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23 May 2006 : Column 1680W—continued
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what work the Government have undertaken to identify the destinations of the 56 per cent. residual unknown category leaving Pathways to Work detailed in Table 1 of HC 616-I. [72941]
Mr. Jim Murphy [holding answer 22 May 2006]: The Department is continually making efforts to improve our destinations information and analytical evidence base, and therefore our knowledge of what happens to working age people when they leave a benefit. For example, in addition to the data used in Table 1 of HC 616-1 the Department also uses information gathered from the 2004 Destination of Benefit Leavers survey, which is available in the Library.
The Destination of Benefit Leavers surveys provide more detail about the reasons for leaving where claimants were not going into work of 16 hours or more. It showed that 50 per cent. of those leaving incapacity benefits entered or returned to work of 16 hours or more. Of the remainder, 19 per cent. moved on to another working age benefit, most to JSA, 7 per cent. left because they were no longer eligible to claim or their benefit had been stopped and a further 7 per cent. left because they had been disallowed following a medical assessment.
Pension Age
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of the number of state retirement pensioners aged over (a) 80 and (b) 90 years in (i) 1980, (ii) 1990, (iii) 2000, (iv) 2010, (v) 2020, (vi) 2030, (vii) 2040 and (viii) 2050; and if he will make a statement. [70312]
James Purnell: The information is provided in the following table:
| Thousand | ||
| Over 80 | Over 90 | |
| Notes: 1. All figures include Non-contributory Retirement Pension. 2. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10,000 and are for GB and overseas pensioners. Sources: 1. 1980 and 1990 figures are derived from published DWP statistics. 2. 2000-01 figures are derived from bi-annual 5 per cent. statistics for March 2000, September 2000 and March 2001 appropriate for the 2000-01 financial year. 3. 2010-11 onwards figures are from the GAD model aligned to the latest data available. |
Pension Credit
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many residents in each electoral ward in Tamworth constituency receive pension credit. [71233]
James Purnell: The information is provided in the following table:
| Pension credit beneficiaries by ward in Tamworth constituency, November 2005 | |
| Ward name | Individual beneficiaries |
| Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest five. 2. Ward totals do not sum to parliamentary constituency total due to rounding. 3. The number of individual beneficiaries includes both claimants and their partners. Source: Information Directorate Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent. data. |
Mr. Devine: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Livingston received pension credit in 2005. [72364]
James Purnell: The information is provided in the following table.
| Pension credit individual beneficiaries in the parliamentary constituency of Livingston by quarter, February 2005 to November 2005 | |
| Quarter | Beneficiaries |
| Notes: 1. The numbers of individual beneficiaries are rounded to the nearest ten. 2. Parliamentary constituencies are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant ONS postcode directory. 3. The February 2005 figures relate to the 1997 parliamentary constituency boundaries. The figures for May 2005 onwards relate to the 2005 parliamentary constituency boundaries. 4. The number of individual beneficiaries includes both claimants and their partners. 5. Individual beneficiaries figures may include partners who are aged under 60. Source: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study. |
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioner households were receiving pension credit in West Suffolk constituency in each financial year since 2001-02. [72541]
James Purnell: The information requested is in the following table.
| Pension credit recipients in the parliamentary constituency of West Suffolk since November 2003 | |
| Quarter | Recipients |
| Notes: 1. Caseloads are rounded to the nearest ten. 2. Parliamentary constituency is assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant postcode directory. 3. Pension Credit replaced Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) on 6 October 2003. 4. Recipients are those people who claim Pension Credit either on behalf of themselves only or on behalf of a household. This number is equal to the number of households in receipt of Pension Credit. Source: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study |
Pension Protection Fund
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what guidance he has given to the Pensions Regulator on whether the transfer of assets from a company whose pension fund was showing a deficit would be a bar to the transfer of pension liabilities to the Pension Protection Fund. [71373]
James Purnell [holding answer 16 May 2006]: None. This is a matter for the Pensions Regulator.
Pensioners
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of (a) individual pensioners, (b) pensioner couples and (c) pensioner households eligible for pension credit in each (i) local authority and (ii) constituency in Scotland. [73199]
James Purnell: The information requested is not available. Estimates of eligibility are not available below the level of Great Britain.
Pensions
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether it is his policy to reduce the number of pensioners subject to means-testing; and if he will make a statement. [70288]
James Purnell: The proportion of pensioners entitled to income-related benefits has risen since 1997 due to our reforms which have been extremely successful in combating pensioner poverty. With respect to further reform, we shall be setting out the Government’s response to the Pensions Commission’s report in a White Paper very shortly.
Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will raise the level of pensions received by British pensioners resident overseas to the level received by those who remain resident in the UK. [71685]
James Purnell: The UK state pension is payable in all countries abroad to those who are entitled to it. It is uprated in the normal way for UK pensioners living overseas where there is a legal requirement or a reciprocal social security agreement to do so. We have no plans to change these arrangements.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much has been spent on advertising the fact that people have to apply for their state pension on reaching retirement age in each of the last three years for which figures are available. [69894]
James Purnell: Four months before they reach state pension age people are normally issued with an individual invitation to apply for state pension. There is no general advertising.
Post Office Card Account
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects to publish his Department’s evaluation of the pilot schemes relating to post office card accounts; and if he will make a statement. [73247]
Unemployment
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has for addressing seasonal unemployment fluctuations in seaside towns; and if he will make a statement. [72022]
Mr. Jim Murphy: Our successful labour market policies have resulted in a fall of 52 per cent. in claimant unemployment in Torbay since 1997. In addition the number of lone parents in receipt of benefit has fallen by 36 per cent. in Torbay over the same period.
Seasonal unemployment fluctuations are however more marked in seaside towns than elsewhere. Such local economies rely on tourism to provide employment opportunities and investment in the area. This may lead to higher unemployment out of season. However, data for winter 2005 shows that the claimant count rate for Torbay was below the national average, at 2.3 per cent.
Our recently published Green Paper ‘A new deal for welfare: Empowering people to work’ sets out proposals for piloting new initiatives to help local partners work together to improve economic regeneration through skills, employment and health. The key aim of this initiative will be to provide a solution that offers the maximum degree of local flexibility, so that local areas can provide local solutions to local problems.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proposals he has to deal with unemployment in the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement. [72037]
Mrs. McGuire: Latest figures show that there are more people in work than ever before. Employment now stands at 28.9 million, up by nearly 2.5 million since 1997. More than 1.5 million people have been helped into work through our new deal programmes(1), including over 660,000 young people, and our successful labour market policies have contributed to the virtual eradication of long term youth unemployment.
With an 11.3 percentage point increase since 1997, the lone parent employment rate now stands at a record high with around a million lone parents in work, up over 300,000 since 1997. We have achieved more than 21,000 Pathways to Work job entries, and the number of recorded job entries for people with a health condition or disability has almost doubled in Pathways areas. In the 12 month period to November 2005, the number of people claiming incapacity benefits fell by 60,000.
The unemployment rate remains close to its lowest level since 1975, but we want to go further still. Tackling worklessness and inactivity—particularly among those on benefits—remains our top priority and our Welfare Reform Green Paper sets out our proposals to build on Pathways to Work and our other successful labour market programmes. We will build on our success in cutting the numbers on lone parent and incapacity benefits, and continue to do all we can to help those claiming jobseeker's allowance back into work.
Note:
Information on new deal and Pathways to Work refers to Great Britain as this Department does not deliver employment programmes in Northern Ireland.
Unsatisfactory Attendance Procedures
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) oral warnings, (b) written warnings, (c) dismissal decisions and (d) retirements on medical grounds decisions were made in (i) Jobcentre Plus and (ii) his Department under his Department's unsatisfactory attendance procedures in each month in 2005. [52680]
Mrs. McGuire [holding answer 27 February 2006]: The best information we have available at this time is contained in the following table. The data on oral and written warnings has been extracted from the Department's Staff Information System. This system went live at the end of October 2005; prior to this, the Department did not have a single, central system which recorded warnings given. As a result, the figures for January to September may not fully represent the actual level of warnings given.
The data on dismissals on health grounds is taken from clerical records because the Department's computerised payroll records do not differentiate
between dismissals for ill health and other types of dismissal. The data on medical retirements is taken from payroll records.
| Department for Work and Pensions | ||||
| Oral warnings | Written warnings | Dismissals | Ill health retirements | |
|
Note: The table for DWP includes the figures for Jobcentre Plus. |
| Jobcentre Plus | ||||
| Oral warnings | Written warnings | Dismissals | Ill health retirements | |
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