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14 Mar 2007 : Column 379W—continued
Social Fund
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he plans to establish an online portal through which applications to the social fund could be made. [124905]
Mr. Plaskitt: Although the Department for Work and Pensions is looking at ways of using the internet more in conducting its business, there are currently no plans in place to establish an online portal through which applications to the social fund could be made.
Social Security Benefits: Disabled People
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will take steps to improve access to existing benefits for disabled people by increasing the number of face-to-face assessments and home visits for initial applications; and if he will make a statement. [124716]
Mrs. McGuire: The Disability and Carers Service with Job Centre plus and the Pension Service is developing proposals to extend our provision for visiting disabled customers in their own homes and other places convenient for them. This will include among other things face to face assessments and help to complete application forms. We are conducting pilots to test the capacity of Pension Service staff to carry out all of the visits needed for attendance allowance and disability living allowance purposes. The Pension Service is also developing new and efficient methods of delivering face to face contact by working with its external partners.
State Retirement Pensions: Females
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate, for each financial year since 1978-79, the number of women who were born in 1945 and who in the year in question were recorded (a) with a qualifying year for retirement pension on the basis of National Insurance contributions or credits and (b) without a qualifying year, showing separately in each case (i) the number receiving Home Responsibility Protection and (ii) the number with a Class 1 reduced rate election. [123886]
James Purnell [holding answer 27 February 2007]: The information available is set out in the following table. The second column of the table shows the number of women born in 1945-46 who qualified for basic state pension through contributions and/or credits for each financial year from 1978-79 to 2003-04 (a). The third column shows the number of women born in 1945-46 who did not qualify for basic state pension through contributions and/or credits for each financial year from 1978-79 to 2003-04 (b). The fourth and fifth columns show the number of these women with Home Responsibilities Protection (b)(i) and the number with a class 1 reduced rate election (b)(ii), respectively, for each financial year.
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many women reaching age 60 in 2005 are recorded as having at least one year of Home Responsibilities Protection which (a) did not coincide with a year which qualified for a retirement pension on the basis of contributions or credits, (b) did coincide with such a year and (c) coincided with a year in which there was a Class 1 reduced rate National Insurance election. [123887]
James Purnell [holding answer 27 February 2007]: Of those women reaching age 60 in 2005-06:
Around 180,000 are recorded as having at least one year of Home Responsibilities Protection which did not coincide with a year which qualified for basic state pension on the basis of contributions and/or credits.
Around 430,000 women are recorded as having at least one year of Home Responsibilities Protection which did coincide with a year which qualified for basic state pension on the basis of contributions and/or credits.
Finally, around 60,000 are recorded as having at least one year of Home Responsibilities Protection which coincided with a year in which there was a class 1 reduced rate national insurance election.
As a result of these issues, the information used to answer this PQ only includes data up to and including the 2003-04 tax year.
Additionally, the figures in the response are based on information available for women aged 58 in 2003-04, since these women are aged 60 in 2005-06. No allowance has been made for deaths between 2003-04 and 2005-06.
Figures refer to women living in the UK as well as women living overseas.
Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10,000.
2. Figures refer to women living in the UK and overseas.
Source:
Lifetime Labour Market Database 2, 2006 release.
Widowed Parents Allowance
Mr. David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people are in receipt of widowed parents allowance. [125958]
Mr. Plaskitt: As at August 2006, the most recent year for which there is an available figure, there were 37,060 people in receipt of widowed parents allowance in Great Britain.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Belarus: Human Rights
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps she is taking at the United Nations to encourage action against Belarus on human rights. [126985]
Mr. Hoon: The UK and the EU take every opportunity in the UN Human Rights Council and the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly, to express our continuing concerns about Belarus’s human rights record. The UN Special Rapporteur on Belarus presented a report to the Human Rights Council in September 2006. The EU spoke in the council’s dialogue with the Rapporteur, expressing concern about the further weakening of the independence of the judiciary, intimidation of civil society activists, detention of political prisoners, and the situation of minority groups in Belarus. We will continue to use dialogues with the Special Rapporteur on Belarus, and other relevant UN Special Rapporteurs, to register our concerns and press for improvements.
In November 2006, EU members co-sponsored a resolution on Belarus in the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly. It was duly adopted there and subsequently in the plenary session of the General Assembly. The resolution expressed deep concern at the deteriorating human rights situation in Belarus, including Belarus’s failure to co-operate with the UN human rights mechanisms; its failure to conduct free and fair elections, including the detention and arrest of political and civil society activists; and persistent reports of harassment and closure of non-governmental organisations, national minority groups, independent media outlets, religious groups, opposition political parties and independent trade unions.
British Food
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of food served in buildings occupied by her Department was of British origin in (a) 2005 and (b) 2006. [111126]
Mr. Hoon: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) plays an active part in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ public sector food procurement initiative, and seeks to improve the sustainability of food supplied to the Department.
In 2006, the following proportion of food served within the FCO was of British Origin:
| Percentage | |
The contract for the supply of catering to the FCO changed hands in mid 2005 and as a result figures for that year could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
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