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11 July 2006 : Column 1748W—continued
(1) Information from the new deal database has been calculated using data on postcodes from the National Statistics Rural and Urban Classification of Output Areas.
Occupational Pensions
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether his Department sought the support of the Irish Government with respect to an application for a temporal limitation procedure in relation to the Amicus-Community trade union occupational pensions case. [78020]
James Purnell [holding answer 16 June 2006]: No. But my officials have had discussions about the case with their counterparts in Ireland and exchanged copies of their written observations on the case, as the outcome of the case is as important in Ireland as it is in the UK.
Pension Credit
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of (a) pensioner households and (b) female pensioners in (i) Wales, (ii) Scotland and (iii) England he estimates will be eligible to claim pension credit in (A) 2010, (B) 2015, (C) 2020 and (D) 2025; and if he will make a statement. [69546]
James Purnell: The information is not available in the format requested. The information available is shown in the following table.
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 proportion of pensioner households eligible for pension credit under the proposals contained in the White Paper “Security in retirement: towards a new pensions system.” This information is not available below Great Britain level.
| Table 1: Projected proportion of pensioner households who may be eligible for pension credit for selected years under the White Paper proposals | |
| All pensioner households (percentage) | |
| 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 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 reduce the numbers eligible for pension credit. 3. 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. 4. Estimates account for equalisation of state pension age between 2010 and 2020. Estimates assume that the minimum age at which people can claim pension credit rises in line with women’s state pension age. 5. Estimates are calibrated to the mid-points of the 2004-05 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. 6. Estimates of the number of pensioners eligible under the proposed reforms are not available for each country. As explained above, the estimates are based on taking the average of results from two separate models, a process which would render the breakdown of estimates at sub-Great Britain level unreliable. | |
Christine Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many residents in each electoral ward in Chester City were receiving pension credit in the last period for which figures are available. [82671]
James Purnell: The information is in the following table.
| Pension credit individual beneficiaries for wards in City of Chester parliamentary constituency, November 2005 | |
| Ward name( 1) | Individual beneficiaries( 2) |
| (1) Wards are based on 2003 ward boundaries. (2 )The number of individual beneficiaries includes both claimants and their partners. (3 )Only part of Elton, Waverton and Tattenhall wards fall within City of Chester parliamentary constituency. Note: Number of individual beneficiaries are rounded to a multiple of five, therefore ward totals do not always sum to area totals. Source: DWP Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS) 100 per cent. data. | |
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many residents in each electoral ward in Edinburgh West constituency receive pension credit; and if he will make a statement. [82703]
James Purnell: The information is in the following table.
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many residents in (a) Edinburgh West constituency and (b) other Edinburgh parliamentary constituencies receive pension credit. [82704]
James Purnell: The information is in the following table.
| Pension credit individual beneficiaries in Edinburgh parliamentary constituencies, February 2006 | |
| Parliamentary constituency( 1) | Individual beneficiaries( 2) |
| (1) Parliamentary constituencies and local authorities are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant ONS postcode directory. (2) The number of individual beneficiaries includes both claimants and their partners. 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. The number of individual beneficiaries are rounded to the nearest 10. Source: DWP: 100 per cent. data from the Generalised Matching Service (GMS). Pension Credit scan taken as at 17 February 2006. | |
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his latest estimate is of the number of pensioners in West Lancashire (a) entitled to and (b) receiving pension credit. [83660]
James Purnell: Estimates of eligibility are not available below the level of Great Britain. As at February 2006, there were 6,030 pension credit individual beneficiaries in West Lancashire parliamentary constituency.
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.
2. The number of individual beneficiaries is rounded to the nearest 10.
3. Parliamentary constituency is assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant ONS postcode directory.
4. The number of individual beneficiaries includes both claimants and their partners.
Source:
DWP: 100 per cent. data from the Generalised Matching Service (GMS). Pension credit scan taken as at 17 February 2006.
Pension Rights (Bankruptcy)
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 28 March 2006, Official Report, column 865W, on pension rights (bankruptcy), what the difference is between recent unpaid contributions to occupational pension schemes or state scheme premiums which are preferential and amounts due to pension schemes that is not preferential which is unsecured; and if he will make a statement. [81949]
James Purnell: The unpaid contributions that are preferential debts are employee contributions to an occupational pension scheme that have been deducted from the employee's pay during the last four months preceding the relevant insolvency date but that have not yet been paid over by the employer to the scheme, and unpaid employer contributions in respect of the 12-month period preceding the relevant insolvency date.
Under the Pension Schemes Act 1993 the trustees of a scheme can claim a payment in lieu of certain unpaid employee and employer contributions from the redundancy payments directorate of The Insolvency Service, which is an executive agency of the Department of Trade and Industry. Payments are made from the National Insurance Fund and if such a payment is made, the right to recover the relevant contributions from the insolvent employer's estate transfers from the pension scheme to the Secretary of State. Any sum owed on account of a state scheme premium is also a preferential debt.
All other amounts due from an insolvent employer to a pension scheme are unsecured. This includes debts due under section 75 of the Pensions Act 1995,which provides a mechanism for the trustees to be able to take action to pursue a statutory debt due from employers to defined-benefit schemes in certain circumstances including the insolvency of the employer.
Pensions
Sandra Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the net present cost is of reinstating the pensions of those pension scheme members covered by the recommendations of the parliamentary ombudsman. [68591]
James Purnell: We estimate that the net present value of the cost of implementing the ombudsman's proposals is between around £2.9 billion and £3.7 billion.
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the total change in revenue to the Treasury resulting from the cancellation of contracted-out rebates to defined contribution schemes in each year from 2012. [78001]
James Purnell: The estimated total change in public finances resulting from the abolition of contracting out for defined contribution schemes is shown in the following table.
Over time, the costs to S2P and the reductions on the rebate are expected to be broadly equivalent. The abolition of contracting out leads to a cash-flow effect from the rebate, balanced by a longer term increase in state second pension liabilities. The increase in the cost of the state second pension will arise as people retire, many of them after 2050. Therefore, some of the increase in cost is not captured in this table.
| State second pension and rebate costs due to the abolition of contracting out for defined contribution schemes | ||
| £ billion | ||
| State second pension | Rebates | |
| Note: Data in 2006-07 prices, coverage is GB. Source: DWP estimates. | ||
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