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30 Apr 2007 : Column 1402W—continued
Social Security Benefits: Disabled
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of lone parents whose youngest child is over the age of 11 years are receiving (a) income support and (b) incapacity benefit; and how many and what proportion of each group are (i) carers for a disabled child and (ii) have a disability themselves. [130380]
Mr. Jim Murphy: The available information is in the following table.
| Lone parents with youngest child over 11: Great Britain | |||||
| Claiming | Number | Proportion of all LPs with youngest child over 11 (Percentage) | Number | Proportion (Percentage) | |
| (1 )Family and Children's Study sample size too small to identify. Notes: 1. Reporting a disability and caring for a disabled child are not mutually exclusive categories—those who are both caring for a disabled child and report a disability themselves (21.6 per cent. of those with youngest child over 11 claiming income support) will appear in both categories. 2. The income support figures do not include any claimants on incapacity benefit. However, some of those included in the incapacity benefit may also receive income support. Source: DWP administrative data; Family and Children's study 2004, Labour Force Survey 2006 Q2. | |||||
Social Security Benefits: Greater London
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people claimed (a) income support, (b) job seeker’s allowance, (c) housing benefit, (d) council tax benefit, (e) carer’s allowance and (f) incapacity benefit in each London borough in each of the last five years. [132112]
Mr. Plaskitt: The available information has been placed in the Library.
State Retirement Pensions
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the total volume of deficit repair contributions made in each of the last five years. [132502]
James Purnell: The PPF collects information on deficit reduction payments made by schemes in order to reduce the amount of risk-based levy they are liable to pay. As the PPF has only been in operation since April 2005, information on such deficit reduction payments is not available for each of the last five years.
Such information as is available was published in the Purple Book (http://www.ppf.gov.uk/the_purple_book _ppf-tpr.pdf)
"Schemes in the sample had certified approximately £9.8bn of special contributions to reduce deficits by 7 April 2006. These contributions were certified to the Pension Protection Fund for the purpose of enabling a more up-to-date assessment to be made of the scheme funding position, with the extra contributions increasing the scheme assets and so reducing the risk-based levy."
Figures for deficit reduction payments in 2006-07 are not yet available.
Home Department
Ministry of Defence Police
10. Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Defence on the effect of the reduction in Ministry of Defence Police numbers on civilian police forces. [134282]
Mr. McNulty: I have had no representations from any police force about the impact of reductions in the number of MOD police officers.
It is a matter for discussion between the local force, police authority and the MOD police.
I have regular meetings with ministerial colleagues at the Ministry of Defence and will discuss this issue at my next meeting.
Police: Street Patrols
11. Mr. Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of time police officers spend patrolling the streets. [134283]
Mr. McNulty: 63 per cent. of officer time was spent on frontline activities in 2005-06. 14 per cent. of officer time was spent on patrol.
Other frontline activities not captured by the definition of “patrol” include arrests, dealing with incidents, gathering intelligence, responding to 999 calls, carrying out searches, dealing with informants, and interviewing suspects, victims and witnesses.
Licensing Laws
12. Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the new licensing laws on reducing crime in (a) West Lancashire and (b) England and Wales. [134284]
Mr. Coaker: We are conducting a full evaluation of the impact of the Licensing Act 2003 on crime and disorder. This is ongoing and is due to be published towards the end of 2007. A separate monitoring exercise is looking at the impact of the Act on police recorded violent crime and criminal damage. Interim results from this exercise were published in July 2006. They show that there had been no change in the overall volume or timing of offences following the introduction of the Act. No separate arrangements have been made to monitor the impact of the Act in West Lancashire.
Police Training Days
13. Mr. Dunne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent estimate he has made of the cost of training days in the police work force owing to the introduction of new legislation. [134285]
Mr. McNulty: The consequences of any new legislation in terms of training is generally a matter for police forces to determine, although some police training is delivered nationally through what is now the National Policing Improvement Agency.
In terms of force costs, these will vary dependent upon the local impact of legislation, and each force making an assessment of its own training needs and requirements. It is also important to note that law based or legislative police training (except when an officer joins the police service) remains a relatively small proportion of their training needs.
Accordingly, policing costs for new training as a result of legislation will vary from police area to area. There are therefore no estimates of the cost of police training specifically as a consequence of new legislation.
Immigration: Public Services
15. Mr. Mackay:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of
the impact of levels of immigration on public services in the last 12 months; and what forecast he has made of the likely effects in the next 12 months. [134287]
17. Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of (a) the impact of levels of immigration on public services in the past 12 months and (b) the likely effect in the next 12 months. [134289]
Mr. Byrne: To date there has not been a formal system for assessing the impact of immigration on public services but individual Government Departments have mechanisms to receive information about overall pressures on such services. Last summer we conducted a cross-Government review of the impacts of migration. On 28 March we announced the establishment of a new forum to provide an opportunity for regular and organised dialogue with interested parties focusing on the impacts of migration. This will be chaired by Home Office and Local Government Ministers.
Rural Policing: North Yorkshire
19. Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on rural policing in north Yorkshire. [134291]
Mr. McNulty: The Government are committed to ensuring that all communities have access to, and are served by a responsive, locally accountable and citizen focused police service. The deployment of that resource is an operational matter for the chief constable.
I am aware that the acting deputy chief constable in north Yorkshire is consulting with all chief constables and commissioners to investigate variations in working practices relating to isolated and rural communities. The hon. Member may therefore wish to speak to the force about this matter directly.
Anti-terrorism Strategy
20. Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions he has had with officials and other Ministers on the co-ordination of anti-terrorism strategy. [134292]
John Reid: I regularly discuss the co-ordination of the Government's strategy on counter terrorism with officials and ministerial colleagues, including at a weekly security meeting which I chair.
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