governing either AA or DLA.
Solicitor-General
Prosecutors (Humberside)
Ms Diana R. Johnson: To ask the Solicitor-General how many full-time equivalent qualified prosecutors
there were in Humberside (a) in 1997 and (b) at the latest date for which figures are available. [69764]
The Solicitor-General: In May 1997, the CPS had 13 geographic areas and there were 95.0 full-time equivalent (FTE) prosecutors in the CPS Humber area, which consisted of Humberside, South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire police force areas. By applying, a calculation based on the percentage of staff employed in each of the three areas that made up the CPS Humberside area as at April 1999, we can estimate that there would have been 30.0 FTE prosecutors notionally employed in the Humberside area in May 1997.
As at May 2006, the Humberside area have 44.4 FTE prosecutors.
Prime Minister
Bovine TB
Mr. Drew: To ask the Prime Minister what discussions has he had with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the situation regarding bovine TB; what plans he has to study the results of the recent consultation on a new strategy; and whether he will be involved directly in any decision on that strategy. [68650]
The Prime Minister: I have regular meetings and discussions with ministerial colleagues and others on a wide range of subjects. Information relating to internal meetings, discussion and advice is not disclosed as to do so could harm the frankness and candour of internal discussion.
Consultants
Keith Vaz: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list the companies which were paid consultancy fees by his Office in 2005-06; how much each was paid; and what each of the companies was used to accomplish. [69698]
The Prime Minister: For these purposes my office forms part of the Cabinet Office. I have therefore asked my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office (Hilary Armstrong) to reply. A copy of the reply will be placed in the Library of the House.
Honours (Investigation)
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Prime Minister how many members of his private office have been interviewed by the Metropolitan Police Specialist Crimes Directorate in connection with investigations relating to the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925; and if he will make a statement. [68302]
The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the press briefing given by my Official Spokesman on Wednesday 3 May, a copy of which is available on the No. 10 website.
Middle East (Special Envoy)
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Prime Minister what the duties and responsibilities are of his Special Envoy to the Middle East; whether this post incurs a cost to the public purse; how he measures the efficacy of this person's work; and if he will make a statement. [68763]
The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker) on 17 March 2006, Official Report, columns 2581-82W.
Lord Levy receives no remuneration and travels at his own expense. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office and diplomatic missions overseas provide him with practical support.
Ministerial Resignations
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Prime Minister on how many occasions he has received offers from members of his Government to resign which he has not accepted. [68610]
Mr. Amess: To ask the Prime Minister (1) on which occasions he has asked (a) a Cabinet and (b) a junior Minister to resign during changes to his Government in each year since 1997; [69626]
(2) which (a) Cabinet and (b) junior ministers offered to tender their resignation in each year since 1997; and how many of such offers he (i) accepted and (ii) rejected. [69627]
The Prime Minister: Details of Members of Government for the years requested are set out in the List of Ministerial Responsibilities, copies of which are available in the Library of the House.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Prime Minister what criteria he used in deciding not to accept the resignation of the Home Secretary. [68611]
The Prime Minister: A full list of Government changes and resignations was announced on 5 May. Copies are available in the Libraries of the House and on the No. 10 website.
Ministerial Staff
David Simpson: To ask the Prime Minister what percentage of his staff is (a) male, (b) female and (c) disabled. [69251]
The Prime Minister: For these purposes my office forms part of the Cabinet Office. I have therefore asked my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office (Hilary Armstrong) to reply. A copy of the reply will be placed in the Library of the House.
Petrol Prices
Mr. Amess: To ask the Prime Minister what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the price of petrol; and if he will make a statement. [69625]
The Prime Minister: I have regular meetings and discussions with ministerial colleagues and others on a wide range of subjects. Information relating to internal meetings, discussion and advice is not disclosed as to do so could harm the frankness and candour of internal discussion.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |