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10 July 2006 : Column 1587W—continued
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people have been in receipt of housing benefit in each year from 1985-86; and if he will make a statement. [81748]
Mr. Plaskitt: The housing benefit scheme was reformed in April 1988. Information for the old scheme is not available. The available information is in the table.
| Housing benefit recipients in Great Britain each November 1988 to 2005 | |
| Number | |
| Notes: 1. Figures for 1988 to 1991 are rounded to the nearest thousand and figures from 1992 onwards have been rounded to the nearest 10. 2. The data refer to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple. 3. Figures for any non-responding authorities have been estimated. 4. Housing benefit figures exclude any Extended Payment cases. Source: Social Security Statistics 1993. Housing Benefit and council tax benefit Management Information System Quarterly 100 per cent. caseload stock-count taken in November 1992 to 2005. | |
Incapacity Benefit
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many individuals in (a) Yeovil constituency, (b) Somerset and (c) the south west are claiming (i) short-term and (ii) long-term incapacity benefit. [82141]
Mrs. McGuire: The information is in the following table.
| Incapacity benefit (IB) and severe disablement allowance (SDA) claimants in the Yeovil parliamentary constituency, Somerset and the south-west at 30 IB credits November 2005. | ||||||
| All IB/SDA | IB short term (lower) | IB short term (higher) | IB long term | IB credits | SDA | |
| Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Totals may not sum due to rounding. 2. ‘Claimant’ figures include all incapacity benefit and severe disablement allowance, including incapacity benefit credits only cases. Source: DWP Information Directorate, Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent. data. | ||||||
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) if he will make a statement on the findings of reviews of the work pension abatement threshold within incapacity benefit since 1999; [83599]
(2) what progress he has made in ensuring that the work pension abatement threshold for incapacity benefit is increased and does not erode savings. [83600]
Mrs. McGuire: We have no current plans to change the threshold at which income from an occupational pension or personal pension is taken into account in assessing incapacity benefit, although, as with all social security rules, this will be kept under review.
The incapacity benefit pension income rule was introduced for new claims from April 2001. The threshold of £85 was set so that only people with above average pensions would be affected by the change.
The position was last considered in detail in October 2004. At that time, statistics showed that around one-fifth of people on incapacity benefit had an occupational pension and that the median pension income was £72.00 per week.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the value of the work pension abatement threshold for incapacity benefits was in each year since 1999; and what the estimated value for each year would have been had the threshold been uprated in line with inflation since 1999. [83601]
Mrs. McGuire: The occupational or personal pensions threshold of £85 was introduced in April 2001.
Information on what the threshold would be if it had been uprated by the RPI from 2001 is in the table.
| Occupational or personal pensions threshold if uprated by RPI from 2001 | |
| September | Amount (£) |
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the total value of incapacity benefit claimants' savings (a) which would have been protected if the work pension abatement threshold had been uprated in line with inflation in each year since 1999 and (b) which have been protected at the level at which the threshold has remained at since 1999. [83602]
Mrs. McGuire: The information is not available. No details of incapacity benefit claimants' savings are held.
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many incapacity benefit claimants whom Pathways to Work has placed in work were helped by private and voluntary sector organisations working in conjunction with JobCentre Plus. [73266]
Mr. Jim Murphy [holding answer 24 May 2006]: The New Deal for Disabled People (NDDP) is offered as part of the Pathways to Work Choices package and is delivered through a network of job brokers from the private and voluntary sector who are contracted to help customers find, secure and sustain paid employment.
Between October 2003 and February 2006; 22,350 individuals have been helped into work through Pathways to Work, of which, 5,070 (22.7 per cent.) were helped by a New Deal for Disabled People Job Broker.
From 7 February 2005 those existing IB customers who started an incapacity benefit IB claim (excluding Personal Capability Assessment exempt cases) in the
two years before the Pathways pilots started have been subject to three additional mandatory Work Focused Interviews (WFIs).
Between 7 February 2005 and the end of February 2006, the mandatory extension of Pathways has helped 980 individuals into work, of which, 260 (26.5 per cent.) were helped by an NDDP Job Broker.
The delivery of the mandatory extension to IB customers takes three months to complete and we would expect to see more people entering work in the months after this process. Therefore the latest available performance information does not yet give a true reflection of performance.
Note:
Pathways to Work data and data for the extension to existing customers is to February 2006.
Job Vacancies
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many job vacancies were listed at Jobcentre Plus in Yeovil constituency in each year since 1997. [82142]
Mr. Jim Murphy: Information on Jobcentre Plus vacancy data at parliamentary constituency level are only available from April 2004 and is set out in the following table.
| Yeovil parliamentary constituency | ||
| Period | Vacancies notified to Jobcentre Plus | Average number of ‘live’ unfilled vacancies on any given day |
| Note: Figures have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 10. Source: Jobcentre Plus Labour Market System. | ||
Jobcentre Plus
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what (a) national and (b) local targets have been set for Jobcentre Plus Contact Centre performance; and what data have been recorded to measure performance against such targets over the last two years. [54252]
Mr. Jim Murphy: 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 (a) national and (b) local targets have been set for Jobcentre Plus Contact Centre performance and what data has been recorded to measure performance against such targets over the last two years. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Jobcentre Plus contact centres report against two national Jobcentre Plus targets:
Job Entry Target—This target is the measure of our success in helping people in to work. Points are allocated according to
the customer’s priority group. A higher points score is awarded for our harder to help customer groups. Contact Centres contribute to this target through a dedicated telephone service provided by Jobseeker Direct.
Customer Service Target—This measures Jobcentre Plus’ performance in meeting the standards and commitments set out in the organisation’s customer and employer charters. An independent company assess performance against these standards by conducting mystery shopping surveys over the telephone.
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