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5 July 2006 : Column 1166W—continued

Financial Assistance Scheme

Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many surviving spouses of members of pension schemes (a) have completed and (b) are in the process of completing the financial assistance scheme eligibility process. [72744]

James Purnell: The financial assistance scheme eligibility process is completed once a decision has been made as to whether or not a member is eligible for payments from the financial assistance scheme.

The process has (a) been completed for nine surviving spouses of members and (b) 10 are still being processed.

Housing Benefit

Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much has been spent on
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housing benefit in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [79533]

Mr. Plaskitt: The available information is in the table.

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Local authority Housing Benefit expenditure; Great Britain.
	£
1996-97	6,461,567,421
1997-98	6,382,935,803
1998-99	6,454,971,767
1999-2000	6,609,544,876
2000-01	6,800,139,226
2001-02	7,252,541,165
2002-03	8,279,956,608
2003-04	8,212,197,616
2004-05	13,146,385,061
Note: 1. From 2004-05, the DWP expenditure includes £4,157,388, 700 HRA rent rebates; HRA for previous years was paid by DCLG. 2. Figures are reported expenditure by local authorities and not DWP subsidy expenditure. 3. Figures are nominal amounts. Source: Local authority reported expenditure.

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost of housing benefit (a) overpayments and (b) fraud was to Luton Council in each of the last five years. [80369]

Mr. Plaskitt: The available information is in the table.

Overpayments and recoveries by Luton Council, 2004-05
				£
Value of overpayments identified by Luton Council	Subsidy paid by DWP to Luton council (40 per cent. of overpayments identified)	Net cost to Luton council before recovery	Recovered by Luton council	Net cost after recovery
986,776	394,710	592,066	1,007,423	-415,357
Notes: 1. A negative amount implies a surplus. 2. The cost of overpayments is calculated first from the difference between the value of overpayments identified due to fraud and claimant error, and the subsidy received by Luton council for these overpayments. This value minus any overpayments subsequently recovered from claimants or landlords is presented here as the net cost after recovery. Administrative costs, such as those for fraud teams and for recovering overpayments, have not been included in this answer. 3. The amount recovered by Luton council in 2004-05 includes overpayments identified in earlier years.

Information is not available on local authority performance in respect of the level of Housing Benefit fraud present in their caseload, since it is not possible to robustly estimate the amount of undetected fraud and error at a local authority level.

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was spent on housing benefit for tenants in (a) council property, (b) housing association property, (c) registered social landlord property and (d) private sector housing in Tamworth constituency in each of the last three years. [80135]

Mr. Plaskitt: Information is not available broken down by constituency. Information cannot be broken down by landlord type other than by council or private tenancies. The latter includes housing associations and registered social landlords. The available DWP information for Tamworth borough council is in the table.

Housing benefit expenditure in Tamworth borough council.
			£
	Expenditure in council property	Expenditure in all private property	All housing benefit expenditure
2002-03	237,000	3,824,000	4,061,000
2003-04	138,000	3,866,000	4,004,000
2004-05	7,318,000	4,027,000	11,345,000
Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand pounds. Totals may not sum due to rounding. 2. There are issues still to be resolved in the 2004-05 claim and therefore the figures for this year are subject to change 3. From 2004-05, the DWP expenditure includes £7,086,780 HRA Rent Rebates; HRA for previous years was paid by DCLG. 4. Figures are reported expenditure by local authorities and not DWP subsidy expenditure. 5. Figures are nominal amounts. Source: Audited subsidy claims submitted by local authority

Kvaerner Pension Fund

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what representations he has received regarding the decision of the pensions regulator on the future contributions of TH Global to the Kvaerner Pension Fund. [73211]

James Purnell: My Department has received seven written representations from Members of Parliament about the decision of the regulator in respect of the Kvaerner Pension Fund since the two press releases in April and May on the future of the scheme.

Pension Credit

Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of female pensioners were (a) eligible to claim and (b) receiving pension credit in (i) the UK, (ii) Wales, (iii) Scotland and (iv) England in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [69554]

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James Purnell: The information is not available in the format requested. Information on female beneficiaries of pension credit in Great Britain is in the following table. In Northern Ireland, pension credit administration is a matter for the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

Female beneficiaries of pension credit in Great Britain February 2006
	Female beneficiaries	Female beneficiaries as a percentage of women 60 or over( 1)
Wales	130,080	34
Scotland	222,610	36
England	1,817,280	31
Great Britain	2,169,960	32
(1) Beneficiaries includes single women in receipt of pension credit, and women in couples who are in receipt of pension credit. Notes: 1. These figures are early estimates. The preferred data source for figures supplied by DWP is the Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS). However, the figures provided are the latest available figures which are taken from the GMS scan at 17 February 2006. These are adjusted using the historical relationship between WPLS and GMS data to give an estimate of the final WPLS figure. Average amounts are displayed as at the scan reference data of 17 February 2006. 2. Case loads are rounded to the nearest 10. Totals may not sum due to rounding. 3. Percentages are rounded to the nearest full point. 4. Figures may include female partners who are aged under 60. 5. Population figures used in the percentage calculation are based on ONS mid-term 2004 population estimates. Source: Department for Work and Pensions 100 per cent. data from the Generalised Matching Service (GMS). Pension credit scan taken as at 17 February 2006.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the (a) number and (b) proportion of pensioners who will be entitled to receive pension credit in (i) 2010, (ii) 2020, (iii) 2030, (iv) 2040 and (v) 2050, assuming pension credit remains linked to earnings growth; and if he will make a statement. [70286]

James Purnell: The numbers eligible for pension credit in the future are subject to a range of uncertainties and a number of factors including policies on uprating different benefits. Table 1 shows the projected number and proportion of pensioner households eligible for pension credit under the proposals contained in the White Paper “Security in retirement: towards a new pensions system.”

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Table 1: Projected number and proportion of pensioner households eligible for pension credit for selected years under the White Paper proposals.
	Number of pensioner households eligible (million)	Percentage of pensioner households eligible
2010	4.15	44
2020	3.45	41
2030	2.95	31
2040	2.80	27
2050	2.95	29
Notes: 1. Projections of the number and proportion of pensioner households eligible for pension credit are sensitive to modelling assumptions and to projected changes in the distribution of pensioner incomes. 2. The estimates of proportions shown here are the mid-points of projections taken from two separate micro-simulation models. Modelling of the reform proposals does not include any increase in private saving from the introduction of personal accounts, which would further reduce the numbers eligible for pension credit. 3. Projections of the number of pensioner households eligible for pension credit are derived from the projected proportions eligible and projections of the number of pensioner households in Great Britain. 4. These projections assume: continued earnings uprating of the standard guarantee credit; earnings uprating of the savings credit threshold from 2008 to 2014; earnings uprating of the basic state pension from 2012; price uprating of the maximum savings credit from 2015; measures to improve coverage of the basic state pension described in the White Paper. 5. Estimates cover all those aged above women’s state pension age in the private household population of Great Britain. 6. Estimates account for equalisation of state pension age between 2010 and 2020. They also account for the proposed further increases in state pension age described in the White Paper. The estimates assume that the minimum age at which people can claim pension credit rises in line with women’s state pension age. 7. Estimates are calibrated to the mid-points of the 2004-5 National Statistics range estimates of non-eligibility to pension credit, which adjust 2004-05 Family Resources Survey data to take account of possible biases in reporting. Although the estimates here are not presented as ranges, they are subject to a margin of uncertainty. 8. Estimates of the number of pensioner households eligible are rounded to the nearest 50,000.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of the proportion of pensioner benefit units entitled to pension credit in each year between 2002-03 and 2020-21; and if he will make a statement. [70296]

James Purnell: The numbers eligible for pension credit in the future are subject to a range of uncertainties and a number of factors including policies on uprating different benefits. Table 1 shows the estimated proportion of all pensioner households eligible for pension credit from 2003-04—the first year in which pension credit was available—to 2007-08. Table 2 shows projections from 2008-09 to 2020-21 under the proposals contained in the White Paper “Security in retirement: towards a new pensions system.”

Table 1: Estimated proportion of pensioner households eligible for pension credit under the current system
	Percentage
2003-04	48
2004-05	46
2005-06	45
2006-07	45
2007-08	46

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Table 2: Projected proportion of pensioner households eligible for pension credit for selected years under the White Paper proposals
	Percentage
2008-09	45
2009-10	45
2010-11	44
2011-12	45
2012-13	45
2013-14	44
2014-15	44
2015-16	44
2016-17	43
2017/18	42
2018-19	41
2019-20	41
2020-21	41
Notes: 1. Projections of the proportion of pensioner households eligible for pension credit are sensitive to modelling assumptions and to projected changes in the distribution of pensioner incomes. 2. The estimates of proportions shown here are the mid-points of projections taken from two separate micro-simulation models. Modelling of the reform proposals does not include any increase in private saving from the introduction of personal accounts, which would further reduce the numbers eligible for pension credit. 3. The reform projections assume: continued earnings uprating of the standard guarantee credit; earnings uprating of the savings credit threshold from 2008 to 2014; earnings uprating of the basic state pension from 2012; price uprating of the maximum savings credit from 2015; measures to improve coverage of the basic state pension described in the White Paper. 4. Estimates cover all those aged above women's state pension age in the private household population of Great Britain. 5. Estimates account for equalisation of state pension age between 2010 and 2020. They also account for the proposed further increases in state pension age described in the White Paper. The estimates assume that the minimum age at which people can claim pension credit rises in line with women's state pension age. 6. Estimates are calibrated to the mid-points of the 2004/5 National Statistics range estimates of non-eligibility to Pension Credit, which adjust 2004/5 Family Resources Survey data to take account of possible biases in reporting. Although the estimates here are not presented as ranges, they are subject to a margin of uncertainty.

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