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20 Mar 2007 : Column 808W—continued
Disability Discrimination Act
Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of the (a) one-off and (b) recurring cost of implementing the Disability Discrimination Act 2004 and 2005 to (i) businesses and (ii) the regulators. [126637]
Mrs. McGuire: There was no Disability Discrimination Act 2004, but on 1 October 2004 we extended the employment provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 to a further 1 million employers and 7 million jobs, including 600,000 in which disabled people were working. From the same date, we extended the duties for service providers and these changes helped to open up more services to around 10 million people in this country who are likely to be protected by the Act.
Regulatory impact assessments of the costs of implementing the duties that came into force in 2004,
and of implementing the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, are available in the Library of the House.
Disabled Children
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what support his Department gives to low income households with disabled children. [125544]
Mrs. McGuire [holding answer 12 March 2007]: The Department for Work and Pensions provides a range of financial support for low income households with disabled children.
Depending on the circumstances of the parents, support for low income families may come from jobseeker's allowance or income support, both of which include special premia to help meet the additional costs associated with disability.
Disabled children may also be entitled to disability living allowance (DLA), a non-contributory, non-income-related and tax free contribution towards the disability-related extra care and mobility costs of severely disabled people. If a child receives DLA, their parent or carer may also be eligible to claim additional support through carers allowance.
Support is also available from other Government Departments; for example, HM Revenue and Customs are responsible for administering the child tax credit and working tax credit, both of which provide extra help for families that include a disabled child.
Jobcentre Plus: Chorlton
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what average time staff at the Chorlton office of Jobcentre Plus took to process applications to the Social Fund in the last 12 months; [125583]
(2) how many calls to the call centre at the Chorlton office of Jobcentre Plus were (a) answered, (b) missed and (c) intentionally terminated before being answered in each month since January 2006; [125584]
(3) what average time those calling the call centre at the Chorlton office of Jobcentre Plus waited before their call was answered in the last 12 months. [125585]
Mr. Jim Murphy: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. I have asked her to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 20 March 2007:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions about the average time taken to process Social Fund applications in the Chorlton office in the last 12 months, the average waiting times for those calling the office and how may calls were answered, missed and intentionally terminated before being answered. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
The year to date performance against the clearance target for each of the five elements of Social Fund payments for Chorlton office is set out below:
| Days against target | |
Chorlton is a centralised Benefit Delivery Centre that has been taking on the Social Fund work of a number of smaller sites throughout the last six months. This has led to some deterioration in performance in December and January. Specific recovery plans have been put in place to improve this including training additional staff and we expect performance to recover.
Chorlton has not yet had the new telephony system installed that will allow the missed, answered and intentionally terminated calls or average waiting times to be monitored so I am sorry that I am unable to provide this information. The new telephony system should be installed by the end of December 2007.
I hope this is helpful.
Jobcentre Plus: Compensation
Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many special payments have been made to customers of Jobcentre Plus in compensation for the poor performance of Jobcentre Plus in each of the last six months for which figures are available; and what the total amount of such special payments was. [119373]
Mr. Jim Murphy [holding answer 6 February 2007]: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. I have asked her to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 20 March 2007:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking how many special payments have been made to customers of Jobcentre Plus in compensation for the poor performance of Jobcentre Plus in each of the last six months for which figures are available; and what the total amount of such special payments was. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
The Jobcentre Plus special payments scheme is part of a wider scheme operated by the Department for Work and Pensions. Details are contained in the Financial Redress for Maladministration Guide, a copy of which can be found in the House of Commons Library.
Information on the number of special payments made by Jobcentre Plus and the total amount of those payments in the last six months is in the table.
| Special payments | ||
| 2006 | Number of payments | Amount Paid (£) |
I hope this is helpful.
Jobcentre Plus: Norfolk
Mr. Fraser: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many crisis loan payments were made from (a) Swaffham and (b) Downham Market Jobcentre Plus branches in each of the last five years. [126239]
Mr. Jim Murphy: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. I have asked her to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 20 March 2007:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking how many Crisis Loan payments have been made from the Swaffham and Downham Market Jobcentre Plus branches in each of the last five years. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Crisis Loan payments have only been made from these Jobcentres since 2004. Prior to that, payments were issued from the former Benefits Agency offices. For customers from Swaffham and Downham Market this was the office in Kings Lynn. Details of the number of Crisis Loan payments issued from the two offices since 2004 are outlined in the table below.
| Downham Market | Swaffham | |
Mr. Fraser: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how far residents of (a) Swaffham and (b) Downham Market will have to travel to their nearest Jobcentre Plus branch if existing branches are closed; and what assessment he has made of the availability of public transport for those journeys. [126249]
Mr. Jim Murphy: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. I have asked her to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 20 March 2007:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking how far residents of Swaffham and Downham Market will have to travel to their nearest Jobcentre Plus branch if existing branches are closed; and what assessment he has made of the availability of public transport for those journeys. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Information about the availability of public transport and the distances to be travelled is included in the table:
| Transport availability to other jobcentres from Downham Market and Swaffham | |||||
| Destination | Method | Distance (miles) | Frequency (minutes) | Journey time (minutes) | |
I hope this is helpful.
Mr. Fraser:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what assessment he has made of the
profile of customers visiting each of the Jobcentre Plus branches earmarked for closure in Norfolk; [126250]
(2) what services are offered at the (a) Swaffham, (b) Downham Market, (c) Wymondham and (d) Hunstanton Jobcentre Plus branches; and what average number of people used each branch on each day in the last six months. [126257]
Mr. Jim Murphy: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. I have asked her to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 20 March 2007:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions asking what assessment he has made of the profile of customers visiting each of the Jobcentre Plus branches earmarked for closure in Norfolk and what services are offered at the Swaffham, Downham Market, Wymondham and Hunstanton Jobcentre Plus branches; and what was the average number of people using each branch on each day in the last six months. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
The Jobcentres at Downham Market, Hunstanton, Swaffham and Wymondham deliver the full range of advisory interventions, with the exception of New Jobseeker Interviews at Downham Market, Hunstanton and Swaffham. The New Jobseeker Interviews are held at Dereham for Swaffham customers, and Kings Lynn for customers from Downham Market and Hunstanton.
All locations carry out Fortnightly Jobsearch Reviews for customers in receipt of Jobseeker's Allowance. In addition, all four Jobcentres currently provide Jobpoints that enable customers to search for advertised jobs. Jobsearch facilities are also available to all customers via the Internet and by Jobseeker Direct our telephone based Jobsearch service delivered through our network of contact centres.
The average numbers of people who have attended the offices for Fortnightly Jobsearch Reviews and advisory interviews on a daily basis in the last six months are set out in the table.
| Average daily number of fortnightly reviews and adviser interviews at Downham Market, Hunstanton, Swaffham and Wymondham Jobcentres | ||
| Fortnightly reviews( 1) | Adviser interviews( 1) | |
| (1) Per day. | ||
The number of advisory interventions for Wymondham is considerably higher as New Jobseeker interviews are still carried out there.
I hope this is helpful.
Mr. Fraser: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff are employed at the Jobcentre Plus branches in (a) Swaffham and (b) Downham Market. [126252]
Mr. Jim Murphy: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. I have asked her to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 20 March 2007:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking how many staff are employed at the Jobcentre Plus
branches in Swaffham and Downham Market. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
There are six staff at Swaffham Jobcentre, three of whom are part-time, covering a total of five full-time equivalent posts. There are seven full-time staff working at Downham Market.
I hope this is helpful.
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