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Table 2: Number of individuals (million) below 60 per cent. of median and mean income: 1996-97 and 2005-06
	Below 60 per cent. of median income		Below 60 per cent. of mean income
	Before housing costs	After housing costs	Before housing costs	After housing costs
1996-97	10.8	14.0	16.6	18.4
2005-06	10.4	12.8	17.3	19.0

Members: Correspondence

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when a reply will be sent to the constituent of the hon. Member for the Isle of Wight whose reference is CSA 321031224246/NR 185956A. [152816]

Mr. Plaskitt [holding answer 26 July 2007]: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.

Letter from Duncan Gilchrist, dated 8 October 2007:

In reply to your recent parliamentary question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive. As the Chief Executive is currently on annual leave I am responding, with his authority, on his behalf.

You ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when a reply will be sent to the constituent of the hon. Member for the Isle of Wight whose reference is CSA 321031224246/NR 185956A. [152816]

As details about individual cases are confidential I have written to you separately about this case.

Migrant Workers: Labour Market

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what research he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the impact of migration on the labour market; and what assessment he has made of the impact of migration on measures to promote welfare to work. [152594]

Mr. Plaskitt: In February 2006, DWP published a working paper on the impact of free movement of workers from Central and Eastern Europe on the UK labour market. This is available in the Library.

DWP also contribute to the quarterly accession monitoring report which is published on the Home Office website.

We are continuing to monitor the impact of accession country migration on the UK labour market.

In the last year, despite the effect of EU expansion on the number of workers from the new member states registering to work in the UK, the claimant unemployment count has fallen by over 90,000.

The availability of new workers from abroad does not reduce the need to ensure that domestic workers have the skills and support they need to compete effectively in the labour market. Over the last 10 years the Government has significantly increased its investment in helping people move back into work, and the recent Green Paper "In work, better off: next steps to full employment" sets out proposals to further extend the opportunity for individuals to take up one of the 600,000 vacancies that come up each and every month.

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Minimum Wage

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many hours a week (a) a lone parent with one child and (b) a couple with two children earning the minimum wage would have to work to clear the poverty line. [150049]

Caroline Flint: The hours a week that families with children would need to work to escape poverty would depend on the individual circumstances of the household, for example the number and age of dependent children, housing costs or benefit, and the wage that any working adult receives. Therefore, the information requested is not available.

National Insurance

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many national insurance numbers there are in the national insurance database; [149960]

(2) how many people are registered in the national insurance database. [149961]

Mr. Plaskitt: From the latest information available there are 76,719,264 national insurance numbers on the customer information system, not including child reference numbers.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many duplicate national insurance numbers there are in the national insurance database. [149969]

Mr. Plaskitt: From March 2007, DWP’s Customer Information System replaced the Departmental Central Index as the national insurance database. Due to the way the Customer Information System is set up, the same national insurance number cannot be allocated twice. However, from time to time we identify national insurance numbers that are being used by more than one person, usually through transcription errors.

The number of instances where this has occurred is shown in the following table.

Cases of a national insurance number being used by more than one individual
	Number of cases
2001	2,539
2002	2,418
2003	2,533
2004	1,896
2005	1,991
2006	1,984
Note: In these cases we take corrective action with Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to correct the account.

National Insurance Credits

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his written ministerial statement of 23 July 2007, Official Report, columns 47-48WS, on national insurance credits, what his estimate is of the total amount of (a) overpayments and (b) underpayments. [152934]

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Mr. Plaskitt: Initial estimates are that annual potential overpayments could be around £90 million.

Initial estimates of potential underpayments are around £65 million.

These estimates do not take into account any entitlement to, or payment of, income-related benefits which would affect the amounts over or under paid.

National Insurance: Fraud

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many cases have been reported of (a) an individual using more than one national insurance number and (b) a national insurance number being used by more than one individual in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [152713]

Mr. Plaskitt: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave the hon. Member for Bury St. Edmunds (Mr. Ruffley) on 6 February 2007, Official Report, column 870W.

National Insurance: Romania

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many national insurance numbers have been issued to (a) Romanian and (b) Bulgarian citizens since 1 January. [151633]

Mr. Plaskitt: The available information is in the following table.

National Insurance number registrations to Romanian and Bulgarian citizens between 1 January 2007 and 5 April 2007.
	Number
Bulgaria	1,680
Romania	2,660
Notes: 1. Numbers are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Numbers are based on 100 per cent data from the National Insurance Recording System (NIRS). Source: 100 per cent sample at 14 May 2007 from the National Insurance Recording System (NIRS).

New Deal for Young People

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many participants on the New Deal for Young People were taking part in the scheme for the second or subsequent time in each month since 1998. [149117]

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

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Month of participation	Total number of participants	Number participating for second or subsequent time
July 1998	102,490	180
August 1998	112,800	290
September 1998	120,050	450
October 1998	126,090	700
November 1998	129,940	890
December 1998	133,130	1,110
January 1999	138,490	1,590
February 1999	141,760	2,040
March 1999	144,530	2,610
April 1999	145,560	3,440
May 1999	145,730	4,440
June 1999	144,410	5,460
July 1999	145,990	7,630
August 1999	143,560	9,270
September 1999	138,050	10,910
October 1999	131,360	12,800
November 1999	126,800	14,610
December 1999	127,700	17,240
January 2000	129,470	20,090
February 2000	128,730	22,310
March 2000	128,350	24,640
April 2000	127,090	26,350
May 2000	126,120	28,250
June 2000	122,550	29,620
July 2000	121,980	31,250
August 2000	119,350	32,010
September 2000	111,400	31,730
October 2000	106,430	31,460
November 2000	103,080	31,620
December 2000	103,810	32,740
January 2001	105,820	34,010
February 2001	104,670	34,280
March 2001	103,550	34,290
April 2001	102,950	34,880
May 2001	102,310	35,350
June 2001	99,550	35,160
July 2001	100,220	35,910
August 2001	97,940	35,690
September 2001	94,730	35,240
October 2001	91,600	34,470
November2001	89,410	34,000
December 2001	90,550	34,390
January 2002	92,450	35,080
February 2002	94,370	35,870
March 2002	96,170	36,250
April 2002	97,180	36,570
May 2002	98,110	37,180
June 2002	96,400	36,700
July 2002	97,730	37,160
August 2002	96,110	36,740
September 2002	92,510	35,680
October 2002	89,930	34,770
November 2002	87,530	34,050
December 2002	88,860	34,440
January 2003	92,460	35,340
February 2003	92,870	35,220
March 2003	94,440	35,260
April 2003	94,430	35,420
May 2003	95,150	35,930
June 2003	94,360	35,780
July 2003	96,410	36,600
August 2003	95,690	36,540
September 2003	92,640	35,640
October 2003	88,960	34,580
November 2003	87,320	33,970
December 2003	88,190	34,050
January 2004	90,470	34,480
February 2004	90,300	34,200
March 2004	90,680	34,120
April 2004	90,310	33,870
May 2004	89,940	33,540
June 2004	87,760	32,670
July 2004	87,820	32,620
August 2004	86,460	32,000
September 2004	82,770	31,090
October 2004	78,810	29,670
November 2004	77,610	29,290
December 2004	78,720	29,430
January 2005	80,500	29,560
February 2005	81,400	29,820
March 2005	82,490	29,860
April 2005	83,840	30,260
May 2005	84,670	30,550
June 2005	83,360	30,330
July 2005	85,970	31,250
August 2005	86,480	31,380
September 2005	83,840	30,990
October 2005	82,060	30,600
November 2005	81,310	30,510
December 2005	83,440	31,230
January 2006	86,770	31,920
February 2006	88,390	32,310
March 2006	91,840	33,000
April 2006	93,660	33,500
May 2006	95,930	34,140
June 2006	95,340	34,080
July 2006	97,780	34,760
August 2006	97,790	34,910
September 2006	93,320	33,880
October 2006	90,360	33,340
November 2006	88,380	33,180
Notes: 1. Latest data are to November 2006. 2. All data have been rounded to nearest 10. 3. A person participating on the programme for more than one month will be included in the table for each month that they are participating. Source: Information Directorate, DWP

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