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13 Sep 2006 : Column 2363W—continued
Zimbabwe
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what resources have been allocated by his Department to Zimbabwe in each of the last five years; and what steps he is taking to ensure that aid reaches those for whom it is intended. [90900]
Hilary Benn: Over the last five years, DFID has spent some £143 million on programmes in Zimbabwe, broken down as follows:
| Financial year | Commitment |
Most of this funding was directed to tackling HIV/AIDS and food insecurity. Since the breakdown of Zimbabwe’s relations with international donors in 2002, all funding has been channelled through United Nations agencies and non-governmental organisations. We provide no funding to the Government of Zimbabwe. Our implementing partners have clear and effective procedures and monitoring systems in place to
ensure that the assistance reaches the most poor and vulnerable people whom our assistance is intended to benefit. We also undertake our own monitoring and evaluation which confirms that assistance provided by the UK reaches those most in need. Along with the UN, EC and other donors, we continue to make it clear to the Zimbabwe Government that we will not tolerate political interference in the distribution of our aid.
Work and Pensions
Access to Work
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost of Access to Work to central Government Departments was in each of the last three financial years. [90718]
Mrs. McGuire: The information is not available broken down by employer and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Carer's Allowance
Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of those in receipt of carer’s allowance have an income below 60 per cent. of median household income before housing costs. [90599]
Mrs. McGuire: Analysis of the 2004-05 Family Resources Survey and Households Below Average Incomes datasets indicates that about 13 per cent. of those receiving carer’s allowance live in a household with income below 60 per cent. of median household income (before housing costs).
Correspondence
Mr. Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Walsall, North of 23 May, sent to HM Treasury and referred to his Department on 5 July, regarding a constituent. [87164]
Mr. Plaskitt [holding answer 24 July 2006]: A reply was sent to my hon. Friend on 14 August 2006.
Mr. Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will arrange for a further reply to the letter dated 2 June from the hon. Member for Walsall, North to the Child Support Agency regarding a constituent; reference 320975475681/1030275572. [90633]
Mr. Plaskitt [holding answer 11 September 2006]: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to my hon. Friend with the information requested.
Letter from Hilary Reynolds, dated 13 September 2006:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive. As the Chief Executive is currently on leave, I am responding on his behalf.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he would arrange for a further reply to the letter dated 2nd June from the hon. Member for Walsall North to the Child Support Agency regarding a constituent; reference 320975475681/1030275572.
I apologise for the delay in replying to your letter of 31 May. As details about individual cases are confidential I am sending my reply to the above letter to you privately.
Mr. Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will arrange for a reply to the letter dated 24 July to the Child Support Agency from the hon. Member for Walsall, North, reference 1020793538. [90634]
Mr. Plaskitt [holding answer 11 September 2006]: The administration of the Child Support Agency is the matter for the Chief Executive, he will write to my hon. Friend with the information requested.
Letter from Hilary Reynolds, dated 13 September 2006:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive. As the Chief Executive is currently on leave, I am responding on his behalf.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will arrange for a reply to the letter dated 24 July to the Child Support Agency from the hon. Member for Walsall North, reference 1020793538.
I apologise for the delay in replying to your letter dated 24 July. As details about individual cases are confidential I am sending my reply to the above letter to you privately.
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the reasons were for the time taken to transfer a letter from the hon. Member for West Chelmsford concerning his constituents, Mr. Forrester, Mrs. Dixty and Mr. Seal to the Department for Communities and Local Government; and if he will make a statement. [90666]
Mr. Plaskitt: The correspondence that the hon. Gentleman refers to raised a number of complex policy issues and officials in this Department had a number of discussions with colleagues in the Department for Communities and Local Government on how best to respond him. After seeking ministerial advice it was decided that the Department for Communities and Local Government would respond.
I apologise for the delay in arranging the transfer of the hon. Gentleman’s letter to the Department for Communities and Local Government and acknowledge that the service provided in this case did not meet the standard that this Department aspires to and which hon. Members require. The Department is reviewing its procedures on transfers of correspondence to ensure that similar delays are avoided in future.
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many letters have been dealt with by the Work and Pensions parliamentary correspondence teams relating to complaints about delays in receiving benefits and service delivery problems over the last three years. [90670]
Mr. Plaskitt: The information requested is not collated centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Disability Equality
Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he plans to publish the disability equality scheme for his Department; and in what formats he plans to publish the scheme. [90984]
Mrs. McGuire: We intend to publish our Disability Equality Scheme by 4 December 2006.
We will be publishing it in English, Welsh, Easy Read, Braille and Audio (download). It will also be available on both our internal and external websites.
The scheme will be published in font size 14 which meets the requirements for a large print version.
Disability Living Allowance
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent representations his Department has received from groups and individuals in support of an increase in disability living allowance; and what plans his Department has to increase disability living allowance. [90717]
Mrs. McGuire: Over the last six months, the Department has received no representations from groups in support of an increase of the rates at which disability living allowance is paid, but we have received such representations from 12 individuals. These include the letter the hon. Gentleman sent on behalf of his constituent to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on 13 July, and to which I replied on 20 July. In my letter, I advised that disability living allowance is increased every April by the rate of inflation as measured by the movement in the retail prices index. We have no plans to change these arrangements which have seen expenditure on the benefit increase by about 45 per cent. in real terms (at 2006-07 prices) from £6.1 billion in 1997-98 to an estimated £8.8 billion in 2005-06.
Health and Safety Executive
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what action is taken by the Health and Safety Executive to supplement its own regular inspection of major hazard sites (a) by unannounced check inspections and (b) by separate inspections by outside verification agencies. [90720]
Mrs. McGuire [holding answer 11 September 2006]: The majority of inspections to major hazard sites are pre-arranged, primarily to ensure that the appropriate technical staff are available to evaluate the effectiveness of the health and safety management systems including the technical measures in place for preventing and controlling major accident hazards. Unannounced visits are occasionally made where the spontaneity of such an approach is a key element of the purpose of the visit.
There is a range of requirements for independent verification in the various major hazard regulatory regimes. HSE inspectors take account of the findings of such verification inspections in their overall assessment/inspection process.
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps are being taken by the Health and Safety Executive inspectors in evaluating safety at major hazard sites to supplement audit of process and fitting operator safety systems by testing of these systems in the course of such inspections. [90721]
Mrs. McGuire [holding answer 11 September 2006]: It is the responsibility of the site operator to ensure that its safety systems are operated, maintained and tested as described in its safety report (where one is appropriate) and as intended.
HSE’s regulation of such sites require a balance between observing workplace standards and working practices, verifying risk control measures (both hardware and software), examining supporting documentation and interviewing personnel. Inspectors adopt a variety of approaches when verifying safety critical risk control or mitigation measures. Some testing of actual safety systems may be appropriate during a visit, for example, inspectors may ask to observe a test of a safety critical control system or a mitigation measure such as an emergency response plan.
Illegal Immigrants
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the total amount of benefits paid erroneously to illegal immigrants in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [91059]
Mr. Plaskitt: The information is not available.
Illegal immigrants are not entitled to DWP administered benefits. Rigorous checking processes are built into the benefit application systems to ensure that the gateway to the benefits system is secure.
Incapacity Benefit
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people are receiving incapacity benefit. [90607]
Mrs. McGuire: As at February 2006, there were 2,747,490 people in receipt of incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance in Great Britain.
Long-term In-patients
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many long-term hospital in-patients received an increase in their entitlement to (a) income support, (b) jobseeker’s allowance and (c) incapacity benefit following the introduction of new rules in April 2006; and what the average weekly increase in income was for recipients of each affected benefit. [91092]
Mr. Plaskitt: The information is not collected centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost
NI Numbers
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department has taken to implement the recommendations relating to the issue of national insurance numbers contained in Lord Grabiner’s 2000 report on the informal economy; and what discussions his Department has had with the Home Office in relation to implementing those recommendations. [75858]
Mr. Plaskitt: Lord Grabiner’s recommendation was that the national insurance number (NINO) allocation approach performed by the Balham office in south west London be extended nationally. DWP has implemented this recommendation. Following the successful pilot at Balham office, new procedures for NINO allocation were introduced nationally at the end of March 2001. Specialist teams now carry out thorough and detailed interviews with applicants. Interviewing sites have access to sophisticated document examination tools. A secondary level of checks has been introduced in order fully to corroborate information provided by the applicant at the initial interview.
The Home Office was involved in the development of these new procedures. Furthermore, following Lord Grabiner’s investigation into the informal economy, a steering group was set up in May 2000 to oversee the implementation of the recommendations contained in Lord Grabiner’s report.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether it has been the policy of his Department since 1997 to issue national insurance numbers to immigrants who have overstayed their permitted period in the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement. [75819]
Mr. Plaskitt: All National Insurance Number (NINO) applications are subjected to rigorous identity checking process and where this raises questions over immigration status or authenticity of identity documents, such cases will be referred to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate.
The NINO interviewing process was primarily designed to guard against identity fraud with NINO allocation being dependent upon an individual providing sufficient evidence to prove their identity. However, on Monday 5 June 2006, we announced changes that took place from July 2006 and which introduced a “right to work” condition before a NINO can be allocated to employment-related applicants.
Overpayment Income Support
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will investigate the alleged overpayment of income support to a constituent of the hon. Member for St. Albans, Mr. Jules Vialva. [89138]
Mr. Plaskitt: I will write separately to the hon. Lady concerning her constituent.
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he will answer question 79985, on benefits expenditure, tabled on 20 June 2006 by the right hon. Member for Birkenhead. [85464]
Mrs. McGuire [holding answer 14 July 2006]: I refer my right hon. Friend to the reply given on 25 July 2006, Official Report, columns 1567-68W.
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