---

26 Jan 2007 : Column 2102W—continued

Housing benefit (HB) and council tax benefit (CTB) recipients in receipt of IB and SDA: Great Britain
Thousand
	May 2002	May 2003	May 2004
HB and IB	403	396	410
HB and SDA	114	112	112
CTB and IB	512	498	492
CTB and SDA	110	97	95

Average weekly amounts for HB/CTB recipients in receipt of IB and SDA: Great Britain
£
	May 2002	May 2003	May 2004
HB and IB	50.91	50.47	53.87
HB and SDA	76.04	61.11	64.15
CTB and IB	11.14	12.09	12.78
CTB and SDA	11.74	12.62	13.45
Notes: 1. The data refer to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple. 2. Case loads are rounded to the nearest thousand. 3. Average amounts are rounded to the nearest penny. 4. Housing benefit figures exclude any extended payment cases. 5. Council tax benefit figures exclude any second adult rebate cases. 6. May 2004 are the most recent data available

26 Jan 2007 : Column 2103W

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people claimed both incapacity benefit and income support in each year since 1997. [101742]

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

26 Jan 2007 : Column 2104W

Claimants in receipt of both Incapacity Benefit (IB) and Income Support (IS), Great Britain
As at May each year	Number (thousand)
1997	461.30
1998	468.10
1999	461.00
2000	471.31
2001	493.20
2002	477.12
2003	468.73
2004	432.73
2005	407.04
2006	389.74
Notes: 1. Figures prior to May 2000 are rounded to the nearest hundred, and to the nearest ten thereafter. 2. IB claimant figures do not include IB credits only cases. 3. A smaller number of former MIG cases did not convert to pension credit on 6 October 2003. These cases have been excluded from the IS figures. 4. Figures prior to May 2000 have been produced using 5 per cent. data and rated up proportionally using 100 per cent WPLS totals Source: DWP Information Directorate, Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study, 100 per cent. data - May 2000 onwards. IAD Information Centre 5 per cent. samples - May 1997-99

Departmental Staff

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff of each executive agency or department responsible to him were (a) on fixed-term appointments or (b) agency workers in each of the last three years; and what percentage of total staff these represented. [108665]

Mrs. McGuire: The number of staff on fixed-term appointments at 31 March in each of the last three years is shown in the following table.

Historic information on the number of agency workers is not available but a recent estimate indicates the current Department has around 120 agency staff undertaking administrative and related work. This number represents around 0.1 per cent. of total departmental staffing.

	31 March 2004		31 March 2005		31 March 2006
	Number of FTA	Percentage of total staff	Number of FTA	Percentage of total staff	Number of FTA	Percentage of total staff
Jobcentre Plus	180	0.2	1006	1.4	945	1.3
The Pension Service	699	3.6	986	6	472	3.4
Child Support Agency	191	1.7	334	3.3	110	1
Disability and Carers Service	25	0.3	17	0.3	47	0.7
The Rent Service	0	0	0	0	0	0
Other departmental units	116	0.9	259	2.0	242	2.1
Total	1,211	0.9	2,602	2.2	1,816	1.6
Notes: 1.Figures are full time equivalent (rounded) and are consistent with Office for National Statistics definitions.

Disability Living Allowance

Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people who receive disability living allowance are also in receipt of (a) incapacity benefit, (b) income support, (c) housing benefit and (d) carer's allowance. [116524]

Mrs. McGuire [holding answer 18 January 2007]: The most recent available information is in the following tables.

Disability living allowance claimants by benefit combination in Great Britain: May 2006
	Number
All disability living allowance claimants	2,799,160
Disability living allowance and income support	632,460
Disability living allowance and incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance	1,276,220
Disability living allowance and carer's allowance	78,920
Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Disability living allowance claimants includes payment cases only 3. It is possible for disability living allowance claimants to receive one or more of the other benefits in combination; such cases are included in each combination total. Source: DWP Information Directorate—WPLS 100 per cent. data.

Housing benefit recipients also in receipt of disability living allowance in Great Britain: May 2003
	Number
All housing benefit recipients	3,796,000
Housing benefit and disability living allowance	712,000
Notes: 1. Figures refer to benefit units, which may be a single person or couple. 2. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand; totals may not sum due to rounding. 3. Housing benefit figures exclude extended payment cases. Source: Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information System, annual 1 per cent sample; May 2003

26 Jan 2007 : Column 2105W

Incapacity Benefit

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of incapacity benefit claimants were aged over (a) 40, (b) 50, (c) 55, (d) 60 and (e) 65 years in each of the last seven years. [101112]

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

Proportion of incapacity benefit claimants by age group, shown as a percentage of the total caseload each May from 2000 to 2006
Percentage
	Age 40 to 49	Age 50 to 54	Age 55 to 59	Age 60 to 64	Age 65 and over
2000	22.1	16.6	19.1	15.0	—
2001	22.4	16.6	19.2	14.3	—
2002	22.6	15.6	19.8	13.7	—
2003	23.0	15.1	20.1	13.1	—
2004	23.5	14.8	20.2	12.7	—
2005	24.0	14.6	20.3	12.4	—
2006	24.5	14.7	20.4	12.3	—
Notes: 1. ‘Claimant’ figures include all IB (including IB credits only cases). 2. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 3. ‘—’ denotes nil or negligible. 4. Although in general incapacity benefit applies to people of working age, a small number of claimants are over state pension age. Source: DWP Information Directorate, Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent. data.

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many claims for incapacity benefit on grounds of (a) certain infectious and parasitic diseases, (b) neoplasms, (c) diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs and certain diseases involving the immune mechanism, (d) endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases, (e) mental and behavioural disorders, (f) diseases of the nervous system, (g) diseases of the eye and adnexa, (h) diseases of the ear and mastoid process, (i) diseases of the circulatory system, (j) diseases of the respiratory system, (k) factors influencing health status and contact with health services, (l) diseases of the digestive system, (m) diseases of the skin and subcutaneous system, (n) diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue, (o) diseases of the genitourinary system, (p) pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium, (q) certain conditions originating in the perinatal period, (r) congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities, (s) symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified and (t) injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes were disallowed following a personal capability assessment in each of the last three years. [101744]

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

---