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26 July 2007 : Column 1496W—continued


Minimum Wage

Mr. Rooney: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will link the permitted work upper earnings level to the minimum wage; and if he will make a statement. [152149]

Mrs. McGuire [holding answer 24 July 2007]: The permitted work upper earnings limit has been linked to the national minimum wage since it was introduced in 2002. It will be increased from £86 a week to £88.50 a week from 1 October this year to maintain this link.


26 July 2007 : Column 1497W

Pension Funds: Divorce

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effectiveness with which pension fund trustees are carrying out their functions in relation to divorcees under the new rules on pension sharing; and if he will make a statement. [152560]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: Pension sharing on divorce became available for all new divorces commenced on or after 1 December 2000, to enable divorcing couples to achieve a fair financial settlement.

All trustees are required to have a knowledge and understanding of the law relating to pensions.

Pensioners: Income

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average weekly income of (a) a pensioner couple and (b) a single pensioner in (i) the UK, (ii) Yorkshire and Humber and (iii) City of York constituency was in (A) real and (B) cash terms in (1) 1997 and (2) the latest date for which figures are available. [152211]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The information that is available is shown in the following tables. Information cannot be provided at a lower level than government office region.

Average gross weekly income by family type in real terms ( £ per week, 2005-06 prices)
1997-98—1999-2000 2003-04—2005-06

Pensioner couples

Yorkshire and Humber

380

440

Great Britain

400

482

United Kingdom

n/a

480

Single pensioners

Yorkshire and Humber

178

217

Great Britain

191

229

United Kingdom

n/a

229



26 July 2007 : Column 1498W
Average gross weekly income by family type in cash terms (£ per week)
1997-98—1999-2000 2003-04—2005-06

Pensioner couples

Yorkshire and Humber

324

428

Great Britain

341

469

United Kingdom

n/a

468

Single pensioners

Yorkshire and Humber

152

211

Great Britain

163

224

United Kingdom

n/a

223

Notes:
1. Gross income is income from all sources received by the pensioner unit including income from social security benefits, earnings from employment, any private pension, and tax credits.
2. Based on survey data and as such subject to a degree of sampling and non sampling error.
3. Figures are based on the average of three years’ data as single year estimates do not provide a robust guide to year-on-year changes. Figures in real terms represent the average of the three individual years, each shown in 2005-06 prices. For this reason, cash figures (based on the cash figures for each year) do not equal the values in real terms for the period 2003-04—2005-06.
4. Data for the United Kingdom are not available for the period 1997-98 to 1999-2000.
5. Figures have been rounded to the nearest £.
6. Pensioner units are either pensioner couples or single pensioners.
7. Pensioner couples are couples where one or more of the adults are state pension age or over.
Source:
Pensioners’ Income Series 2005-06 (Revised)

Pensions: Females

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many women in the UK are not eligible to receive a full state pension. [152650]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: As of August 2006 there were around 3.5 million women of state pension age in Great Britain not receiving a full basic State Pension.

Pensions: Financial Assistance Scheme

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) whether the Financial Assistance Scheme asks qualifying pension schemes to provide information which could enable it to determine whether the employer in relation to the scheme took a contributory holiday at any stage; [152340]

(2) whether he intends to undertake research on the extent to which employers in relation to qualifying schemes for the Financial Assistance Scheme took contribution holidays. [152341]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: There is no requirement on the Department to request or hold information relating to pension contribution holidays. I have no plans to undertake such research.

Pensions: Low Income

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of pensioners in the UK receive the minimum level of weekly income in retirement as defined by the Government. [152651]


26 July 2007 : Column 1499W

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The guarantee credit element of Pension Credit ensures people aged 60 or over have a minimum guaranteed weekly income of £119.05 for single people and £181.70 for couples. This is known as the standard minimum guarantee. There are £1.5 million beneficiaries of the standard minimum guarantee, which represents around 12 per cent. of the population aged 60 or over. This does not include people who are entitled to additional amounts within their Pension Credit for severe disabilities, caring responsibilities and housing costs.

Poverty

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) children under 16 years old, (b) adults and (c) pensioners were living in severe poverty in each year since 1997. [150063]

Caroline Flint: The information requested is not available as there is no standard definition of severe poverty.

An internationally recognised measure of low income—and the most commonly used globally—is 60 per cent. of median household income.

In the Households Below Average Income report, the Department reports on low income, and sets out the percentage of households with less than 70, 60 and 50 per cent. of equivalised median income.

The latest figures on low income for people in the UK can be found in “Households Below Average Income 1994/95-2005/06 (Revised)”.

Social Security Benefits

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of claims for (a) jobseeker’s allowance, (b) incapacity benefit and (c)
26 July 2007 : Column 1500W
income support were made (i) over the telephone, (ii) using a paper form and (iii) in person in each of the last 10 years. [152659]

Mr. Plaskitt: The information requested is not available.

Social Security Benefits: Disabled

Roger Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the outcome is of the disability equality impact assessment of the personal capability assessment. [152130]

Caroline Flint: A disability equality impact assessment (DEIA) of the revised personal capability assessment (PCA) has been carried out as part of the Department's overall DEIA of welfare reforms.

The mental health component of the PCA has been thoroughly reviewed in order to ensure that it reflects the type of conditions prevalent today. In particular it now reflects the needs of people with learning disability, autistic spectrum disorder, and other conditions that are not mental illnesses but that have a significant impact on mental function. We anticipate that this will lead to assessments that are more equitable between groups with different impairments.

The new element of the PCA, the work-focused, health-related assessment, explores the person's perceptions and concerns about their condition, as well as identifying health-related support and interventions that will help the person to get back into work.

Throughout the review of the PCA, stakeholder groups representing disabled people have been fully consulted and involved; and focus groups containing a number of people with mental illness, learning disability, or autistic spectrum disorder have been consulted. The work-focused, health-related assessment has been piloted with customers claiming incapacity benefit.

Unemployment Benefits: Expenditure

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost of unemployment benefits was (a) at current prices and (b) as a percentage of gross domestic product in each year since 1979. [152210]

Mr. Plaskitt: The information is in the following tables.


26 July 2007 : Column 1501W

26 July 2007 : Column 1502W
Unemployment benefits paid in Great Britain since 1978-79 (£ million 2007-08 prices)
Unemployment benefit Income support for the unemployed Jobseeker’s allowance— contribution-based Jobseeker’s allowance— income-based Housing benefit/council tax benefit and predecessors Total

1978-79

2,546

2,075

971

5,592

1979-80

2,251

1,803

931

4,985

1980-81

3,733

2,317

1,032

7,082

1981-82

4,532

4,026

1,478

10,035

1982-83

3,730

6,383

1,741

11,853

1983-84

3,557

7,738

1,934

13,229

1984-85

3,562

8,421

2,059

14,042

1985-86

3,401

9,020

2,173

14,594

1986-87

3,595

8,990

2,283

14,868

1987-88

2,882

7,824

2,242

12,948

1988-89

2,031

5,588

2,223

9,842

1990-91

1,381

4,670

2,364

8,415

1991-92

2,400

6,286

2,656

11,342

1992-93

2,552

7,800

3,680

14,031

1993-94

2,334

8,107

3,831

14,272

1994-95

1,809

7,215

3,884

12,908

1995-96

1,489

6,516

3,642

11,647

1996-97

768

3,083

435

2,396

3,319

10,000

1997-98

603

4,342

2,583

7,528

1998-99

587

3,819

2,090

6,496

1999-2000

557

3,394

1,827

5,779

2000-01

535

2,915

1,622

5,072

2001-02

549

2,498

1,412

4,459

2002-03

588

2,388

1,424

4,401

2003-04

559

2,260

1,290

4,110

2004-05

445

1,759

1,333

3,537

2005-06

512

1,919

1,477

3,907

2006-07

493

2,024

1,637

4,154

2007-08

495

2,051

1,694

4,240


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