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16 Jan 2007 : Column 1066W—continued



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Claims received each year for benefits administered by DWP
2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06

Income support

1,154,940

960,294

861,583

829,154

Jobseeker's allowance

2,536,351

2,314,388

2,122,140

2,201,321

Incapacity benefit

905,613

799,773

754,253

695,919

Severe disablement allowance(5)

1,089

698

613

555

Maternity allowance

68,548

71,683

72,881

75,798

Bereavement benefit

46,065

50,953

53,324

53,964

Bereavement payment

61,433

68,053

65,917

65,697

Widows payment

539

559

664

1,146

Widow's benefit

5,620

639

305

934

IIDB(4) (Industrial accident)

16,933

20,654

19,014

18,937

IIDB(4) (Prescribed diseases)

31,053

37,604

25,743

21,704

IIDB(4) (REA)

4,661

3,652

2,915

2,176

Pension credit

496,317

1,177,394

802,248

434,924

State pension

696,468

731,319

742,474

786,346

Attendance allowance

(1)

422,142

393,889

413,807

Disability living allowance

(1)

(1)

427,551

432,962

Carer's allowance

(1)

232,068

234,804

249,916

Community care grant

570,906

575,547

569,810

577,050

Budgeting loan

1,697,664

1,684,836

1,623,107

1,639,141

Crisis loan

1,348,774

1,378,009

1,348,122

1,373,985

Funeral payment

67,953

71,492

69,599

67,834

Sure Start maternity

278,887

310,538

321,537

325,641

(1) No information available. This is because either data was not collected or the data is unreliable. (2) IIDB = Industrial injuries disablement benefit. (3) IIDB figures do not include some claims from overseas. (4) REA = Reduced earnings allowance. (5) No new claims have been accepted for severe disablement allowance since April 2001; figures after this date represent claims which have been rebuilt. (6 )Jobseeker's allowance replaced unemployment benefit and income support for unemployed people on 7 October 1996. Therefore the figure for 1996-97 is a part year figure. Source: DWP management information data.

Carers

Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people receiving carer's allowance in (a) Milton Keynes and (b) England were in part-time employment in each year since 1997. [112776]

Mrs. McGuire: There are no reliable estimates available for the requested information.

Mr. Pelling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people are classified as carers and are in receipt of benefits. [112871]

Mrs. McGuire: As at 31 May 2006, the latest date for which information is available, over 785,000 carers of severely disabled people were entitled to carer's allowance. Of these, some 454,000 were receiving the allowance, 332,000 were receiving another income maintenance benefit of at least the same amount, and some 410,000 had the carer premium included in the assessment of their income-related benefits, or the additional amount for carers included in the assessment of their pension credit.

Source:

Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study; figures rounded to the nearest thousand.

Child Maintenance Payments

Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to whom the Commissioner of the Child Maintenance Enforcement Commission proposed in the White Paper. A new system of child maintenance will be directly accountable; and what reporting obligations the Commissioner will have to Parliament. [113550]

Mr. Plaskitt: The Commissioner for Child Maintenance will lead C-MEC as part of an independent board. C-MEC will be required to produce annual reports and accounts to lay before Parliament. Further details on governance structures, including lines of accountability, will be brought forward in due course.

Child Support Agency

Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the new rate of 15 per cent. of net income will be applied to old Child Support Agency cases which are reassessed. [103735]

Mr. Plaskitt: Child Support legislation will only allow the transfer of an old scheme case to the new scheme where there are prescribed links to a new scheme application. In such cases, the new calculation will be based on the new scheme percentage rates of 15, 20 and 25 per cent. of net income depending on the number of children.

In cases where there is no such link, any reassessment will be carried out under the old rules.


16 Jan 2007 : Column 1069W

Following Sir David Henshaw’s review we have set out our proposals for the transition from the current to the new arrangements in the White Paper published on 13 December 2006.

Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what bonus pay awards he expects to be made to senior staff at the Child Support Agency this Christmas; and how much he expects his Department to pay in bonus payments. [112922]

Mr. Plaskitt: No bonus pay awards will be made to senior civil servants at the Child Support Agency this Christmas. The Department will pay no bonus payments to senior civil servants this Christmas.

Crisis Loans

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of calls to each crisis loan helpline (a) were answered, (b) were unanswered and (c) received an engaged tone in the last period for which figures are available. [102383]

Mr. Jim Murphy: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. I have asked her to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.

Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 16 January 2007:


16 Jan 2007 : Column 1070W

Disability Discrimination Act

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what expenditure has been made by his Department to conform with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act 2005. [109513]

Mrs. McGuire: The Disability Discrimination Act 2005 inserted into the 1995 Act the requirement for the Department to carry out certain specific disability equality duties. In particular, it is required to publish, and periodically review, a Disability Equality Scheme which sets out how it intends to carry out its disability equality duties. DWP and its constituent businesses published its first Disability Equality Schemes on 1 December 2006.

Impact assessing the Department’s policies and services and preparation of the Disability Equality Schemes took some months to complete and involved all of the Department’s businesses. Action plans will take some time to deliver. Identifying expenditure on these activities would be disproportionate to the costs. However some costs are clearly identifiable. These amount to £645,000 and include spending on the central team which co-ordinated and planned publication of the Schemes, the costs of publication and liaison with the businesses. This figure also includes the cost involved in producing Gender Equality Schemes and progress reports on Race Equality Schemes which were published with the Disability Equality Schemes.

There will be ongoing implementation costs to the Department in delivering and reviewing action plans every three years and reporting on progress against the plans on an annual basis.

Disability Living Allowance

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many people receive disability living allowance on grounds of blindness or visual impairment; [110002]

(2) what estimate he has made of the additional cost to public funds of awarding disability living allowance at the higher rate for mobility to registered blind and visually impaired people now in receipt of the mobility component at the lower rate. [110003]

Mrs. McGuire: As at May 2006, the latest date for which information is available, 62,140 people whose main disabling condition is recorded as blindness were receiving disability living allowance. Of these, 40,030 people under the age of 65 were receiving the lower-rate mobility component. The estimated additional cost of paying the higher-rate mobility component would be about £56 million per year.

Forced Labour

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment the Ethnic Minority Employment Taskforce has made of forced labour in the UK. [108984]


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Mr. Jim Murphy: The Ethnic Minority Employment Task Force has made no assessment of forced labour in the UK. Responsibility for combating trafficking for labour exploitation lies with the Home Office. However, DWP fully supports policies which set and monitor international labour standards, including the regulation of ‘gang masters’.


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