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8 Feb 2007 : Column 1222W—continued
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what the maximum budget available for bonus payments to employees of the Child Support Agency was in each year since 2001; and what the total amount of bonuses paid out to employees of the Agency was in each such year; [102198]
(2) what quotas are set for the (a) number of people and (b) proportion of the pay budget in the Child Support Agency for bonus payments in any one year. [102200]
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 8 February 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 the maximum budget available for bonus payments to employees of the Child Support Agency was in each year since 2001; and what the total amount of bonuses paid out to employees of the Agency was in each such year. (102198); and
what quotas are set for the (a) number of people and (b) proportion of the pay budget in the Child Support Agency in relation to bonus payments in any one year. (102200)
The Child Support Agency is part of the Department for Work and Pensions and operates Departmental schemes. Over the period from 2001 to 2006 three separate schemes for payment of bonuses have operated within the Child Support Agency. All Agency people have been eligible for a payment under these schemes. Each of the three schemes have different criteria on how a bonus can be earned and the percentage of the pay budget that can be applied to it.
Special Bonus—This scheme operated throughout 2001-2006. An individual may be awarded a one-off bonus outside the annual reward performance and development system exercise to recognise and reward exceptional personal achievement. This scheme operates in line with Treasury guidance and the payments in any one-year are limited to 0.25% of the staffing budget.
Individual Performance Bonus—Bonuses linked to annual appraisal markings were available throughout the period 2001-2006. The overall funding available, and the size of the individual bonuses, were determined through discussions with the Treasury about the DWP’s pay remit, and then through negotiations with the unions. The Agency had no separate budget for these bonuses.
Makinson—This scheme only operated in 2002 and 2003, was funded directly by the Treasury and lay outside of the spending review settlement. The total estimated funding available was £9.8m in both 2002 and 2003. In 2002 teams across the Agency earned 93% of the bonus available. In 2003 the stretched target regime was based on new scheme performance, which was below expectations and only 35% of the available bonus was earned.
The special bonus scheme and individual performance bonuses operated for the entire period within all parts of the Department of Work and Pensions. The guidelines policy funding and framework for theses scheme is set Departmentally.
The Makinson bonus scheme was undertaken as part of a Treasury initiative to incentivise performance in the public sector by linking performance to reward. This scheme only ran for 2002-03 and 2003-04 and was trialed in three parts of the Department one of which was the Child Support Agency.
The attached table shows the sums paid as Special Bonuses, and Makinson bonuses and the available budget for each of the last five years.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
| 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | |
|
Total special bonus and Makinson bonus available budget (£000) | |||||
Debt Manager System
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many customer overpayment debt records remain to be inputted into the debt manager system. [106614]
Mr. Plaskitt: There are no customer records that were due to be transferred to the debt manager system outstanding since the system's inception.
There is a normal head of work awaiting input to debt manager, representing approximately four weeks worth of new records.
Departmental Energy Policy
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he plans to make his Department carbon neutral. [105751]
Mrs. McGuire: This Department is committed and actively seeking to reduce carbon emissions in line with the Government target to become carbon neutral by 2012.
Working with our estates Partners—Land Securities Trillium—a number of ways to reduce energy consumption are being explored including the installation of energy efficient equipment across the estate and improved metering and reporting to improve issue resolution. Using available Government funding this Department and Land Securities Trillium are initiating long-term energy saving measures, including Combined Heat and Power (CHP) installations and biomass boilers.
The Department is also actively reducing business travel, in particular the vehicle fleet and mileage, encouraging businesses to consider telekit and video conferencing as an alternative to travel. The Department has also committed to taking part in the Government Carbon Offsetting Scheme to offset carbon emissions from Departmental business air travel.
On energy, this Department has an excellent record for using renewable electricity, currently 48 per cent. against the target of 10 per cent. We are seeking viable opportunities to generate our own renewable supplies.
EMI Group
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on what occasions in the last 12 months officials from his Department have met representatives from EMI Group; and what the purpose was of each meeting. [111224]
Mrs. McGuire: I have no means of establishing with certainty in a department of over 100,000 people if any officials met with representatives from the EMI group in the last 12 months.
European Social Fund
Ms Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how much from the European social fund was spent on projects based in London in (a) 2005 and (b) 2006; and how much is planned to be spent in 2007; [118293]
Mr. Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how much funding from the European social fund was spent on projects based in London in (a) 2005 and (b) 2006; how much is planned to be spent in 2007; and if he will make a statement. [118115]
Mr. Plaskitt: European social fund (ESF) expenditure in London was £67,326,238 in 2005, and £83,642,498 in 2006. The target for ESF spending in London in 2007 is £77,450,422.
Home Responsibilities Protection
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the average number of years of home responsibilities protection (HRP) claimed by women who retired in (a) 1985-86, (b) 1995-96 and (c) 2005-06, excluding those women who did not receive HRP. [111285]
James Purnell [holding answer 25 January 2007]: The estimated average number of years of home responsibilities protection (HRP) received by women aged 60 in (a) 1985-86 is three years, (b) 1995-96 is six years, and (c) 2005-06 is nine years.
Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest whole number and exclude those women who did not receive home responsibilities protection (HRP).
2. Figures refer to those women living in the UK and overseas.
3. Some women who reach state pension age in a particular year with some entitlement to basic state pension may defer their entitlement and claim in a later year.
Source:
Lifetime Labour Market Database 2, 2003-04
Housing
Mr. Laws:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what housing benefit expenditure was in
each local authority area in London in each of the last five years at 2006 prices. [102124]
Mr. Plaskitt: The information is in the table.
| Housing benefit expenditure in London local authorities | |||||
| £ million (2006-07 prices) | |||||
| 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | |
| Notes: 1. Expenditure data is taken from local authorities’ subsidy returns. 2. All figures are final audited data with the exception of 2005-06 which is provisional (pre-audited) data and so may be subject to change. 3. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand. 4. Totals may not sum due to rounding. | |||||
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