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Medical Assessments
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of medical assessments for benefit entitlement have been appealed in each of the last five years; and what proportion of appeals for each benefit has been successful. [76883]
Vera Baird: I have been asked to reply.
I refer the hon. Member to the response I gave to his question of 27 June 2006, Official Report, column 286W, as the information asked for is not available in the format requested. Data are collected by benefit type rather than by whether a medical assessment is carried out.
New Deal for Disabled People
Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) if he will take steps to make New Deal for Disabled People open to those who are in receipt of jobseeker's allowance who are partially sighted; and if he will make a statement; [83326]
(2) what equipment is available for those on New Deal for Disabled People. [83327]
Mrs. McGuire: New Deal for Disabled People (NDDP) services are available to people with a health condition or disability, including those who are partially sighted, who are in receipt of a range of benefits. Eligible benefits include incapacity benefit and income support with a disability premium, but not jobseeker's allowance (JSA). We have no plans to change the eligibility criteria for the programme.
There is no specific funding for equipment for NDDP customers and it is not a requirement of the programme to provide equipment. However, NDDP Job Brokers have the flexibility to use their funds to provide equipment if they feel it is appropriate to do so. Equipment can also be accessed through other provision, for example the adviser discretion fund (ADF), which enables the purchase of almost anything, up to a limit of £100 within a 12-month period, that will help a customer obtain a job, or take up an offer of employment. NDDP customers can access ADF through Jobcentre Plus advisers.
Access to Work also helps disabled people enter and stay in employment by providing a range of practical help to them and their employers, including the provision of equipment to help overcome barriers faced at work as a result of disability.
Office Equipment
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) personal computers, (b) laptops, (c) servers, (d) printers, (e) scanners, (f) photocopiers and (g) fax machines (i) his Department and (ii) each (A) non-departmental public body, (B) executive agency and (C) other public body for which his Department is responsible in (1) Scotland, (2) Wales, (3) each English region and (4) Northern Ireland owned in (x) 2003-04 and (y) 2004-05. [40089]
Mrs. McGuire: DWP central asset registers do not hold the requested data in national and regional splits. Assets owned by DWP, are held against individual Business Units and by financial cost centre. The information is therefore provided below by year and Business Unit.
In addition to the assets owned by DWP, the Department also utilises equipment owned by our major IT service provider EDS, under PFI arrangements. The figures for these supplier owned assets are included separately.
There were approximately 130,000 staff in DWP in March 2005 and significantly more PC's than people. There are several reasons for this, including PCs allocated to;
Part-time staff on an individual basis
Staff who work from more than one site or from home
Business testing and training (e.g. for our large modernisation programme)
The time lag between staff reductions and equipment removals.
The figure continues to fall. We estimate that the current figure it be 147,794 PCs and 8,169 laptops. The contractual and budgetary provisions of the recently aligned contract with EDS are designed to drive the numbers down further and to provide significantly improved Asset Management Services.
The returns for non-departmental bodies for which DWP is responsible have been obtained from each individual body.
Photocopiers can be purchased or leased by local management and central figures are not available, however a central DWP leasing arrangement for mid-range copiers indicates that 5,123 copiers were leased as at March 2005.
The information is contained within the following tables:
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