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14 Dec 2006 : Column 1337W—continued

Disabled Staff

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of staff in (a) his Department and (b) each of the agencies for which he is responsible was registered as disabled in each of the last five years. [102051]

Mrs. McGuire: The information is contained within the table.

The information represents the position as declared by individual members of staff. Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, disability status is self-declared on a voluntary basis and not all disabled staff declare themselves as such for Departmental records.

Until 2005 the proportion of disabled staff is shown as the proportion of all staff. The numbers of staff in 2006 are however, based on the proportion of all staff who have declared their disability status.⁽¹⁾

These figures provide a snapshot of the headcount⁽²⁾ for each of the Department’s Agencies and Departmental totals, together with the proportion of disabled staff.

14 Dec 2006 : Column 1338W

The Department for Work and Pensions was created in July 2001, and figures prior to 2002 are unobtainable. Statistics at Agency level are not available for 2002.

^{(1 )}The change was made in response to new guidance from the Cabinet Office requiring us to include only staff who have made a declaration about their disability status. The figures from 2006 onwards will therefore exclude all staff who have chosen not to declare whether they are disabled.

⁽²⁾ For disability reporting purposes ‘headcount’ refers to all staff in the permanent and fixed term staff populations. It excludes casual staff and those who are unpaid.

14 Dec 2006 : Column 1339W

DWP Agency	Staff	Disabled staff	Percentage of disabled staff
2006
Appeals Service	821	36	4.4
Child Support Agency	12,066	333	2.8
Disability and Carers Service	7,078	396	5.6
Debt Management	3,176	90	2.8
Corporate Centre	8,142	249	3.1
Jobcentre Plus	73,540	4,863	6.6
The Pension Service	14,932	455	3.0
DWP total	119,764	6,422	5.4
2005
Appeals Service	783	42	5.4
Child Support Agency	10,881	309	2.8
Disability and Carers Service	7,159	392	5.5
Debt Management	3,095	81	2.6
Corporate Centre	9,096	311	3.4
Jobcentre Plus	80,163	5,073	6.3
The Pension Service	17,357	495	2.9
DWP total	128,534	6,703	5.2
2004
Appeals Service	871	44	5.1
Child Support Agency	12,030	305	2.5
Disability and Carers Service	7,795	396	5.1
Debt Management	3,011	91	3.0
Corporate Centre	8,782	303	3.5
Jobcentre Plus	85,059	5,389	6.3
The Pension Service	20,224	538	2.7
DWP total	137,772	7,066	5.1
2003
Appeals Service	941	49	5.2
Child Support Agency	12,496	304	2.4
Child Benefit Centre	2,142	41	1.9
Disability and Carers Service	7,857	307	3.9
Debt Management	3,075	105	3.4
Corporate Centre	8,155	258	3.2
Jobcentre Plus	85,289	5,433	6.4
The Pension Service	18,819	502	2.7
DWP total	138,774	6,999	5.0
2002
DWP total	133,451	7,273	5.4

Energy Prices

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the impact of rising domestic energy prices on child poverty in (a) summer and (b) winter months. [103279]

Mr. Jim Murphy [holding answer 27 November 2006]: No such assessment has been made.

Health and Safety

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what consultations he has held on proposed changes to the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations; what the results were of those consultations; and what action he plans to take as a result. [101874]

Mrs. McGuire: I am advised by the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) on these matters. I understand that HSC conducted a Fundamental Review of RIDDOR during 2005 and early 2006, including a discussion document for public consultation from April to June 2005.

HSC considered the outcome of the review in July 2006 and concluded that having thoroughly examined needs for information, stakeholder views and potential change options, there was no clear appetite for radical change at present. RIDDOR and supplementary data sources provided enough intelligence for enforcing authorities to operate effectively and so the costs and risks of change were not worth taking at this time.

However, the Commission did direct the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to make improvements to streamline and simplify the reporting process and its communication, particularly from the point of view of small and medium sized businesses.

The HSE is now implementing arrangements to make clear to business that reporting can be simple, drawing attention to the user-friendly telephone reporting facility. New website and other publicity material will be available early next year.

Home Responsibilities Protection

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in receipt of home responsibilities protection have a younger child aged (a) between six and 11 and (b) 12 or over. [102184]

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James Purnell: Some 700,000 people who receive home responsibilities protection (HRP) for a tax year have a youngest child aged between six and 11, and around an additional 400,000 have a youngest child aged 12 or over.

As part of our pension reform package, we propose to replace HRP with weekly national insurance credits for parents with care of a child up to age 12. Combined with our proposals to simplify the entitlement conditions and reduce the number of years needed to qualify for a full basic state pension (BSP) to 30, the credits will make it easier for parents to build a full BSP. The new credits also extend state second pension (S2P) rights to people with a child aged between six and 12—this means from 2010 around 780,000 more women and 30,000 men will be accruing S2P.

Notes:

1. Source: Family Resource Survey 2003-04

2. Figures relate to people aged between 20 and state pension age.

3. Due to small sample sizes these figures are subject to a high degree of variability and should be treated as indicative only.

4. Figure rounded to nearest 100,000.

Incapacity Benefit

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of recipients of incapacity related benefit received such benefit for (a) mental illness and (b) back pain in each year since 1979-80. [102207]

Mrs. McGuire: The available information is in the following table.

14 Dec 2006 : Column 1341W

Percentage of invalidity benefit, incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance claimants with back pain or mental and behavioural disorders at the dates shown.
	Back pain	Mental and behavioural disorders
May 1980	—	12.5
May 1981	—	13.7
May 1982	—	14.1
April 1983	—	14.7
March 1984	—	16.7
March 1985	—	15.7
April 1986	—	15.8
April 1987	—	16.5
April 1988	—	16.5
April 1989	—	17.2
March 1990	—	17.7
March 1991	—	18.1
April 1992	—	18.6
April 1993	—	19.3
April 1994	—	19.6
May 1995	11.3	20.8
May 1996	12.0	23.5
May 1997	12.3	25.7
May 1998	12.3	28.2
May 1999	12.3	30.2
May 2000	12.3	31.9
May 2001	12.2	33.4
May 2002	12.0	34.9
May 2003	11.7	36.4
May 2004	11.4	37.9
May 2005	11.1	39.0
May 2006	10.9	40.0
Notes: 1.Backpain claimant figures are not available for the years 1980—1995. 2. March 1980 to April 1994 figures are based on a one per cent. sample, and are therefore subject to a degree of sampling variation. 3. May 1995 to May 1999 (inclusive) numbers are uprated to WPLS totals and rounded to the nearest 100. They are also based on a five per cent. sample, and are therefore subject to a degree of sampling variation. 4. May 2000 to May 2006 (inclusive) numbers are rounded to the nearest 10. 5. These figures should be used as a guide to the current situation only. 6. Causes of incapacity are based on the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, published by the World Health Organisation. 7. Incapacity benefit replaced invalidity benefit in April 1995. Source: WP Information Directorate one per cent. samples, five per cent. samples and 100 per cent. Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study

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