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25 Jun 2007 : Column 497W—continued
Pensions: Advisory Services
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the Pensions Service follow-up procedure is once a home visit has been carried out. [141832]
James Purnell: The Pension Service local service was developed to provide face-to-face access for our customers, including home visits. Following a home visit, applications for pension credit are sent to the appropriate pension centre for processing. Applications for other benefits or entitlements are forwarded to the appropriate authority for consideration.
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many employees of the Pensions Service are deployed on undertaking home visits. [141833]
James Purnell: The Pension Service local service employs 1,728 staff to carry out home visits. Due to various working patterns such as part year contracts and reduced hours, this figure equates to 1,545.76 whole time equivalent staff.
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many home visits a member of the Pensions Service visit teams is expected to undertake on average over the course of a year. [141834]
James Purnell: There are no targets for the number of visits undertaken by a member of local service visit teams.
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the local partners with which the Pensions Service has been working in its efforts to identify harder-to-reach customers. [141877]
James Purnell: As well as national voluntary sector organisations such as Age Concern and Help the Aged, the Pension Service also works closely with numerous local groups and representatives. As these are community based there is no definitive list held.
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the Pensions Service follow-up procedure is once a pensions forecast has been provided. [141879]
James Purnell: The Pension Service does not initiate any follow up action with pension forecast customers.
Pensions: Budget March 2007
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when (a) he and (b) his officials first learned of changes in the Budget 2007 which would affect (i) the reforms to the state second pension in the Pension Bill and (ii) his proposals for the personal accounts earnings band. [144218]
James Purnell: In the period leading up to Budget 2007 Ministers and officials from the Department for Work and Pensions and Her Majesty’s Treasury were in frequent contact, including on a range of pension measures. In addition, in line with the normal Budget convention regarding tax matters, the Paymaster General wrote to DWP Ministers on Budget Day to confirm the changes. DWP and HMT officials are currently working together to implement these changes.
Pensions: Compensation
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will assess the merits of the use of unclaimed assets in the financial sector as a source of compensation for people who have lost pension savings as part of his review of pension scheme assets. [136023]
James Purnell: The focus of the assets review is to examine how we make best use of the assets in pension schemes that are winding up under funded with an insolvent employer or who come within the extension for solvent employers whose schemes signed a compromise agreement. The intention of the review is to determine how these or other sources of non-public expenditure funding (that have not already been allocated) could be used to increase assistance for affected scheme members. The review will be open to any suggestions from interested and concerned parties, including those made by the hon. Member. The review will provide an initial view in the summer, consult formally in the autumn and then report by the end of the year.
Pensions: Financial Assistance Scheme
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the cost of extending the level of Pension Protection Fund benefits to all those in the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS), including those who have lost their pensions but who fall below the age cut-off for the FAS (a) in net present value terms using 2006-07 prices and (b) in cash terms for each year from 2007-08 to 2060-61; what allowance has been made in these estimates for reduced means-tested benefit payments and higher tax yields; and if he will make a statement. [121447]
James Purnell: We estimate that it will cost £2.5 billion in net present value terms (in 2006-07 prices) over the next 60 years to extend the level of Pension Protection Fund benefits to all those in the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS), including those who have lost their pensions but who fall below the current age cut-off for the FAS. This represents an additional £640 million in net present value terms on the costs of the extended FAS as announced in the Budget 2007.
The impact of FAS payments on means-tested benefits and income tax payments will depend on the total incomes of potential FAS recipients, which cannot be reliably projected. As a result, no allowance has been made for these in the estimates.
The additional annual cost of this in cash terms (in 2006-07 prices) compared to the budget extension is presented in the following table.
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the potential role of the Financial Assistance Scheme in helping occupational pension schemes in wind up to get their data department in order to accelerate the assessment phase of the process. [141883]
James Purnell: Currently the Financial Assistance Scheme Operational Unit (FASOU) offers support and guidance to individual trustees or administrators to help improve the quality of the data being provided to them. In the last year the FASOU has visited 34 trustees and administrators, (who are responsible for over 50 per cent. of qualifying schemes) to discuss these issues and clarify FAS requirements.
FASOU is also working with external experts, in particular Mercers, to deepen staff understanding of pension schemes; particular processes and issues.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 19 June 2007, Official Report, column 1745W, which pension funds now eligible for the Financial Assistance Scheme had previously declared a pensions holiday. [145376]
James Purnell: The information requested is not available.
Pensions: Forecasts
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people received combined pension forecasts in the last year for which figures are available. [141546]
James Purnell: From April 2006 to March 2007 the Pension Service has provided information to employers and other pension providers to enable them to issue 4,382,761 combined pension forecasts to their employees and customers.
Pensions: Incapacity Benefit
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people retiring in the past 12 months and gaining a full retirement pension had (a) one to five, (b) six to 10 and (c) 11 to 15 years national insurance credits as a result of claiming incapacity benefit. [144727]
James Purnell:
Figures are not currently available on the number of people retiring over the past 12 months
and gaining a full retirement pension who have received national insurance credits as a result of claiming incapacity benefit.
The most recent figures on national insurance contributions held by the Department for Work and Pensions relate to those retiring in the 2004-05 year, and are detailed in the table.
The table details the number of people retiring in 2004-05, gaining a full retirement pension, having had full years national insurance credits in each qualifying year as a result of claiming incapacity benefit.
| Number of people retiring in 2004-05 gaining a full retirement pension having had national insurance credits as a result of claiming incapacity benefit | |
| Number of years of credits as a result of claiming incapacity benefit | Number retiring in 2004-05 with full retirement pension |
| Source: DWP Information Directorate: Lifetime Labour Market Database 1 per cent. sample of the National Insurance Recording System. | |
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