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8 Nov 2006 : Column 1628W—continued
Error Task Force
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what the total value is of erroneous benefit payments identified by the Error Task Force; [90406]
(2) what the total (a) set-up and (b) running costs have been of the Error Task Force; [90407]
(3) what targets have been set for the Error Task Force; [90408]
(4) how many staff are employed in the Error Task Force. [90409]
Mr. Plaskitt: The official Error Task Force was established with the specific aim of reducing official error in the payment of income support, jobseekers allowance, pension credit and disability living allowance. The first set of official error estimates covering the task force period are due to be published in summer 2007.
As at October 2006, total set-up and running costs relating to the task force since its establishment are approximately £132,000. The task force has been set the target of helping to bring about a significant reduction in the level of official error by the end of its first year of operation.
There are currently 12 staff involved with the Error Task Force, 10 of whom participate on a part-time basis.
Financial Assistance Scheme
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much has been spent on (a) administration and (b) legal fees for the Financial Assistance Scheme in each month since its inception; and if he will make a statement. [89074]
James Purnell: The Financial Assistance Scheme was announced in May 2004. Monthly information on expenditure is not available in a comparative form covering the whole period. Total expenditure on administration in 2004-05 was £1.06 million and in 2005-06 £4.73 million. One-off legal fees of £2,089 arose in March 2005. In 2006-07 expenditure to the end of September totalled £1.46 million and a monthly breakdown is as follows:
| Current financial year 2006-07 | £ |
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what total amount has been paid out by the Financial Assistance Scheme; and how many people are now receiving payments. [90194]
James Purnell: The Financial Assistance Scheme has paid a total of £1,694,492.35 gross (£1,322,507.89 net) to 454 qualifying members (as of 27 October).
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much is allocated to (a) establishing and (b) running the Financial Assistance Scheme; and how much is allocated to the scheme for disbursing as assistance. [93703]
James Purnell [holding answer on 16 October 2006]: Our estimates are that over the first three years up to March 2007 we will spend around £4.5 million on the costs of setting up the scheme and around £5.9 million on scheme administration. The one-off set-up costs cover opening the operational unit and building the necessary IT systems. As FAS is paid from age 65, and we now propose to extend it to people up to 15 years from their scheme pension age, most of the estimated 40,000 people we expect to help will not be eligible for some time. For example, a 45 year old with a scheme pension age of 60 will not be eligible for FAS payments until they reach 65 in 2024.
This is reflected in our forecast for disbursing assistance which over the three years to March 2007 is £8 million and over the entire lifetime of FAS £2.3 billion.
Fuel Poverty
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households which are not pensioner households are entitled to cold weather payments; and what plans he has to provide additional help to those households who may be suffering from fuel poverty. [96178]
Mr. Plaskitt:
A cold weather payment is made when the average temperature has been recorded as, or is forecast to be, 0° C or below over seven consecutive days at the weather station linked to an eligible
customer’s postcode. Eligible customers are those awarded pension credit, or those awarded income support or income-based jobseeker’s allowance who have a pensioner or disability premium or a child who is disabled or aged under five. The number of households which are not pensioner households, which would have been entitled to a cold weather payment in winter 2005-06 if the temperature criterion had been met for their postcode, was 1.5 million.
A fuel-poor household is one that struggles to keep adequately warm at reasonable cost. The most widely accepted definition of a fuel-poor household is one which needs to spend more than 10 per cent. of its income on all fuel use and to heat the home to an adequate standard of warmth. This is generally defined as 21° C in the living room and 18° C in the other occupied rooms.
There are a number of energy efficiency initiatives in place to help households on low income reduce fuel costs. These are being taken forward by DTI and DEFRA.
Health and Safety
Mr. Rooney: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will enhance the requirement for workplace supervision in the Code of Practice for the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations in relation to vetting of premises for suitability of work placements for young people. [100370]
Mrs. McGuire: It has not proved possible to respond to my hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation
Mr. Rooney: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will improve health and safety guidance for those involved in education, training and employment of young people. [100372]
Mrs. McGuire: It has not proved possible to respond to my hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.
IT Projects
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which information technology projects are being undertaken by (a) his Department and (b) its agencies; what the (i) start date, (ii) original planned completion date, (iii) expected completion date, (iv) originally planned costs and (v) estimated costs are of each; and if he will make a statement. [95860]
James Purnell: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Job Search Support
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in the UK left employment in the last 12 months; how many were provided with job search support via Government agencies; what the (a) total and (b) average cost per person was of providing job search support; what success rates were achieved; and how success is measured. [99939]
Mr. Jim Murphy: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Jobcentre Plus
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his answer of 16 June 2006, Official Report, column 1476W, on Jobcentre Plus, what the estimated (a) on-flows and (b) off-flows for incapacity benefits are for each year to 2019-20. [90450]
Mrs. McGuire: Projected estimates of the numbers flowing onto and off incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance, consistent with published projections of claimants are shown in the following table.
These projections do not take into account any of the proposed policy changes in the recent papers, “A new deal for welfare: Empowering people to work”, or “Security in retirement: towards a new pensions system”, but do take into account the one- third roll- out of Pathways to Work.
| Estimated numbers of working-age claimants of incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance, 2005-06 to 2019-20 | |||
| Thousands | |||
| Claimants | Flows - on | Flows-off | |
| Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10,000. 2. Figures are based on the published Budget 2006 estimates. 3. Figures are forecasts and are therefore subject to future revisions. 4. Figures include estimates of the impact of equalisation of state pension age on the IB caseload. 5. The balance between flows-on and flows-off will not reconcile to year-on-year changes in claimant forecast, owing to: (a) the rounding of all figures to the nearest ten thousand cases; (b) policy estimates (as listed in note 4) being applied to the claimant figures, but not the flow figures; and (c) the within-year averaging applied to the claimant forecast. | |||
Mr. Pelling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what checks are made by Jobcentre Plus on the immigration status of applicants and claimants. [91619]
Mr. Jim Murphy: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. I have asked her to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking what checks are made by Jobcentre Plus on the
immigration status of applicants and claimants. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
When a customer contacts Jobcentre Plus we ask them to provide their National Insurance Number. If a customer does not know their National Insurance Number or they do not have one, and we cannot match their personal details against an existing record the customer is asked to obtain a National Insurance Number for their benefit claim to proceed. The application process involves an Evidence of Identity interview where they are asked to prove their identity and are also asked questions about nationality, residence, and details of their journey to the UK.
Even if an applicant for benefit already has a National Insurance Number, they will be expected to provide confirmation of their identity as part of the claims process.
At the initial interview the Financial Assessor will establish the customer's identity and, if applicable, their partner's identity. If the Financial Assessor has any doubts, they will request evidence to be provided to verify the identity of the customer. They would not allow the claim to proceed, until they are satisfied of the customer's identity.
Anyone who has arrived in the UK in the two years prior to making a benefit claim must prove they have a right to reside in the UK, as well as being habitually resident, before any claim is processed or payment made.
I hope this explanation is helpful.
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the performance of Jobcentre Plus in dealing with claimants. [93166]
Mr. Jim Murphy: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. I have asked her to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking for a statement on the performance of Jobcentre Plus in dealing with claimants. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Jobcentre Plus employs around 71,000 staff dealing with some 235 million contacts from customers per year. Every working day, we help almost 4,000 customers to find work, we conduct 36,000 work-focused interviews, and process over 15,000 new benefit claims. Through our website, we enable customers to access details of around 300,000 job vacancies. Over the last year, we have continued to deliver the great majority of our services to time and budget and we met or exceeded the majority of our targets for 2005-06.
We are part way through a process to transform the way the business operates to provide improved labour market and benefit services more efficiently and with fewer staff. In our new offices, which are already in place across most of the country, customers experience a more welcoming and professional environment and our Contact Centres and e-channels provide greater flexibility in the ways customers can contact us. Our website, for example, receives an average of 1.5 million user visits and 4.8 million job searches a week.
There were problems in the Jobcentre Plus Contact Centre network in 2005. However, prompt action was taken focused on the worst performing sites and I am pleased to say that this year Contact Centre performance has consistently exceeded our internal target of answering 90 per cent of calls from customers.
Jobcentre Plus must also make more progress in improving its performance in processing new benefit claims. We have a new target for 2006-07 called the Actual Average Clearance Time target and have put in place a dedicated Customer Experience Improvement Team to drive performance improvements.
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