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5 Feb 2007 : Column 660Wcontinued
James Purnell: Figures from the Family Resources Survey show that there are relatively few individuals, an estimated 330,000, who have multiple jobs, earn more than £5,000 per year and are not currently contributing to a private pension. Analyses of such small groups using the FRS sample are not robust enough for publication, but can be used to provide broad indications of the characteristics of individuals within the group. Further analysis using the main longitudinal surveys is not possible as sample sizes are smaller than for the Family Resources Survey, increasing the risk that individuals within the sample will be unrepresentative of the overall group.
The following table shows an analysis of the individuals from the 2004-05 Family Resources Survey with multiple jobs who earn more than £5,000 per year and are not currently contributing to a private pension, by age band and employment status. Although these figures do not provide firm evidence of the employment patterns of a group of individuals over the course of their working lives, they show considerable variation across different age groups, providing some indicative evidence that the characteristics of the group vary at different points of the working life, and suggesting that the majority of individuals currently in multiple jobs are unlikely to remain in multiple jobs throughout their working life.
Full time | Part time | |||
Age band | Men | Women | Men | Women |
Source: Family Resources Survey 2004-05. |
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in what circumstances an individual would be better off transferring money into a personal account, as described in the White Paper, Personal Accounts: a new way to save, rather than into an independent savings account invested in an equity tracking fund. [113450]
James Purnell: Individuals would need to consider a variety of personal and financial factors before deciding whether to save in their personal account or an alternative savings vehicle. However, as well as a matching employer contribution of 3 per cent., those saving in Personal Accounts will benefit from low charges and generous tax relief.
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment his Department has made of the effect on existing pension schemes of the decision to set a maximum annual contribution of at least £5,000 set out on page 11 of the White Paper Personal Accounts: a new way to save. [113564]
James Purnell: The Government are consulting on an annual contribution limit of £5,000 into personal accounts. The final decision will balance the twin aims of focusing personal accounts on moderate to low earners and allowing sufficient flexibility for individuals within the scheme who wish to save more.
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assumptions were made with regard to the number of years contribution for (a) figure 6a and (b) figure 6b on page 35 of the White Paper Personal Accounts: a new way to save. [113567]
James Purnell: Figures 6a and 6b show the potential payback from saving for retirement with and without the proposed reforms. They assume the individual neither works nor has caring responsibilities until the age of 25, then makes national insurance contributions and contributes to a personal account at the default rate until retiring at state pension age.
Details of this and other assumptions underlying these figures are contained in Appendix A of Financial incentives to save for retirement.
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the White Paper Personal Accounts: a new way to save, what assumptions were made in estimating that approximately 60 per cent. of money saved in personal accounts will be new saving. [113569]
James Purnell: The estimate that approximately 60 per cent. of money saved in personal accounts will be new saving is based on the results of a literature survey carried out for DWP.
The 60 per cent. is the middle point of a range of 50 to 70 per cent. that was put forward in the report as a plausible assumption for the average level of new savings in the national pensions saving scheme or similar personal account schemes.
It is this range that is used in the White Paper and the accompanying regulatory impact assessment, which note that personal accounts would generate pension savings of £7 to 8 billion per year, of which approximately £4-5 billion are expected to be additional.
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which public appointments have been made by his Department to former Ministers who have served in the Government since May 1997. [105757]
Mrs. McGuire: The Department has made no public appointments to former Government Ministers who have served in the Government since May 1997.
Baroness Hollis, who was Pensions Minister in the Lords, is currently on the Board of The Pensions Advisory Service but she was appointed by the TPAS Board, not the Department.
This response covers all departmental public bodies listed in the Cabinet Office publication Public Bodies 2006.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) on what grounds a decision- maker may overrule the opinion of a qualified medical practitioner on eligibility for a DS1500 claim; [102384]
(2) how many DS1500 claims were (a) granted and (b) refused in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and in what proportion of claims a decision-maker called for additional information before making a decision in each year. [102385]
Mrs. McGuire: Decision-makers do not overrule the opinion of a qualified medical practitioner about benefit entitlement on form DS1500 because the form is not a claim for benefit and does not contain such an opinion. The form contains purely factual information about a patients diagnosis, the clinical features of their condition and their treatment. It is completed, at the request of a patient or their representative, by a registered medical practitioner who considers that the patient may have a potentially terminal illness, and is submitted with a claim form for benefit under the special rules for terminally ill people.
These rules enable people who have a progressive disease, from which their death can reasonably be expected within six months, to qualify immediately for either higher-rate attendance allowance or the highest-rate of the disability living allowance care component without meeting the usual entitlement conditions. The rules also enable these people to receive the highest rate of incapacity benefit after 28 weeks rather than the usual 52 weeks.
Decision-makers are entirely responsible for deciding whether a person is entitled to benefit under the special rules and, for this purpose, take advice from DWP Medical Services doctors on all special rules claims about whether the person by, or for whom, the claim is made has a progressive disease, from which their death can reasonably be expected within six months.
Figures are not kept for the number of special rules claims on which decision-makers seek information in addition to that provided on form DS1500, and figures are not kept separately for the number of special rules claims that are disallowed.. The information that is available about special rules claims decided in each of the last five years is in the table.
Attendance allowance and disability living allowance and [ii] Incapacity Benefitnumber of claims in which benefit was awarded under the special rules in each year from 2001-02 to 2005-06 | ||
( 1) Attendance allowance and disability living allowance | ( 2) Incapacity benefit | |
Sources: (1 )DWP Information Directorate, 5 per cent. samples. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100. (2 )DWP Information Directorate, 5 per cent. samples. Figures are for the 12 months ending on 31 May in 2002 and in each subsequent year, and are rounded to the nearest 100. |
Mr. Philip Hammond:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many qualifying former UK residents living in (a) Greece, (b) Spain, (c) Italy,
(d) Malta, (e) Cyprus and (f) Portugal received winter fuel payments allowance in each year for which figures are available; and how much was spent on those payments during that period. [112910]
James Purnell: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave him on 9 January 2007, Official Report, columns 573-4W.
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of the commitment by the French Government of ground troops in Afghanistan; and what representations she has made to NATO partners on maintaining their commitments to the Alliance. [111614]
Dr. Howells: Through the NATO led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) all 26 NATO nations, including France, remain committed to supporting the Afghan Government as it extends its writ across the country. ISAF is in Afghanistan to help establish a security environment in which accountable and effective Afghan institutions can develop and where Afghan-led reconstruction and development can happen. For its part, France currently has approximately 1,000 troops under ISAF making it the seventh largest troop-contributing nation to the force.
My right hon. Friend the Defence Secretary and I regularly hold meetings with our NATO counterparts to ensure that commanders on the ground have access to the resources they need to carry out ISAFs mission and to ensure NATO Allies regularly review their civilian contributions to Afghanistan. At the recent NATO Foreign Ministers meeting in Brussels, 26 January, my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary reaffirmed the need for all NATO Allies to play their part in ensuring ISAFs success. Military advice on force and capability requirements is provided by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe using the NATO force generation process.
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what specific financial measures against proliferators her Department is developing as set out in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Autumn Performance Report 1 April to 30 September 2006; and if she will make a statement. [112540]
Margaret Beckett: Officials have held a series of meetings to examine what financial measures we might use against proliferators. These discussions are ongoing. Separately, UN Security Council resolutions 1718 and 1737 contain country specific proliferation finance elements. These elements aim to disrupt the transfer of material and technology, which could contribute to the weapons of mass destruction and missile programmes of North Korea and Iran respectively. The use of financial measures could be a powerful tool in rolling back programmes of concern.
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the mandate of Mr. Schwartz Schilling set by the Contact Group for Bosnia and Herzegovina will be extended; and if she will make a statement. [112530]
Margaret Beckett:
On 23 January 2007, Mr. Schwarz-Shilling announced that he would not be seeking an extension to his mandate as high representative and EU special representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina beyond 30 June 2007. The mandate of the Office of the High Representative beyond June 2007, and the selection of a successor to the high
representative, will be decided by the Peace Implementation Council Board, which next meets on 26-27 February.
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many Council of Europe conventions have been signed by the United Kingdom but not yet ratified; and what the dates of (a) signature and (b) expected ratification are in each case. [117552]
Dr. Howells: The UK has signed but not yet ratified 19 Council of Europe Conventions as follows:
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