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15 Jan 2007 : Column 884W—continued


Carson Case

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost to the public purse has been of the Carson case in the European Court of Human Rights. [113406]

James Purnell: Proceedings are still ongoing but, to date, the non-departmental legal cost of defending the case in the European Court of Human Rights is less than £10,000.

Child Support Agency

Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many DNA tests were carried out on behalf of the Child Support Agency in each of the last five years. [105078]

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

Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 15 January 2007:

Number of DNA tests carried out on behalf of the Child Support Agency
Number

2001-02

2,346

2002-03

4,146

2003-04

2,444

2004-05

2,888

2005-06

2,244


Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many Child Support Agency cases were (a) outstanding and (b) unprocessed in (i) Yeovil and (ii) Somerset in each year since 1997; [102130]

(2) how many Child Support Agency cases in (a) Somerset and (b) Yeovil constituency were (i) outstanding and (ii) unprocessed in each year from 1997 to 2006. [102132]

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, dated 15 January 12006:

Number of uncleared applications in the parliamentary constituency of Yeovil from September 2003 to September 2006 (both new and old scheme applications on the new computer system only).
Yeovil Number

September 2003

70

September 2004

230

September 2005

260

September 2006

210


Number of uncleared applications from September 2003 to September 2006 in the county of Somerset and neighbouring unitary authorities (both new and old scheme applications on the new computer system only)
Local Authority September 2003 September 2004 September 2005 September 2006

Mendip

90

190

260

220

Sedgemoor

100

270

410

230

South Somerset

100

310

340

280

Taunton Deane

90

240

250

230

West Somerset

20

70

70

70

Total

4000

1,070

1,330

1,030



15 Jan 2007 : Column 886W

Departmental Equipment

Mr. Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many of his Department’s (a) computers and (b) laptops were stolen in each of the last nine years; and what the total value was of stolen computers and laptops in this period. [109206]

Mrs. McGuire: The following table shows the number of (a) computers and (b) laptops that were recorded as stolen in each of the last nine years from April 1998 to date. Information prior to 1998 is not readily available.

Number of computers stolen Number of laptops stolen

1998

0

3

1999

12

5

2000

4

3

2001

5

16

2002

34

23

2003

5

35

2004

27

40

2005

10

27

2006

2

10

Note:
The total value is not available.

Departmental Publications: Translations

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost of translating departmental publications into languages other than English was in 2005-06. [110202]

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

Economic Migration

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the impact of economic migration to the UK on the pay rates of low skilled workers; and if he will make a statement. [102208]

Mr. Jim Murphy: There appears to be little evidence of any impact on wages as a result of migration. We have been unable to find any discernible effect of A8 migration upon changes in the unemployment claimant count or in the rate of growth of wages. Our overall assessment is that the effect on growth has been largely positive.

Henshaw Review

Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what assessment he has made of the additional costs to the Court Service arising from the increase in court settlements proposed in Sir David Henshaw’s report Recovering Child Support: Routes to Responsibility; [107092]

(2) what discussions he has had with the (a) Department for Constitutional Affairs, (b) Home Office and (c) Treasury on additional costs arising
15 Jan 2007 : Column 887W
from the increased use of court settlements to resolve child support claims proposed in Sir David Henshaw’s report Recovering Child Support: Routes to Responsibility. [107093]

Mr. Plaskitt: Officials have been involved in extensive discussions with the Department for Constitutional Affairs, the Scottish Executive and the Treasury in assessing the impact on the Court Service of all aspects of Sir David Henshaw’s recommendations and wider child support reform.

Having considered Sir David Henshaw’s recommendation that the 12-month rule be removed to prevent parents from being able to approach the new organisation to overturn consent orders, we have decided that the 12-month rule should remain. This rule has a positive impact on the level of child maintenance in consent orders as it ensures maintenance is generally set at a substantial level that broadly reflects the child maintenance formula. It also ensures that parents will avoid being locked into the Court system indefinitely however their circumstances change. However the removal of the requirement for parents with care to be treated as applying to the Child Support Agency if they make a claim for benefit will ensure that fewer maintenance agreements are unnecessarily overturned against the wishes of both parents.

Housing Benefit

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of housing benefit claims were subject to a non-dependent deduction for which the claimant was (a) registered disabled, (b) over 60-years-old, (c) in receipt of income support or jobseeker’s allowance and (d) a lone parent in 2004-05. [108217]

Mr. Plaskitt: The information requested is not currently available.

Health and Safety Executive

Colin Challen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many inspectors were employed by the Health and Safety Executive in each year between 1996 and 2006; and how many are expected to be employed in the years (a) 2006-07, (b) 2007-08 and (c) 2008-09. [109152]

Mrs. McGuire: The reply is in the following table. The number of inspectors HSE expects to employ in 2007-08 and 2008-09 is an estimate depending on turnover and recruitment.


15 Jan 2007 : Column 888W
At 1 April Number of inspectors( 1)

1996

1,466

1997

1,442

1998

1,437

1999

1,497

2000

1,507

2001

1,534

2002

1,625

2003

1,651

2004

1,605

2005

1,530

2006

(2)1,444

2007(3)

1,438

2008(3)

1,417

2009(4)

(5)

(1) All figures are for full-time equivalents, rounded to the nearest whole number.
(2) The number excludes 95 inspectors (full-time equivalents) that moved from HSE to the Office of Rail Regulation when responsibility for rail regulation health and safety matters transferred on 1 April 2006.
3 Estimated number based on HSE’s staffing plan at November 2006.
(4) HSE’s staffing plan covers the period to March 2008. The Department for Work and Pensions will be discussing budget allocations for 2008-2011 with HSE over the coming weeks. An estimate of the number of inspectors at 1 April 2009 cannot therefore be provided at this time.
(5 )Not applicable.

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