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19 Apr 2007 : Column 782W—continued


Child Support Agency

Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) total and (b) full-time equivalent staff were involved in processing clerical Child Support Agency cases in each month since January 2005; and if he will make a statement. [122888]

Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the hon. Lady with the information requested.

Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 19 April 2007:


19 Apr 2007 : Column 783W
Month Full - time equivalents processing clerical cases

January 2005

289

February 2005

300

March 2005

301

April 2005

389

May 2005

407

June 2005

431

July 2005

454

August 2005

436

September 2005

456

October 2005

439

November 2005

463

December 2005

546

January 2006

565

February 2006

560

March 2006

596

April 2006

595

May 2006

635

June 2006

620

July 2006

613

August 2006

605

September 2006

602

October 2006

511

November 2006

454

December 2006

92

January 2007

81


Departments: Internet

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to improve the user-friendliness of his Department’s website. [130929]

Mrs. McGuire: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has a complete set of standards and guidelines on usability and accessibility on its websites. The standards are for information published on DWP internet and intranet sites. The guidelines are on strategic requirements, use of cascading style sheets,
19 Apr 2007 : Column 784W
page length, the importance of accuracy, usability, accessibility and design when developing content.

DWP is committed to improving the accessibility of its own websites. All its sites are working towards complying with the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (W3C WCAG) at Level AA, in line with Cabinet Office guidance. Guidelines have been developed for site managers, and a testing and improvement programme is now in place. In a recent audit, 45 per cent. of DWP’s information sites passed automated checks for level AA.

User testing of the DWP site www.dwp.gov.uk will take place in May 2007 and the results will be fed into making further improvements to the site.

Departments: Public Appointments

Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the former hon. Members who left Parliament in 2005 who have since been appointed to public bodies by his Department, broken down by party; and who was responsible for making each appointment. [130144]

Mrs. McGuire: Information about the political activity of appointees is recorded and publicised in accordance with the Independent Commissioner for Public Appointments’ Code of Practice. This shows that no former hon. Members who left Parliament in 2005 have since been appointed to public bodies sponsored by the Department.

Lone Parents

Mr. Rooney: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many lone parents have had a benefit sanction for failure to attend a work focused interview in each of the last four years; what proportion of booked work focused interviews for lone parents resulted in a sanction in each of the last four years; and what research his Department has undertaken on the impact of sanctions on lone parents on their subsequent moves into employment. [116900]

Mr. Jim Murphy [holding answer 19 January 2007]: The available information on the number of lone parent work focused interviews booked, and number and percentage of benefit sanctions applied, is in the table.

Lone parent work focused interview (WFI) benefit sanctions
Year WFI was first booked Number of WFIs booked Number of sanctions applied Percentage of booked WFIs sanctioned

April 2002-March 2003

338,800

5,600

1.7

April 2003-March 2004

603,100

14,300

2.4

April 2004-March 2005

770,100

31,800

4.1

April 2005-March 2006

908,300

40,300

4.4

Note:
Data exclude quarterly WFIs which were introduced nationally from October 2005 for lone parents whose youngest child is aged 14 and over as this administrative data are not yet available for analysis.
Source:
Labour Market Service evaluation databases.

We plan to carry out research into the impact of benefit sanctions on lone parents on their subsequent moves into employment.


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