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12 Dec 2006 : Column 1019W—continued

Child Support Agency

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many changes of circumstances have been reported by non-resident parents on the (a) old and (b) new Child Support Agency scheme claims in Scotland in each month of the last three years. [102170]

Mr. Plaskitt: The information requested is not available.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the compliance rate for the self-employed in Scottish claims with the Child Support Agency. [102171]

Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.

Letter from Stephen Geraghty:

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what liaison he authorises the Child Support Agency to have with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority to ascertain whether heavy goods vehicle drivers have current licences and thereby investigate their current employment status. [102136]

Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.

Letter from Stephen Geraghty:


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Departmental Staff

Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) marketing officers, (b) communications officers and (c) press officers are employed in his Department; and what the total expenditure on communications for his Department was on (i) Government Information and Communication Service staff and (ii) other (A) press officers, (B) special advisers and (C) staff in the last year for which figures are available. [104362]

Mrs. McGuire: There are currently 45 press officers and 154 marketing officers employed by my Department and its four main delivery businesses.

During 2005-06, the last full year for which figures are available, the Department spent £9.7 million on external communications. It is not possible to break down expenditure costs by the types of communication staff requested.

Disability Living Allowance

Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the cost of extending the higher rate mobility component of the disability living allowance to blind people. [104450]

Mrs. McGuire: The estimated cost of extending automatic entitlement to the higher rate mobility component of disability living allowance to blind people would be about £61 million a year at current benefit rates(1).


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Financial Assistance Scheme

Ms Gisela Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost to public funds is expected to be of providing the extended Financial Assistance Scheme over 50 years. [108867]

James Purnell: We estimate that the total cost of providing the extended Financial Assistance Scheme will be £2.3 billion in cash terms (£783 million in net present value terms). These costs are likely to be incurred over 50-60 years. Costs in the last 10 years are likely to be small.

Housing Benefit

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the amount of unclaimed housing benefit in each local authority in the latest period for which an estimate is available. [105262]

Mr. Plaskitt: The information is not available because estimates of unclaimed housing benefit cannot be reliably produced below Great Britain level.

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions who sets the rent limit for the purposes of housing benefit; how it is calculated; who it applies to; and what relationship it has to council house rents. [107140]

Mr. Plaskitt: Many tenants relying on housing benefit have no restriction placed on their rent and eligible charges as their rents are either regulated, or in some other way controlled, so as to be lower than the market rent. These include the rent levels of local authorities, registered social landlords and certain other prescribed tenancies.

However, as there are no such controls on rent levels within the private rented sector, claims from private tenants will generally be referred to the local rent officer for a rental valuation to determine the benefit claim. Any subsequent restriction reflects a reasonable rent for suitable accommodation of the appropriate size within the locality.

The rent officer either determines a reasonable rent for the property, by comparison with suitably sized properties in the vicinity or neighbourhood, or determines a local reference rent, which is based on the midpoint between the highest rent which is not exceptionally high and the lowest rent which is not exceptionally low for properties of a similar size in the same locality.

There is no relationship between the rent officer’s determinations and council house rents.

Internal Guidance Documents

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which internal guidance documents are used in his Department. [104607]

Mrs. McGuire: The information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.


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Pensions

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the percentage of employers who offer a final salary pension to new employees. [103398]

James Purnell: It is estimated that in 2005, 1 per cent. of private sector employers had an open occupational defined benefit scheme. In general, larger employers are more likely to have an open occupational scheme than smaller employers, and 8 per cent. of the private sector work force were active members of open occupational defined benefit schemes in 2005.

Social Fund

John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the five most common reasons were for loans from the Social Fund being refused in each of the last 10 years. [106020]

Mr. Plaskitt: The available information is as follows:

Five most common reasons for initial refusal of budgeting loans (original scheme) in order

1996-97, 1997-98

1998-99

Five most common reasons for initial refusal of budgeting loans (simplified scheme) in order

1999-2000, 2001-02

2000-01


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2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06

Five most common reasons for initial refusal of crisis loans in order

1996-97

1997-98

1998-99

1999-2000, 2002-03, 2003-04

2000-01, 2001-02

2004-05, 2005-06


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