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23 Mar 2007 : Column 1184Wcontinued
Dr. Blackman-Woods: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of people likely to participate in the New Deal self-employment programme in the next 12 months; and how many participated in each of the previous three years. [128229]
Mr. Martlew: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he has estimated the costs to the public purse of assisting an unemployed person to return to work under the (a) New Deal self-employment programme and (b) other employment programmes. [128668]
Mr. Jim Murphy: Self-employment support is available to new deal participants through the mandatory new deal for young people and new deal 25 plus and through the voluntary new deal for partners and new deal for lone parents. There is no separate new deal self-employment programme.
Self-employment support offers an initial awareness session for potential entrepreneurs followed by a period of supported business planning with a business expert
and a period of test trading. During test trading, participants start their business while continuing to receive their benefit, an allowance or working tax credits, depending on their circumstances, to help them over any initial transitional hurdles. This period can last up to a maximum of 26 weeks.
No specific assessment has been carried out into the relative merits, or costs involved, of returning to work through new deal self-employment compared with other elements of new deal. However, data indicate that of those who started the stage three self-employment test trading element of new deal for young people, 61 per cent. subsequently left to employment. Corresponding figures for the new deal for young people options are: employment option, 71 per cent.; full-time education and training option, 46 per cent.; voluntary sector, 51 per cent., and environmental task force, 52 per cent. Similar data are not available for the other new deals.
We expect that around 5,000 people will start new deal self-employment support in 2007-08.
Information is not available on the number of starts to self-employment provision through new deal for partners and new deal for lone parents in the last three years. Information on the number of people who started self-employment provision in the two mandatory new deals in each of the last three years is in the following table.
Starts on the new deal self-employment option | ||
New deal for young people | New deal 25 plus | |
Source: DWP Information Directorate |
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of families with children who could not afford (a) winter coats and shoes, (b) two meals a day, (c) toys and (d) school trips in (i) 1997, (ii) 2001 and (iii) the latest year for which figures are available. [122386]
Mr. Jim Murphy: Data are not available for 1997. The most recent year for which figures are available in 2004. Figures are taken from the Families and Children's Study, an annual DWP-funded survey of 7,000 families with dependent children in Great Britain which has been carried out since 2001. The parent(s), usually the mother, are asked about a set of items, to report whether they have this, would like to have this but cannot afford it at the moment or do not want/need this at the moment. The responses are the respondent's own interpretations.
The available information is in the following table. Figures are not available for two meals a day and school trips. They are available for a cooked main meal and money for trips, holidays or outings so these have been provided instead.
The proportions and numbers of families with children in Great Britain reporting that they would like to have this but cannot afford it at the moment | ||||
2001 | 2004 | |||
Percentage | Number | Percentage | Number | |
Note: Population figures have been estimated by grossing up from a representative sample of 7,000 families and will therefore be subject to error. Source: Families and Children's Study |
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of (a) the number and (b) the proportion of households renting from (i) local authorities, (ii) registered social landlords, (iii) private landlords and (iv) owner occupiers which are workless. [126503]
Mr. Plaskitt: The following table shows the number and proportion of workless people by tenure.
Total number of workless people, including pensioners ( M illion) | Number of workless working age people ( M illion) | Proportion of workless people( 1) ( P ercentage) | |
(1) The proportion of workless people is the proportion of working age people who are out of work. Note: Figures may not add up due to rounding. Source: Labour Force Survey - October to December 2006 |
Mr. Scott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people were prosecuted for benefit fraud in each of the last three years for which figures are available. [128478]
Mr. Plaskitt: The information is in the following table.
Benefit fraud prosecutions convictions and sanctions by DWP and local authorities | |||
Prosecutions | Convictions | Total of all Sanctions | |
Notes: 1. Sanctions, prosecutions and convictions figures include QMS, Instrument of Payment (IOP) and Organised Fraud cases. 2. Prosecutions figures exclude cases withdrawn at court. 3. Sanctions are defined here as the sum of prosecutions, administrative penalties issued, and cautions issued. |
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his letter of 8 February to the hon. Member for Totnes and the answer of 8 February 2007, Official Report, column 1214W, on maladministration payments, when he will decide the level of compensatory payment due to Miss Hinkley; and if he will make a statement. [122479]
Mr. Plaskitt [holding answer 22 February 2007]: I will write to the hon. Member regarding the specific circumstances of the case he raises.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the amount of savings held by (a) local authority tenants, (b) registered social landlord tenants, (c) private tenants and (d) owner occupiers. [126505]
Mr. Plaskitt: No estimates have been made of the amount of savings held by (a) local authority tenants, (b) registered social landlord tenants, (c) private tenants and (d) owner occupiers.
Mr. Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of households eligible for winter fuel payments in 2006-07; and how many applications his Department has received for that payment. [129386]
James Purnell:
Some 8,506,750 households received a winter fuel payment in winter 2005-06. It is not possible to say how many households are eligible for a winter fuel payment because in order to assess whether a person is entitled to a winter fuel payment we need to establish their circumstances. A person may be ineligible for various reasons such as serving a custodial sentence, in hospital receiving free in-patient
treatment for more than 52 weeks, or subject to immigration control. Over 99 per cent. of winter fuel payments are made automatically without the need to claim based on information already held by the Department. However some people aged 60 or over who are not in receipt of a benefit administered by DWP may need to claim. For winter 2005-06 we received 311,900 claim forms by the cut-off date of 30 March 2006. Figures for winter 2006-07 are not yet available but we expect the numbers to be similar.
Notes:
1. Figures rounded to the nearest 10.
2. Any residence found to have four or more occupants aged 60 and over is not included in the household figures as it is assumed to be a care home.
Sources:
For winter fuel payments made: Information directorate 100 per cent data.
For claim forms received: winter fuel planning and implementation team and the winter fuel payment centre.
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many acute hospital beds per head of population there were in (a) the former Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire strategic health authority area, (b) the East of England Strategic Health Authority area, (c) the former Suffolk West Primary Care Trust area and (d) Suffolk Primary Care Trust area in each year since 1997. [127871]
Andy Burnham: Information is not available in the format requested. The following table shows the average daily number of available acute beds per 100,000 population, for the period 2002-03 to 2005-06 for the former Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire SHA, the former Suffolk West Primary Care Trust and the newly formed East of England SHA which was created on 1 October 2006, following the merger of three previous SHAs (Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire SHA, Essex SHA and Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire SHA).
Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire SHA | East of England SHA | Suffolk West PCT | |
Notes: 1. Due to SHA reconfigurations, data from prior to 2002-03 are not available at SHA level. 2. Population data for mid-year 2006 and beds data for 2006-07 are not yet available. 3. Suffolk West PCT only provided acute beds in 2002-03. They subsequently provided geriatric beds. 4. Suffolk West PCT was formed at the start of 2002-03 from Bury St Edmonds PCG. The old organisation did not provide any beds. Source: Department of Health dataset KH03 and Office for National Statistics. Population data are for mid year (based on 2001 census) |
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many emergency calls were made to ambulance services in each year since 1997-98. [127822]
Andy Burnham: Validated information about ambulance service's response times to emergency calls is collected each year by the Department on return ambulance services, England: KA34 and published annually. Copies are available in the Library and available on the Information Centre for Health and Social Cares website:
Emergency calls to ambulance services, 1997-98 to 2005-06 , England | |
Number of emergency calls ( M illion) | |
Source: The Information Centre, Ambulance Services, England - Form KA34. |
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