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11 Dec 2006 : Column 721W—continued

Light Bulbs

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of light bulbs purchased by his Department in 2005 were of the compact fluorescent type. [102131]

Mrs. McGuire: As the majority of lighting on the Department’s estate is provided by functional fittings that use straight fluorescent tubes of varying lengths there is little scope to replace these with compact fluorescent.

Consequently, compact fluorescent bulbs represent 15 per cent. of those purchased.

Local Housing Allowance Pathfinders

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department is taking to implement the commitment given in the Welfare Reform Bill's Regulatory Impact Assessment that the Government will review the evaluation
11 Dec 2006 : Column 722W
findings from the Local Housing Allowance Pathfinders for under 25 year olds before finalising proposals for the regulations following from the Bill. [106137]

Mr. Jim Murphy: Before finalising the secondary legislation following from the Welfare Reform Bill, the Government will take account of all relevant research, including the final Local Housing Allowance Pathfinder evaluation, as well as the debates that will have taken place in the Commons and in the Lords.

However the majority of the Pathfinder evaluation reports were available, and considered, at Commons Committee stage of the Bill, where the Government confirmed that the commitment to the principles behind the benefit rules for under 25 year olds remains.

Ministerial Travel

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he has taken to offset the carbon dioxide emissions caused by ministerial travel in his Department. [102129]

Mrs. McGuire: All central Government ministerial and official air travel is being offset from 1 April 2006. Departmental aviation emissions are calculated on an annual basis and subsequently offset through payments to a central fund. The fund purchases Certified Emissions Reductions credits from energy efficiency and renewable energy projects with sustainable development benefits, in developing countries.

DWP has developed data collection systems to ensure that all aviation emissions are captured, enabling the Department to offset its carbon emissions caused by official air travel using the Government Carbon Offsetting Fund, details of which can be found on the climate change pages of the DEFRA website:

Pension Credit

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of the proportion of the target group for the new personal pensions which will be entitled to pension credit in (a) 2040 and (b) 2050; and if he will make a statement. [103989]

James Purnell: The projections published in the White Paper “Security in Retirement: Towards a New Pensions System” do not model the effects of personal accounts. We will be publishing a White Paper on personal accounts shortly.

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioner households in City of York constituency receive pension credit; what the average value of pension credit of those households is; and how many pensioners live in those households. [106660]

James Purnell: 4,440 households in the City of York constituency were receiving pension credit as at August 2006, with an average weekly payment of £40.71.


11 Dec 2006 : Column 723W

Mr. Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households in each ward of Wantage constituency are in receipt of pension credit. [106706]

James Purnell: The answer is in the following table.

Households in receipt of pension credit in each ward of Wantage constituency—May 2006
Ward name Households

Brightwell

65

Cholsey and Wallingford South

115

Didcot All Saints

160

Didcot Ladygrove

45

Didcot Northbourne

135

Didcot Park

240

Hagbourne

65

Wallingford North

250

Appleton and Cumnor

140

Blewbury and Upton

50

Craven

80

Drayton

75

Faringdon and The Coxwells

275

Greendown

60

Grove

160

Hanneys

50

Harwell

80

Hendreds

120

Kingston Bagpuize with Southmoor

35

Longworth

60

Marcham and Shippon

70

Shrivenham

115

Stanford

85

Sunningwell and Wootton

130

Sutton Courtenay and Appleford

80

Wantage Charlton

215

Wantage Segsbury

100

Wantage constituency total

2,780

Notes: 1. Caseloads are rounded to a multiple of five. 2. Only part of Appleton and Cumnor and Sunningwell and Wooton wards are in Wantage parliamentary constituency. 3. Because of 1. and 2., wards will not always sum to constituency totals. 4. Wards are based on 2003 ward boundaries. 5. Households recipients are those people who claim pension credit either for themselves only or on behalf of a household. Source: DWP 100 per cent. data: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study.

11 Dec 2006 : Column 724W

Pension Protection Fund

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will amend the rules governing the Capping Regulations of the Pension Protection Fund to bring within the remit of the fund those people who took early retirement before April 2005; and if he will make a statement. [104489]

James Purnell: We have carefully considered the issues that have been raised by and on behalf of a number of early retirees, including whether to change the legislation which sets a cap on the compensation payable. We have taken particular account of the need for PPF compensation to balance fairness to scheme members, and remain affordable for pension schemes paying the PPF levy. We have concluded that changing the PPF compensation rules would advantage one group of scheme members compared to other groups, and could increase the cost of the PPF. We do not, therefore, propose to change PPF legislation at this time.

If a pension scheme enters the PPF, early retirees who took early retirement before April 2005 will be eligible for a 90 per cent. level of compensation, which is capped, as will the majority of people below their scheme’s normal pension age.

Pensioner Households (Bristol, East)

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioner households in Bristol, East constituency are receiving (a) pension credit and (b) pension savings credit; and what the(i) highest and (ii) average amount awarded is. [104267]

James Purnell: The requested information is below.

Table 1: The number of households in receipt of Pension Credit by type in Bristol, East and the average weekly payments—May 2006
Type of pension credit Number of household recipients Average weekly payments (£)

Guarantee credit only

1,550

80.74

Savings credit only

1,020

12.05

Guarantee credit and savings credit

2,350

46.16

All

4,920

49.96

Notes:
1. The pension credit is made up of two elements, guarantee credit and savings credit. An individual can receive one or both guarantee credit and savings credit.
2. Caseloads are rounded to the nearest 10. Totals may not sum due to rounding.
3. Parliamentary constituencies are assigned by matching postcodes against the 2005 postcode directory.
4. Household recipients are those people who claim pension credit either for themselves only or on behalf of a household.
5. Average weekly payments are shown as pounds per week and rounded to the nearest penny.
Source:
DWP 100 per cent. data: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study

Table 2: The highest award amounts for pension credit in Bristol, East—May 2006
Type of pension credit £

Guarantee credit

174.05

Savings credit

23.58

Source:
DWP Information Directorate: five per cent. sample data

11 Dec 2006 : Column 725W

Pensions

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people were in receipt of the basic state pension in each quarter from the first quarter of 1990 to the third quarter of 2006; how many lived abroad in each period; and if he will make a statement. [102081]

James Purnell: The information requested is not available. Such information as is available is in the following table.

GB total Overseas total

March 2006

10,429,200

973,900

September 2005

10,416,200

964,100

March 2005

10,450,300

971,900

September 2004

10,408,800

964,800

March 2004

10,313,400

948,400

September 2003

10,291,500

931,000

March 2003

10,225,800

912,400

September 2002

10,197,400

895,300

March 2002

10,149,300

872,600

September 2001

10,146,500

870,400

March 2001

10,087,200

850,800

September 2000

10,069,600

842,400

March 2000

10,034,000

826,100

September 1999

10,013,200

821,100

March 1999

9,938,800

792,200

September 1998

March 1998

9,839,400

773,600

September 1997

9,800,700

759,400

March 1997

9,700,400

747,500

September 1996

9,680,500

731,800

March 1996

9,575,400

718,900

September 1 995

9,548,200

703,200

March 1995

9,469,300

685,200

Notes:
1. Data are taken from 5 per cent. sample, therefore figures are subject to a degree of sampling variation. They are also adjusted to be consistent with the overall caseload from the WPLS.
2. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.
3. No data for September 1998 are available.
4. Basic state pension data are not available prior to March 1995.
Source:
DWP Information Directorate

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