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1 May 2007 : Column 1587Wcontinued
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.
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 | |
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 jobseekers 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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