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1 May 2007 : Column 1588W

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 in each quarter since 1997. [123580]

Mr. Plaskitt [holding answer 26 February 2007]: Other than sanctions in relation to work focused interviews, the information is not available other than at disproportionate cost.

For the available information on sanctions in relation to work focused interviews, I refer my right hon. Friend to the written answer I gave him on 25 April 2007, Official Report, columns 1147-48W.

Industrial Health and Safety: Factories

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether there were any (a) incidents involving and (b) prosecutions in which proceedings are not ongoing related to harmful emissions at the Sonae factory in Kirkby in each of the last four years. [133311]

Mr. Bradshaw: I have been asked to reply.

Knowsley borough council is responsible for regulating emissions to the atmosphere from this factory under part I of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Pollution Prevention and Control Regulations 2000.

The council advises that the number of incidents (both complaints and reported incidents) and prosecutions relating to this factory in the last four years are as follows:

Complaints Reported incidents Prosecutions

2004

278

49

3

2005

311

152

0

2006

196

24

0

2007

104

8

0


The subject of complaints against Sonae include odour, dust, smoke, fumes, and noise from the Kirby factory. Knowsley borough council advises that a small proportion of the complaints were subsequently found to be unconnected with Sonae. The company has also challenged an unspecified number of complaints.

The number of incidents shown in the above table reflects the formal reports which Sonae has submitted. In accordance with their authorisation requirement, Sonae is required to report incidents likely to have an effect on the community. The three prosecutions in 2004 concerned a failure to monitor emissions, failure to comply with an enforcement notice, and failure to comply with an information notice. In total, these resulted in £13,000 worth of fines.

Factories such as this have the potential to emit various substances including oxides of sulphur and nitrogen, particulate matter, lead, volatile organic compounds, isocyanates, and aldehydes.


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Industrial Injuries Benefits

Mr. Rooney: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects to reply to question 126417, on industrial injuries benefits, tabled by the hon. Member for Bradford North on 6 March 2007. [132548]

Mr. Jim Murphy [holding answer 19 April 2007]: Question number 126417 relating to industrial injuries benefits was tabled on 7 March 2007 and a reply was given to my hon. Friend on 14 March 2007, Official Report column 371-72W.

Jobseeker's Allowance/Incapacity Benefit

Mr. O'Hara: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of people who made a new claim for incapacity benefit in the most recent year
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for which figures are available in (a) Pathways to Work pilot areas and (b) other areas were in work (i) six months and (ii) one year later; and how many there were (A) in total, (B) aged 25 to 49 and (C) aged over 50 years. [114623]

Mr. Jim Murphy: In estimating the impact of Pathways to Work, independent evaluation by the Institute for Fiscal Studies found a 9 percentage point increase in the proportion of those who are employed 10.5 months after claiming incapacity benefit.

The information in the table comes from data in the National Benefits Database and the Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS) which are likely to underestimate the numbers and proportions of people who satisfy the given criteria. Rollout of Pathways to Work has been a staged process and the figures therefore only represent the first two phases which rolled out on 24 October 2003 and 5 April 2004.

Proportion (percentage) Total Aged 25-49 Aged 50 and over

New claims to incapacity benefit in Pathways to Work pilot areas: April 2004-March 2005

In work six months later

22

11,560

5,950

3,400

In work one year later

26

13,830

7,190

4,040

New claims to incapacity benefit in other areas: April 2004-March 2005

In work six months later

20

110,100

57,880

31,190

In work one year later

24

129,310

68,180

36,500

Notes:
1. Data on employment are available to 26 November 2006. As such, the latest operational year of new claimants for which (a) and (c) are answerable is April 2004 to March 2005, and the latest operational year of claims reaching their first anniversary for which (b) and (d) are answerable is April 2003 to March 2004 (and thus relates to people making a new claim during April 2002 and March 2003).
2. The figures quoted in this response come from data in the National Benefits Database and the Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS).
3. Figures in this response are based upon periods of employment measured from the WPLS, which is based on data from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The figures given can only be taken as a minimum for the following (not necessarily comprehensive) reasons:
(i) Some records show that a person started or ended employment at some point in the year, but the exact date on when they started or left their job is unknown, and therefore we do not know if they were employed at the points in time specified in this query.
(ii) If a person’s earnings are sufficiently low that they fall below the lower income tax threshold and so are not required to pay PAYE income tax on their earnings then there is no requirement to inform HMRC of their employment (although some employers declare these jobs anyway).
(iii) These data do not include the self-employed.
(iv) Poor quality personal data may lead to missed matches with benefits data.
(v) No ‘HMRC sensitive and secure’ information is supplied by HMRC (for example, HMRC employees, members of the security services).

National Identity Fraud Unit

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the budget was of the National Identity Fraud Unit and its forerunners in each year since 1997; how many staff the unit employed in each year; and what the Government's performance targets were for the unit in each year. [124084]

Mr. Plaskitt: As a result of organisational and other changes it is not possible to separately identify National Identity Fraud Unit (NIFU) budgets prior to 2006-07. For 2006-07, the budget allocation for NIFU was £508,092.

Information regarding the number of staff employed in NIFU is not available prior to 2003-04. In 2003-04 it employed 24.8 full-time equivalent staff. In both 2004-05 and 2005-06 it employed 19.1 full-time equivalent staff and in 2006-07 it employed 20 full-time equivalent staff.

NIFU did not have separate performance targets prior to 2005-06. The available information is in the following table.


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National Identity Fraud Unit performance targets
Number of arrest packs to be produced( 1) Number of flags to be put on national insurance number accounts( 2)

2005-06

500

3,600

2006-07

550

4,000

Notes: 1. Arrest Packs
From the documents sent to NIFU for examination and identified as being false/fraudulent, arrest packs containing the document and supporting evidence from the national insurance number (NINO) interview, an initial statement from the document examiner, a visual copy of the anomalies found and all relevant paperwork required by Fraud Investigation Service (Organised) are produced. The pack is then sealed and sent to FIS (O) for consideration of prosecution. 2. Flags Part of NIFU's remit is the protection of NINO accounts. Where NIFU have found a NINO account to be vulnerable or believed to have fraudulent activity occurring on it then an electronic (flag) marker is put onto the account. Any benefit activity on the NINO account is reported within three working days by a reactivation report. This is then passed by NIFU to the relevant office for investigation, or confirmation that the person the NINO account belongs to is actually the person making the claim to the benefit. Source: National Identity Fraud Unit.

National Insurance

Mr. Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire (Mr. Heald) of 19 March 2007, Official Report, column 641W, on national insurance, how many national insurance numbers (a) are allocated to adults not resident in the
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UK and (b) have been allocated to 16-year-olds since 2001. [131691]

Mr. Plaskitt [holding answer 16 April 2007]: Information is not available as to how many national insurance numbers are in issue to adults not resident in the UK.

Information regarding the number of national insurance numbers allocated to 16-year-olds is not available in the format requested.

The vast majority of national insurance numbers are issued to people at the age of 15 years and 9 months under the Juvenile Registration Process. The available information is that between January 2004 and March 2007, 2,604,757 national insurance numbers were issued under the Juvenile Registration Process.

Remploy: Manpower

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the reports produced by consultants to his Department since 2001 relating to Remploy; and what changes in staff numbers were recommended by each. [133553]

Mrs. McGuire: The reports produced by consultants are listed in the following table.

Consultant Purpose

2003-04

KPMG

External assurance and analysis of Remploy's commercial performance as a non-departmental public body

2004-05

KPMG

External assurance and analysis of Remploy's commercial performance as a non-departmental public body

2005-06

KPMG

External assurance and analysis of Remploy's commercial performance as a non-departmental public body

2006-07

PricewaterhouseCoopers

External review of the future business options for Remploy


The Department has not sought recommendations from consultants concerning changes in staff numbers, but the report from PricewaterhouseCoopers looked at various options for the future of the business.

Social Security Benefits: Disabled

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to improve access to information on financial support for families with disabled children. [131825]

Mrs. McGuire: The Government are committed to improving the life chances of disabled people, including disabled children, so that they have opportunities and choices that enable them to participate fully in society. We also want to ensure that every parent of a disabled child or young person has access to, and is aware of, the financial support available to contribute towards extra cost benefits, the principal one among these being Disability Living Allowance.

The Office for Disability Issues (ODI) will be working across Government to drive forward the development and implementation of policy to improve the lives of disabled people, including disabled children. It has a project looking specifically at strategic and inclusive ways of improving information provision to disabled people, with an emphasis on recommending and developing ways to involve the users of information in designing and tailoring it to their needs.

The Disability and Carer's Service (DCS) is an agency that continues to focus on delivering improved services to disabled people and carers in Great Britain. This includes improving the information provided to customers and their representatives.

DCS has established the Family Carers Group. This is a forum which allows DCS to engage and involve voluntary and community organisations in representing the needs of children, and young people who are customers of Disability Living Allowance, as well as their families and carers, in the transformation of DCS services.

DCS actively promotes services to children through a number of outreach events specifically aimed at children to raise awareness about the benefits to which disabled children may be entitled. These included ‘Kidz up North’ on 30 November 2006 and ‘Kidz South’ on 15 March 2007. Both of these were events aimed at families of children with disabilities and on each occasion DCS provided an exhibition stand with staff to answer questions and provide literature on benefits available to disabled people.


1 May 2007 : Column 1593W

Written Questions

Mr. Rooney: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects to reply to Question 116900, on benefits sanctions on lone parents, tabled by the hon. Member for Bradford North on 16 January 2007 for answer on 19 January 2007. [126415]

Mr. Jim Murphy [holding answer 9 March 2007]: A reply was given to my hon. Friend on 19 April 2007, Official Report , column 784W.

Young People: Employment

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many 18 to 24-year-olds who were neither in education, employment and training, nor claiming jobseeker’s allowance nor engaged in the new deal for young people there were in each quarter since 1996; [121232]

(2) how many 18 to 24-year-olds were not in education, employment and training in each quarter since 1996. [121233]

Mr. Jim Murphy [holding answer 19 February 2007]: The information requested is in the following table.


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