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18 Sep 2006 : Column 2468W—continued
Property Market
Michael Gove: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister on what basis the Government estimated the cost of abortive property transactions in the residential property market at £350 million per annum; and how many transactions were assessed to arrive at this figure. [64948]
Yvette Cooper: The Department's 1998 research study, “Key research on easier home buying and selling”, reported that 28 per cent. of transactions fail between offer acceptance and completion, or the equivalent of 467,000 failures at current transaction rates. The tracking surveys in the 1998 study also recorded details, where known, of the costs incurred by people whose purchase or sale had fallen through. The research found that the average cost of a failed transaction was £906 (£680 for buyers and £206 for sellers). Over a thousand respondents provided these details. However to take account of the relatively small sample size, the estimate of the total cost of transaction failure was adjusted downwards. The estimate of £350 million assumes a cost of £750 per transaction failure—i.e. the total loss for buyer and seller at 1998 prices. The baseline research due to start shortly will provide more up to date and comprehensive data on the cost of transaction failure to consumers.
Rebranding
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what rebranding costs have been incurred by each of the agencies affiliated to her Department as a consequence of the transfer of responsibilities from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. [86828]
Angela E. Smith: Three of the four Executive Agencies affiliated to the Department incurred no material costs associated with the change of Department.
The Planning Inspectorate (PINS) had to make changes both to its publicity material, which it would have had to do in the normal course of business as such material is regularly updated and revised, and to the electronic templates that Inspectors and others use for the issuing of decision letters. The estimated total cost of carrying out the necessary changes is £11,000.
Retail Developments
Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will ensure that the presumption is that large shops should be built in town centres rather than out of town continues; and if she will make a statement. [91253]
Yvette Cooper: The Government remain committed to promoting the vitality and viability of town centres and a town-centre first policy approach. “Planning Policy Statement 6: Planning for town centres”, published in March 2005, applies to all main town centre uses, including large retail development.
Supporting People Strategy
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate her Department has made of the cost of administering Supporting People payments for older people living in sheltered housing; and if she will make a statement. [86117]
Mr. Woolas: The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) does not have a specific estimate for the administrative costs of Supporting People with regard to older people living in sheltered housing.
DCLG provides a grant to top-tier local authorities as a contribution to their costs in administering the Supporting People programme; this grant totals £40 million for England in the current year. Administrative costs to service providers of supported housing will be covered within the contracts they hold with local authorities, and are not therefore identifiable within the information held by central Government.
Tenant Deposit Scheme
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the tenant deposit scheme on smaller residential landlords. [91271]
Yvette Cooper: The regulatory impact assessment for the Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme was published in September 2004. The assessment took account of the views of stakeholders including the small residential landlords. The Department subsequently established a stakeholder steering group, which includes landlord representatives, to progress the development and introduction of the scheme.
Work and Pensions
Benefit Payments
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many methods of calculation are available to decision makers in his Department making decisions on overpayment of benefits; and if he will make a statement. [91118]
Mr. Plaskitt: There is one method of calculation that can occur at a number of stages throughout the decision making process.
There are two elements to a decision on an overpayment of benefit.
Initially, where it becomes apparent to the Department that the information on which entitlement to a benefit is based is incorrect, a review of that
entitlement is carried out. A calculation is then made comparing what the entitlement should have been based on the correct facts, and compared with what was actually paid.
If an overpayment has occurred, a decision maker then determines whether that overpayment can be recovered under Social Security legislation. When reaching that decision, the decision maker must be satisfied that the customer or their representative has failed to disclose or has misrepresented a material fact, including a change in their circumstances. Where an overpayment has arisen as a result of a customer's misrepresentation or failure to disclose, Section 71 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 allows the recovery of that overpayment.
The decision can be disputed by the customer and automatically provides a right of appeal on the grounds of whether there has been misrepresentation or failure to disclose and the amount determined. Where a decision is disputed, a decision maker can review a decision and make a fresh decision, either on the amount of the overpayment, or on the basis of its recoverability. A fresh decision is then issued against which further rights of appeal are provided.
This legislation covers the vast majority of overpayments that are determined to be recoverable under Social Security legislation.
Citizens Advice Bureaux
Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what funding his Department provides to citizens advice bureaux. [91139]
Mr. Plaskitt: The Department for Work and Pensions does not provide core funding to citizens advice bureaux. We do however, on occasion, provide funding for specific initiatives that support the Department's aims and objectives. Most recently, £1.65 million in funding has been provided to 24 bureaux, for the period March 2005 to February 2007, from the Department's Partnership Fund, which is aimed at encouraging initiatives to support the take-up of Pension Credit.
Disability Equality
Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what (a) information gathering and (b) other actions (i) his Department and (ii) other bodies are taking to inform the production of the report on progress towards disability equality within the work and pensions policy sector. [91184]
Mr. Plaskitt: All relevant areas of DWP policy will be considered in the report on progress. We will seek an assessment of progress from the principal authorities which deliver services funded or regulated by the Secretary of State including local authorities administering housing benefit, as well as the executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies of the Department for Work and Pensions.
We are considering what specific information needs to be collected to be able to publish our report on 1 December 2008.
Housing Benefit
Mr. Love:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the single room rent restriction on housing benefit was in each locality in (a) Wyre, (b) Lancaster, (c) Eastbourne, (d) Hastings, (e) Flintshire,
(f) Leicester, (g) Sheffield, (h) Greenwich, (i) Southwark, (j) North Lincolnshire, (k) Kingston-upon-Hull and (l) East Devon in each year between 1996-97 and 2004-05. [85604]
Mr. Plaskitt: The available information is in the following table.
| Single room rents in each of the specified local authorities | ||||||||
| £ | ||||||||
| Local authority | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
| Notes: 1. Information source: The Rent Service except Flintshire which was provided by Rent Officer service Wales. 2. No central records of single room rents exist for the years prior to the establishment of The Rent Service on 1 October 1999. 3. The figures shown are the average of single room rents, of all localities within the local authorities, as at 31 December in each year. | ||||||||
Pensions
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many solvent companies have starting winding up pension schemes since 1997. [66483]
James Purnell: The information is not available.
Pensions schemes that start to wind up are required to advise the pensions regulator, as it maintains a register of pension schemes. However, the status of the employer that sponsors an occupational pension scheme is not registrable information, which means that the regulator is unable to identify how many schemes in the process of winding up have a solvent employer.
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the number of (a) male pensioners currently aged over 65 years and (b) female pensioners currently aged over 60 years who will be claiming (i) the guarantee credit only, (ii) savings credit and guarantee credit and (iii) savings credit only in (A) 2010 and (B) 2012 under the proposals in the White Paper Security in Retirement, Towards a New Pensions System; and what estimate he has made of what these numbers would be under the current system. [77995]
James Purnell: Under our reforms, more people will be receiving state pensions based on their national insurance records, and there will be a more generous basic state pension due to the restoration of the earnings link. This provides a solid foundation for private saving. Incentives are further enhanced by reducing the growth of the savings credit.
Table 1 shows the estimates of the number of males and females that may receive pension credit by component in the years 2010 and 2012 assuming that the standard guarantee credit is uprated in line with prices from 2008.
Table 2 shows the projected numbers under the proposals contained in the White Paper “Security in retirement: towards a new pensions system.”
| Table 1: Projected number of males and females that may be in receipt of pension credit in selected years assuming the standard guarantee credit is uprated in line with prices from 2008 | |||
| GC only | GC+SC | SC only | |
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