Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
10 Jan 2007 : Column 636Wcontinued
Table C: Administration cost by benefit | |||||
£ million, 2005-06 prices | |||||
Income support | Total incapacity benefit | Disability living allowance | Attendance allowance | Contributory retirement pension (basic state pension) and retirement pension earnings-related/S2P | |
Notes: 1. Information on administrative costs prior to the creation of DWP in 2001 is not comparable to administrative costs now due to considerable organisational change. 2. Administration expenditure information is rounded to the nearest £ million in 2005-06 prices and has been taken from the 1998, 1999 and 1999-2000 Department for Social Security departmental reports. Information is only available to 1998-99. 3. The income support figures include expenditure on income support for the under 60s and over 60s. 4. From 1999-2000 the cost of administration is accounted for separately within the departmental expenditure limit (DEL) and the information requested on administration costs is not available in the format requested. 5. Administration expenditure is only available for the sum of contributory retirement pension (basic state pension) and retirement pension earnings-related/S2P expenditure. 6. Incapacity benefit figures do not include severe disablement allowance |
Table D: Administration percentage by benefit | |||||
Income support | Total incapacity benefit | Disability living allowance | Attendance allowance | Contributory retirement pension (basic state pension) and retirement pension earnings-related/S2P | |
Notes 1. Information on administrative costs prior to the creation of DWP in 2001 is not comparable to administrative costs now due to considerable organisational change. 2. Income support administration percentage is of the sum of income support for the under 60s and income support for the over 60s, except for 1996-97 which includes around six months expenditure on the unemployed in the percentage calculation. 3. Figures have been rounded to nearest whole percentage. 4. Incapacity benefit figures do not include severe disablement allowance. |
Table E: Social fund | |||
Including loans and recoveries (£ million, 2005-06 prices) | |||
Social fund, | Administration cost of social fund | Administration percentage by benefit | |
Notes: 1. Information on administrative costs prior to the creation of DWP in 2001 is not comparable to administrative costs now due to considerable organisational change. 2. Administration costs for the net social fund is unavailable so the administration costs for the social fund, including loans and recoveries, has been shown, along with the consistent social fund expenditure. 3. Administration percentage has been rounded to nearest whole percentage. |
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost was in each London borough in current prices of (a) income support, (b) incapacity benefit, (c) disability living allowance, (d) attendance allowance, (e) the social fund, (f) retirement pension, (g) the state second pension/state earnings-related pension scheme and (h) pension credit in each year since 1996-97; and what percentage of these costs was accounted for by administration in each year. [101994]
Mr. Plaskitt: The information is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of poor households live in homes in each of the council tax bands A to H; and if he will make a statement. [101290]
Mr. Plaskitt: The information requested is in the table.
Proportion of households with incomes less than 60 per cent. of median by their council tax bands, Great Britain, 2004-05 | ||
Council tax band | Before housing costs | After housing costs |
(1) Households not valued separately and not allocated a council tax band. Notes: 1. The commonly used definition for the threshold of relative low income (below 60 per cent. of contemporary median income) has been used in this table. 2. Figures may not sum to 100 due to rounding. Source: Family Resources Survey 2004-05 |
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the total is of uncollectable Child Support Agency arrears, broken down by uncollectable due to (a) death, (b) move abroad, (c) unknown address, (d) incorrect maintenance assessment and (e) other causes; and if he will make a statement. [102241]
Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the hon. Gentleman with the information requested.
In reply to your recent Parliamentary questions about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the total is of uncollectable Child Support Agency arrears broken down by uncollectable due to (a) death (b) move abroad (c) unknown addresses (d) incorrect maintenance assessment and (e) other causes; and if he will make a statement.
The Agency is not able to provide a breakdown of uncollectable Child Support Agency arrears into the requested categories. However, following a debt analysis exercise in 2005/06, the Agency is now able to classify debt with greater clarity than in previous years.
The attached tables provide the distribution of debt by type found by the debt analysis exercise. The exercise used a sample of cases on both computer systems, and had, in total, just over £130m of probably uncollectable debt, and just over £150m of possibly uncollectable debt. The Agency decides the sample size for its Debt Analysis Exercise according to robust statistical principles. This takes full account of the relative complexity of cases on each of the main systems so that the sample is statistically valid and is representative of the Agencys whole caseload.
The amount of debt categorised as probably uncollectable in the Agencys Annual Report and Accounts for 2005/06 is £1.929 billion. This includes the value of suspended debt, which is classified as probably uncollectable for this exercise.
The amount of debt categorised as possibly uncollectable in the Agencys Annual Report and Accounts for 2005/06 is £818 million, against which the provision below was made.
Tables providing a breakdown of these amounts by type are attached.
I hope this is helpful.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff were employed through employment agencies in (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies in each of the last five years for which information is available; and what the (i) average and (ii) longest time was for which these temporary workers were employed in each year. [102961]
Mrs. McGuire: Historical information on the number of staff employed through employment agencies and for how long is not available. However a recent estimate indicates the Department currently has around 120 agency staff undertaking administrative and related work with an average contract length of just over four months.
The estimated number of agency workers represents around 0.1 per cent. of total departmental staffing.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether people employed (a) through employment agencies and (b) on a consultancy basis are included in the calculations for the full-time equivalent staff mentioned in his Department's annual report. [102997]
Mrs. McGuire: The full time equivalent staff reported in the Department's annual report are based on the Office for National Statistics definition. This definition specifically excludes staff employed through employment agencies and on a consultancy basis.
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the reduction in the number of civil servants in his Department and each of its agencies has been in each year since 2004-05, broken down by region. [109689]
Mrs. McGuire: [holding answer 18 December 2007]: The reduction in the number of civil servants in the Department of Work and Pensions and its agencies from 1 March 2004 (the start of the Department's efficiency challenge) to 31 March 2005 is shown in Table 1.
The reduction in staffing from 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2006 is shown in Table 2.
Table 1: Reductions in Staffing from 1 March 2004 to 31 March 2005 | |||||||
Jobcentre Plus | The Pension Service | Child Support Agency | Disability and Carers Service | The Rent Service | Appeals Service | Other Departmental Units | |
Note: The Rent Service joined DWP on 01 April 2004 Figures are full time equivalent (rounded) |
Next Section | Index | Home Page |