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16 Jun 2006 : Column 1467W—continued
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will change his policy on ceasing carer’s allowance on receipt of the state retirement pension at age 60; and if he will make a statement. [77711]
Mrs. McGuire: We have no current plans to change the policy on overlapping benefits in respect of carer’s allowance and retirement pension.
It is a basic principle of the social security system that only one benefit at a time can be paid for the same purpose. Even though the circumstances which give rise to entitlement to carer’s allowance and state pension are different, they are both designed to provide a degree of replacement for lost or forgone income. Carer’s allowance was designed to provide a measure of replacement income where the duties of caring for a severely disabled person prevent the prospect of full-time work and the earnings it would yield. State pension was designed to provide a replacement income in retirement.
Although an entitlement to both benefits will mean that carer’s allowance is not payable, or not payable in full, an underlying entitlement to carer’s allowance gives access to additional financial support through the carer premium in housing benefit and council tax benefit and since 2003 the additional amount for carers in state pension credit.
Child Support
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will instruct the chief executive of the Child Support Agency to re-investigate the reasons for the reduction in child support paid to Mrs. N Darling of Dunstable; and if he will ask the chief executive of the Child Support Agency to allocate experienced forensic accountants to the case. [76047]
Mr. Plaskitt [holding answer 8 June 2006]: The administration of the Child Support Agency is the matter for the chief executive. He will write to the 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. As he is currently on leave, I am responding on his behalf.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will instruct the Chief Executive of the Child Support Agency to reinvestigate the reasons for the reduction in child support paid to Mrs N Darling of 6 Coombe Drive Dunstable; and if he will ask the Chief Executive of the Child Support Agency to allocate experienced forensic accountants to the case.
As details about individual cases are confidential I have written to you separately about this case.
Child Support Agency
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) fathers and (b) mothers have responsibility for (i) one, (ii) two, (iii) three, (iv) four, (v) five, (vi) six, (vii) seven and (viii) eight or more children in different households for whom there is a maintenance liability. [71471]
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. As he is currently on leave, I am responding on his behalf.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) fathers and (b) mothers have responsibility for (i) one (ii) two (Hi) three (iv) four (v) five (vi) six (vii) seven and (viii) eight or more children in different households for whom there is a maintenance liability.
Having contacted your office for clarification, we understand that the information you required was the number of non-resident parents by gender, and the number of CSA cases for which the non-resident parent has a liability.
This information is presented in the attached table.
I hope you find this useful.
| The number of non-resident parents by gender and the number of cases for which the non-resident parent is responsible; at March 2006. | ||
| Non-resident parent | ||
| Cases | Female | Male |
| Notes: 1. The above includes cases that are open and have received a full maintenance calculation, full maintenance assessment or default maintenance decision. Cases where a nil liability has been established are included, but old scheme cases with a punitive Interim Maintenance Assessment are excluded, as are new scheme cases being processed clerically. 2. Volumes are rounded to the nearest thousand. ‘?’ indicates a figure less than 500. | ||
Communication Support Professionals
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what level of proficiency is expected of a sign language interpreter booked through the Access to Work scheme; and what steps his Department takes to ensure that this standard is met; [74545]
(2) what guidelines are issued to Access to Work staff on the provision of communication support professionals for deaf and hard of hearing people; and what steps are taken to monitor their implementation. [74546]
Mrs. McGuire: Each Access to Work application for help with interpreting support is dealt with on an individual basis. Guidance is issued to Access to Work advisers which asks them to take into account the customer’s job role, their disability and any other help that might meet their needs at work. An expert assessment is commissioned, should there be any doubts as to what support might be necessary.
Access to Work policy guidance states that where British sign language interpretation is required, that a registered trainee interpreter (who has passed their stage 3) should be provided as a minimum.
All Access to Work business centre managers are routinely asked to ensure that the policy guidance is being adhered to within their teams.
In addition to this, Access to Work policy managers have been working in partnership with the Chief Officers’ Group (a network of senior representatives of deaf organisations) to develop guidance on the likely level of qualification an interpreter might need in order to support someone to carry out various work-related tasks. This guidance is in draft format at the moment, but will be finalised and distributed to all business centres during June.
Departmental Annual Reports
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff in his Department did not achieve an acceptable mark in their annual report in each of the last three years; and what percentage this represented of the total number of staff in each case. [75095]
Mrs. McGuire: The Performance and Development System (PDS) appraisal policy, introduced for the 2003-04 financial year, allows the allocation of a Lower (U) box mark to denote unsatisfactory performance:
In 2004-05, 35 people were awarded a Lower (U) box mark. This represented 0.03 per cent. of the total number of employees (127,828) allocated a box mark in this period.
In 2003-04, 60 people were awarded a Lower (U) box mark. This represented 0.05 per cent. of the total number of employees (131,312) allocated a box mark in this period.
It should be noted that a new DWP disciplinary policy was introduced in October 2004 incorporating amendments to the Employment Act 2002. Previous to this, each of the businesses had their own guidance on disciplinary procedures. It is possible that this change in process may account for some of the change in the numbers allocated Lower (U) between 2003-04 and 2004-05.
Previous to the introduction of PDS, there were several box marking systems in concurrent use in different parts of the DWP. There was not a universally applicable equivalent of the PDS Lower (U) category and, hence, it is not possible to provide comparable statistics for 2002-03.
Departmental Pension Liability
Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the pension liability of his Department over the next 30 years. [75237]
Mrs. McGuire: On 2 March 2006, Official Report, columns 388-90 a technical note by HM Treasury was placed in the Library of the House following an oral statement in Parliament by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. This note is a full statement about these liabilities and provides detailed information about the size and nature of the liabilities and how they are calculated.
Pension liabilities are not estimated for individual Departments, they are estimated for individual pension schemes, as shown in the breakdown of liabilities per pension scheme given in table 1 of the technical note.
Departmental Staff
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff in his Department were (a) civil servants, (b) contractors and (c) other staff in each year since 1997. [27453]
Mrs. McGuire: The number of civil servants in the Department between 1998 and 2004 can be found at Table C on the Civil Service Statistics which shows permanent staff numbers (FTE basis) in each Department and agency.
Civil Service Statistics 2004 are available in the Library and on the Cabinet Office Statistics website at:
http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management_of_the_civil_service/statistics/civil_service_statistics/index.asp
The data for 1997 can be obtained from Table C in Civil Service Statistics 2003.
Civil Service staffing trends by Department are now published by the Cabinet Office on a quarterly basis via its statistics website at:
http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management_information/statistical_information/statistics/index.asp
The most recent figures reflecting staffing as at 31 December 2005 were published on 7 April 2006.
For ease of reference the figures since 1 April 2002, the first available since the Department’s formation in June 2001, are in the following table:
| Number of staff | |
| Notes: 1. Figures are FTE rounded and include temporary staff. 2. Figures from 2002 to 2004 exclude staff on paid maternity leave. 3. Figures from 31 March 2005 are based on the Office for National Statistics definition. | |
No central data are held on the number of contractors or agency workers employed by the Department. The information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in his Department have been (a) disciplined and (b) dismissed for (i) inappropriate use of the internet while at work and (ii) using work telephones to access premium rate numbers in each of the last five years. [68001]
Mrs. McGuire: The information on the number of people disciplined and dismissed for inappropriate use of the internet for the period July 2003 to September 2005 is shown in the following table. No information is available for the period before July 2003.
| Number of disciplinary and dismissal actions against DWP employees that were as a result of internet abuse | ||
| Disciplined | Dismissed | |
No information is held on the number of disciplinary actions or dismissals for using work telephones to access premium rate numbers.
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what incentives his Department offers to encourage staff to share vehicles when travelling to work. [73104]
Mr. Plaskitt: The Department for Work and Pensions’ staff are encouraged to set up car sharing schemes; details of the benefits of car sharing and how to start and run schemes are on the departmental intranet. Staff are encouraged to participate in schemes run by other organisations, for example, local authorities.
The Department also offers other incentives to encourage more sustainable forms of travel; these include salary advances for the purchase of season travel tickets and bicycles. Concessionary bus passes are available in some locations and the Department also provides showers and changing facilities at a number of sites.
The Department promotes sustainable travel to work. Sustainable Transport Travel pages are available on the intranet. The travel pages promote awareness of travel options and include a copy of the Departmental Generic Travel Plan. Details of greener forms of transport are also included in the Departmental Induction Pack.
Departmental Targets
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps are being taken to improve reporting of performance against Departmental targets. [76517]
Mrs. McGuire: Performance towards achieving the Department’s Public Service Agreement targets, and progress with its efficiency challenge, is reported on twice a year in the spring Departmental Report and the Autumn Performance Report.
This reporting complies with HM Treasury guidelines, and takes account of suggestions for improvement from the Parliamentary Scrutiny Unit, from the Work and Pensions Committee and the National Audit Office.
In addition, the Department reviews the quality of performance reporting on an ongoing basis, and seeks to implement improvements to the accuracy, consistency and coverage of its reporting wherever possible.
Disability Discrimination Legislation
Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress has been made in making the Department compliant with the provisions of disability discrimination legislation. [75481]
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