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31 Jan 2007 : Column 389W—continued
Carbon Emissions
Anne Main: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when his Office began to measure its carbon emissions; what the volume of those emissions was in the last period for which figures are available; when his Office started to offset those emissions; what the cost is expected to be of offsetting his Office’s emissions in 2006-07; and if he will make a statement. [116396]
Chris Grayling: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much he has spent on carbon offsetting for air travel in the past 12 months. [117128]
The Deputy Prime Minister: My office forms an integral part of the Cabinet Office estate and figures for individual parts of the estate cannot be disaggregated. I refer the hon. Members to the reply from the Secretary, Cabinet Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster, North on 20 October 2006, Official Report, column 1467W, and the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on 23 January 2007, Official Report, column 1731W. My Department participates in the Government Carbon Offsetting Fund and will make payments at the appropriate time in order to off-set our air travel emissions.
Departmental Staff
Mr. Heald: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many of his departmental staff have (a) resigned from his Department and (b) been allocated to a different department since its creation. [114099]
The Deputy Prime Minister: I refer the hon. gentleman to my reply to his previous question on 4 December 2006, Official Report, column 109W.
Ministerial Travel
Mr. Redwood: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many official journeys he has made by train since May 2005. [110494]
The Deputy Prime Minister: I refer the right hon. Gentleman to the answer given to the hon. Member for Colchester (Bob Russell) on 21 November 2006, Official Report, column 67W.
Work and Pensions
Adult Dependency Allowance
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for what reason backdated payments of the adult dependency allowance are not permitted. [117255]
Mrs. McGuire: A person has three months in which to claim an adult dependency increase. Provided the conditions of entitlement are satisfied throughout that period, arrears of benefit will be paid.
Benefits
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what percentage of (a) incapacity benefit and (b) severe disability living allowance claims have been terminated in (i) pathways to work areas, (ii) non pathways to work areas and (iii) each borough of London in each quarter since pathways to work areas came into operation. [101762]
Mrs. McGuire: The information has been placed in the Library.
Carers
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his most recent estimate is of (a) how many carers there are in the UK, (b) how many hours, on average, they spend fulfilling their carer responsibilities and (c) what the cost per hour of care would be to the public purse if they were not providing such care. [102061]
Mrs. McGuire: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the written answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, South (Mr. Marsden) on 4 December 2006, Official Report, column 155W.
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many carer’s allowance recipients receive the adult dependency increase; and how many new carers are expected to be eligible to receive it in each year up to 2010; [113369]
(2) what assessment has been made of the effect of the removal of the adult dependency increase in carer’s allowance for new claims from 2010, as announced by the Chancellor in his pre-Budget report. [113370]
Mrs. McGuire: Adult dependency increases were originally introduced to recognise of the fact that many married women did not have employment outside the home. In the case of carer’s allowance, the increase is paid for the carer’s spouse, civil partner or someone who looks after the carer’s children, where that person earns less than the amount of the adult dependency increase, which is currently £28.05 a week.
As at 31 May 2006, the latest date for which information is available, some 410,000 people entitled to carer’s allowance were receiving income support or pension credit, whereas only around 15,900 were receiving an adult dependency increase. Available forecasts suggest that some 3,000 new carer’s allowance awards in 2006-07 and in 2007-08 will include an adult dependency increase. Forecasts are not available currently for 2008-09 and 2009-10.
The Government intend to remove adult dependency increases for new claims for carer’s allowance from 2010. However, adult dependency increases already in payment at 2010 will continue until entitlement ends or until 2020, whichever is earlier. Only a small number of carers who claim carer’s allowance from 2010 onwards are likely to be affected by the removal of adult dependency increases for new claims, because those in lower income households receiving either an income-related benefit or pension credit will be compensated in these benefits for the non-availability of the adult dependency increase.
Mr. Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make it his policy to pay carers a benefit which is consistent with the minimum wage rate. [117155]
Mrs. McGuire: Carer’s allowance is not a “carers’ wage”, therefore, the connection with the national minimum wage is not appropriate. It is an income-maintenance benefit for people who are not in full-time work and who regularly provide substantial care of at least 35 hours per week for a severely disabled person receiving either attendance allowance or the equivalent rates of the disability living allowance care component. People receiving carer’s allowance can have earnings, net of a range of expenses including the cost of alternative care for either the severely disabled person or a child under 16 years of age while the carer is at work, of up to the national insurance lower earnings limit, currently £84 per week.
Mr. Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will allow people in receipt of a state retirement pension over the age of 60 to become eligible for carer’s allowance. [117156]
Mrs. McGuire: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply I gave on 16 June 2006, Official Report, column 1468W, to the hon. Member for Peterborough (Mr. Jackson).
Child Maintenance Payments
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which of the dedicated specialist teams referred to on page 25 of the White Paper “A new system of child maintenance” are in place as part of the Operational Improvement Plan. [113533]
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.
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what mechanism he plans to use to assess the poverty status of (a) each parent with care and (b) each non-resident parent in order to achieve the objective of ensuring that the child maintenance system overall is designed to maximise its positive impact on child poverty. [113542]
Mr. Plaskitt: We will be carrying out detailed work in order to work out how best to measure the success of the redesigned child maintenance system against the objectives detailed in the White Paper; “A new system of child maintenance”.
We will use the Family Resources Survey to assess the poverty status of parents with care. Poverty is defined here as living in a household which has income below 60 per cent. of equivalised median income before housing costs; this is the internationally recognised threshold of low income.
Non-resident parents cannot currently be identified directly on the Family Resources Survey so we will carefully consider how the proposed system of simplifying and improving the child maintenance assessment process will impact upon them.
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the projected cost is of (a) establishing and (b) running the Child Maintenance Enforcement Commission in (i) 2008-09, (ii) 2009-10, (iii) 2010-11, (iv) 2011-12 and (v) 2012-13. [113551]
Mr. Plaskitt: These costs will depend critically on what choices parents make; how C-MEC will finally configure its services; and the details of the transitional arrangements to the new scheme. Consequently, precise year-by-year estimates are not currently available.
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether all the costs of establishing and running the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission will be met by a reduction in current projected budget allocations to the Child Support Agency. [113552]
Mr. Plaskitt:
The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission will replace the Child Support Agency when it is established and the funding
of the costs of establishing and running the new organisation will be a matter for departmental planning in the usual manner. The combined effect of the reforms is, however, expected to lead to a dramatically reduced inflow of new cases. That will in turn lead to a reduced need for investment from taxpayers’ resources but the resources needed to provide a high-quality service will be available.
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the basis is for the decision to set the safeguard for changes in non-resident parent’s income at plus or minus 25 per cent., as proposed on page 61 of the White Paper “A new system of child maintenance”. [113556]
Mr. Plaskitt: Under the current new child support scheme, any change in income of 5 per cent. will give rise to a recalculation in the liability for child support maintenance. This has led to the Child Support Agency facing a substantial workload of such reported changes. Therefore, as part of the redesign, it was decided that this threshold of 5 per cent. needed to be substantially increased. The issue was what the new figure should be.
Two main factors affect that decision, but they push in opposite directions. The first is the need to avoid too many recalculations of liability at the outset of an application as these slow up the progress of cases from application to first payment, which argues for the figure to be high.
The second is the need to be fair to the parties, not making the figure either too high or too low, compared to current income which argues for the figure to be low. Using plus or minus 25 per cent. in the Government’s view takes appropriate account of both these factors.
Child Support Agency
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will bring forward legislation to write off Child Support Agency arrears; and if he will make a statement. [102304]
Mr. Plaskitt: I refer the hon. Member to paragraphs 5.36-5.37 on page 78 of the child maintenance White Paper “A new system of child maintenance”.
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff were employed by the Child Support Agency in each of the last 18 months. [112895]
Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is the matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the hon. Gentleman with the information requested.
Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 31st January 2007:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question 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, how many staff were employed by the Child Support Agency in each of the last 18 months. [112895]
The information requested is shown in the Table below.
| CSA Staffing levels—Office of the National Statistics Methodology Full Time Equivalents (rounded to the nearest 10) | |
I hope you find this information helpful.
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps have been taken to improve communications with clients of the Child Support Agency so that they can better understand the progress of their case as part of the Operational Improvement Plan for the CSA. [113534]
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.
Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 31 January 2007:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question 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 steps have been taken to improve communications with clients of the Child Support Agency so that they can better understand the progress of their case as part of the Operational Improvement Plan for the CSA. [113534]
As part of the Operational Improvement Plan the Child Support Agency has already started a significant programme of work to improve its client communications. An audit has identified clear opportunities for improvement and, as a result, a “Client Journey” is currently being developed which will help to ensure that communications are consistent, accurate and provide clients with the information they need at the appropriate time. This will help to make the case handling process clearer and to ensure that clients are kept up to date with what is happening.
In addition some essential improvements have been made to the main letters that are generated by CS2, the Agency’s new computer system, and the leaflets that accompany letters are in the process of being re-written to make them clearer for clients. Some initial changes have been made to the Child Support Agency website including a new options section for prospective clients who are not in receipt of benefits.
In the future, all client communications will be reviewed and improved as required. This will include significant changes to letters generated by the new computer system and a comprehensive review and re-write of all manually produced communications; a major upgrade of the website and; in the
coming year a review of the Agency’s handling of its communication by telephone in order to identify ways to improve the experience for clients.
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