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2 Oct 2006 : Column 2591W—continued
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many cases of suspected illegal immigrants granted national insurance numbers were passed to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in each quarter since April 1997; and if he will make a statement. [75799]
Mr. Plaskitt [holding answer 8 June 2006]: The requested information is only available from April 2005 and is unavailable broken down by quarter. From April 2005 to March 2006, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) notified the Immigration and Nationality Directorate of 2,537 cases where national insurance numbers were allocated to suspected immigration offenders. In addition, 772 cases involving suspect documents that have been refused a NINO were notified to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate by DWP.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many national insurance numbers there have been on (a) the Departmental Central Index and (b) National Insurance Recording Systems 1 and 2 in each year since 1997. [77524]
Mr. Plaskitt: The National Insurance Recording Systems are administered by HM Revenue and Customs, and are a matter for my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
As at July 2006, there are 76.8 million national insurance numbers (NINOs) held on the Departmental Central Index (DCI) (now the Customer Information System (CIS)). Prior to this, only approximate figures can be provided. The available information is in the following table.
| Approximate number of NINOs held on DCI/CIS | |
| million | |
| Number | |
| Note: DCI/CIS holds both NINOs and Child Reference Numbers (CRNs). The proportion of NINOs to CRNs is not available in precise detail for those years. However, a recent scan of CIS has shown that the precise number of NINOs is 76.8 million (July 2006). The precise number of CRNs is 11.7 million. The figures are rounded to the nearest 100,000. | |
Mr. Marshall-Andrews: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many national insurance numbers are in operation for persons over 16 years old in England and Wales. [77928]
Mr. Plaskitt: As at July 2006, there are 76.8 million national insurance numbers (NINOs) held on the Departmental Central Index (DCI) (now the Customer Information System (CIS)). These figures relate to the UK, as we are unable to specify separately the numbers for England and Wales.
In order to maintain the integrity of the system (and for benefit purposes) NINOs are not removed. For example, they are retained after a person dies or moves abroad. This is because individuals who move abroad may at some point have a call upon contributions paid while in the UK. In the case of deceased individuals, a partner may make a claim for a contributory benefit, which is dependant on the contribution record of the deceased individual. This means that the number of accounts held on the system accrues as NINOs are allocated each year to all UK children who reach 16 years and persons from abroad requiring a NINO are added.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many temporary national insurance numbers have been issued in each (a) month and (b) quarter since April 2003; and if he will make a statement. [78393]
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps the Government have taken to ensure that temporary national insurance numbers are not used to gain access to (a) services, (b) benefits and (c) forms of identification to which the holder is not entitled; and if he will make a statement. [79034]
Mr. Plaskitt: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) does not issue temporary national insurance numbers (NINO).
There are exceptional situations where DWP use internal reference numbers in the same format as a NINO to facilitate benefit administration prior to the allocation of a NINO. However, such numbers are not issued to customers. They cannot be used to enter the benefits system, or be used for identification purposes or to gain access to any other services.
Neurological Conditions
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the progression into work of people with neurological conditions and the progression into work of incapacity benefit claimants. [87542]
Mrs. McGuire: 11 per cent. of people with neurological conditions who have joined Pathways to Work between October 2003 and February 2006 have progressed into work.
Information on the number of people with neurological conditions who have progressed into work in the last three years without participating in Pathways is not available.
We know that a large proportion want to work and so we want to ensure that they are given the opportunity to do so. We do not believe in writing anyone off—one of the key principles of our successful Pathways to Work programme is inclusion and support for all.
Personal advisers tailor packages of help and support for individuals with a range of health problems, including neurological conditions. In Pathways to Work areas,
Condition Management Programmes aim to help people manage their health condition or disability more effectively, so that they can get the jobs they want.
Notes:
1. The statistics quoted in this response are taken from the Pathways to Work Evaluation Database.
2. Data are to the end of February 2006.
3. Data include information for the extension to existing customers.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement about percentage rates of people with neurological conditions who had been claiming incapacity benefit for over 12 months when starting work-focused interviews, compared to other people claiming incapacity benefit for over 12 months. [87543]
Mrs. McGuire: Mandatory work-focused interviews for incapacity benefit customers occur eight weeks after the start of their benefit claim. Therefore no one who started the mandatory work-focused interview process has been in receipt of incapacity benefits for over 12 months.
The exception to this is participants in the mandatory extension of Pathways to Work. They are identified as those being in receipt of benefit between one and three years at the time the mandatory extension commenced. Therefore they have all been in receipt of incapacity benefits for over 12 months.
Only in the first 12 months after roll out would voluntary participants in Pathways to Work have been in receipt of incapacity benefits for less than 12 months. After that period they will all have been in receipt of incapacity benefits for over 12 months as all fresh claims will have been captured by work-focused interviews through Pathways to Work.
Establishing percentage rates of people with neurological conditions who had been claiming incapacity benefit for over 12 months when volunteering for work-focused interviews compared to other people claiming incapacity benefit for over 12 months in that initial period can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
New Deal
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of known job entrants from (a) new deal for young people and (b) new deal 25 plus started jobs that were not sustained beyond 13 weeks duration in each year since the programmes began. [56972]
Mr. Jim Murphy: The information is in the following table.
Pathways to Work
Mr. Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what consultation there will be on local partnership arrangements in preparation for the start of provider-led Pathways to Work provision in (a) Oxfordshire, (b) Berkshire and (c) Buckinghamshire from April 2008. [86329]
Mr. Jim Murphy: Provider-led Pathways is scheduled to start in the Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire district, along with 15 other districts, as part of the final phase of rollout in April 2008.
The Jobcentre Plus Pathways to Work team will hold provider events following the publication of the pre-qualification questionnaire and the invitation to tender to promote local partnership working later this year. They will also work with districts to promote Pathways with local strategic partners in order to encourage them to work in partnership with Pathways providers. They will then run a series of joint workshops with providers, local strategic partners and each district. Partnership working will also be encouraged as part of the local start-up arrangements prior to go-live in April 2008.
Post Office Card Account
Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many post office card accounts (POCAs) there were in each local authority area in Tyne and Wear in April (a) 2004, (b) 2005 and (c) 2006; and what percentage of customers receiving (i) non-contributory jobseeker’s allowance, (ii) the basic state pension and (iii) pension credit did so via the POCA in each area at each date. [86858]
Mr. Plaskitt: Information is not available in the format requested. The following table shows the information which is available.
| Jobseeker’s allowance | State pension | Pension credit | |||||||
| Accounts paid by POCA | Accounts paid by POCA | Accounts paid by POCA | |||||||
| Local authority | Total accounts | Number | Percentage | Total accounts | Number | Percentage | Total accounts | Number | Percentage |
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