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25 Apr 2007 : Column 1145W—continued
Employment Schemes: Lone Parents
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what measure are (a) in place and (b) planned to be introduced to help lone parents into employment. [131771]
Mr. Jim Murphy: The following measures are already in place to help eligible lone parents into employment, some of which are open to eligible people other than lone parents:
New Deal for Lone Parents
New Deal Plus for Lone Parents
Work Focused Interviews
Programme Centres
Work Trials
Childcare Subsidy
Childcare Assist
In-Work Credit
In-Work Emergency Fund
Adviser Discretion Fund
Job Grant
Mortgage Interest Run On
Housing Benefit Run On .
Tax Credits
As we have announced, we also plan to introduce the following measures to help eligible lone parents into employment:
From 30 April 2007: extension of six-monthly Work Focused Interviews for lone parents with a youngest child aged five to 13;
From 30 April 2007: introduction in New Deal Plus for Lone Parent pilot areas of quarterly Work Focused Interviews for lone parents with a youngest child aged 11 to 13;
From 1 July 2007: introduction of a higher In-Work Credit rate of 60 across London;
From 1 July 2007: continuation of the In-Work Credit in pilot areas until June 2008;
From 1 April 2008 to March 2011: expansion of the New Deal Plus for Lone Parent pilot areas to cover all London districts;
From 28 April 2008: extension of six-monthly Work Focused Interviews for lone parents with a youngest child aged 0 to four.
Grandparents: Carers
Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what representations his Department has received on the allowances for grandparents caring for their grandchildren; what level of benefits they receive; and if he will make a statement. [132787]
Mr. Plaskitt: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) receives numerous representations from hon. Members, organisations and members of the public about the benefits and services it provides. It is not possible to provide numbers below high-level subject matter on the number of such representations.
Grandparents who are responsible for children are able to claim the same benefits and increases as all other persons responsible for children; the exact amounts that they receive will depend upon the individual circumstances of each such case.
Income Support: Disqualification
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many sanctions were imposed on lone parents claiming income support who had missed their first work focused interview in each quarter since 1997. [123579]
Mr. Jim Murphy [holding answer 26 February 2007]: Work focused interviews were introduced nationally for some lone parents from April 2001. They were extended in stages to all lone parents making new or repeat claims to Income support, and from April 2004 to all lone parents with an existing claim to income support.
Lone parents making a new or repeat claim for income support are expected to attend a work focused interview before an income support payment is made, unless the interview is deferred or waived. Failure to attend this first interview would result in the claim being disallowed rather than a benefit sanction being imposed. Benefit sanctions are imposed on existing customers who fail to attend their first work focused interview.
Between April 2001 and March 2006, 1.76 million initial lone parent work focused interviews have been booked and, in the same period, 1.62 million initial interviews have been attended, with 39,920 sanctions applied for failure to attend an initial work focused interview.
The number of work focused interviews (WFIs) booked for lone parents in the year to March 2006 was around one and a half times the number booked two years earlier, and over two and a half times the number booked three years before. This has, inevitably, resulted in an increase in the number of sanctions imposed. However, at less than 5 per cent. of the number of interviews booked, this represents a very low proportion of the total.
Information on the number of benefit sanctions imposed on lone parents for failure to attend a first work focused interview, broken down by each quarter, is in the following table.
Income Support: Lone Parents
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was spent on income support for (a) lone parents whose youngest child was (i) under three, (ii) under five, (iii) under 11, (iv) under 14 and (v) under 16 and (b) all lone parents in (i) cash and (ii) real terms in each of the last 10 years; what proportion of GDP each figure represented; and what estimate he has made of the expenditure for each of the next 10 years. [126529]
Mr. Plaskitt: The available information is in the following tables. Figures after 2007-08 are illustrative projections consistent with the 2006 ‘Long-term Public Finance Report’. They are based on current policy continuing and do not represent firm expenditure plans. They also do not take account of measures proposed in the current Welfare Reform Bill.
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