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16 Oct 2007 : Column 962W—continued
Economic Policy
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what policies his Office has adopted to assist the United Kingdom's fulfilment of the Lisbon Agenda criteria. [155830]
Paul Goggins: Policies adopted in Northern Ireland to assist fulfilment of the Lisbon Strategy for jobs and growth is a matter for the devolved Administration in Northern Ireland.
The Northern Ireland Executive contributed to the update published by HM Treasury in September 2007 on progress in implementing the Lisbon Strategy for jobs and growth. This is available at:
Northern Ireland Office: Publicity
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his Department's projected spending is on advertising and promotional campaigns for (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09, broken down by cost relating to (i) television, (ii) radio and (iii) print media. [155882]
Paul Goggins: The following table illustrates the total projected spend on advertising and promotional campaigns by the Northern Ireland Office, excluding its Agencies and executive NDPBs. We are unable to provide the breakdown requested by the hon. Member.
Work and Pensions
Child Support Agency: Pay
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many bonus payments were made to Child Support Agency staff in each year since 1997, broken down by value of payments. [143579]
Mr. Plaskitt: I refer the hon. Member to the earlier response to his parliamentary question on 8 February 2007, Official Report, column 1192W.
Child Support Agency: Vertex
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on performance in relation to Child Support Agency work carried out by Vertex at its offices in Bolton. [146170]
Mr. Plaskitt: 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 Stephen Geraghty, dated 16 October 2007:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make a statement on performance in relation to Child Support Agency work carried out by Vertex at its offices in Bolton. [146170]
Vertex Data Science Ltd manages the CSA Bolton site, a new unit we have established to deal with our clerical cases. These are cases, which for technical reasons it is not possible for our new computer system to progress. By moving all the clerical work undertaken by the Agency to one site we have released people to focus on other improvement work including reducing the number of uncleared applications to the lowest levels since 1999 and strengthening enforcement.
While the arrangement has been generally beneficial, we have experienced some operational issues including expressions of concern from some clients, MPs and the Independent Case Examiner about how the Bolton site is currently managing complaints. The Agency has now taken steps to ensure that our service to clients improves in the future. All complaints with MP or Independent Case Examiner involvement as well as those cases that require a review will be transferred to specialist caseworkers within the Agency over the coming months.
As you will know, the Agency has cleared significant numbers of applications in the last year, with uncleared cases falling by 31% across both schemes. As a result the increase in volumes of
cases requiring clerical processing to be dealt with in Bolton has been higher than initially forecast and transferring complaints work to other sites within the Agency will allow CSA Bolton to focus on collecting maintenance in those cases.
Our Minister, Lord McKenzie has also recently written to all MPs concerning the changes the Agency has made to the complaints resolution process, including transferring these complaints from the Bolton office.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what representations he has received on the performance of the Bolton office of the Child Support Agency; and if he will make a statement. [149340]
Mr. Plaskitt: 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 Stephen Geraghty, dated 16 October 2007:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what representations he has received on the performance of the Bolton office of the Child Support Agency; and if he will make a statement. [149340]
Vertex Data Science Ltd manages the CSA Bolton site, a new unit we have established to deal with our clerical cases. These are cases, which for technical reasons it is not possible for our new computer system to progress. By moving all the clerical work undertaken by the Agency to one site we have released people to focus on other improvement work including reducing the number of uncleared applications to the lowest levels since 1999 and strengthening enforcement.
While the arrangement has been generally beneficial, we have experienced some operational issues including expressions of concern from some clients, MPs and the Independent Case Examiner about how the Bolton site is currently managing complaints. The Agency has now taken steps to ensure that our service to clients improves in the future. All complaints with MP or Independent Case Examiner involvement as well as those cases that require a review will be transferred to specialist caseworkers within the Agency over the coming months.
As you will know, the Agency has cleared significant numbers of applications in the last year, with uncleared cases falling by 31% across both schemes. As a result the increase in volumes of cases requiring clerical processing to be dealt with in Bolton has been higher than initially forecast and transferring complaints work to other sites within the Agency will allow CSA Bolton to focus on collecting maintenance in those cases.
Our Minister, Lord McKenzie has also recently written to all MPs concerning the changes the Agency has made to the complaints resolution process, including transferring these complaints from the Bolton office.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Departments: Accountancy
Mr. Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what account directions were issued by his Department in financial years (a) 2005-06 and (b) 2006-07. [156618]
Mrs. McGuire: Under the Government Resource and Accounts Act 2000 HM Treasury issue accounts directions to departments, pension schemes and agencies and under the Government Trading Fund Act 1973 to trading funds.
For the years 2005-06 and 2006-07 the Department for Work and Pensions has issued accounts directions for the form and content of resource and other accounts to the following sponsored bodies:
The Pension Protection Fund
The Pensions Regulator
None
Directions were also issued to the following sponsored bodies prior to the above dates and these were still extant during the period in question:
Health and Safety Executive
Health and Safety Commission
Pensions Compensation Board
Disability Rights Commission
Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority
Departments: Manpower
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people are employed by his Department, broken down by parliamentary constituency. [157169]
Mrs. McGuire: The Department for Work and Pensions employed a total of 117,854 staff (equating to 106,040 full-time equivalents) as at the end of August 2007. It is not possible to break down the number of staff by parliamentary constituency since the Department’s staffing is not recorded on this basis. To obtain information on this basis would be at disproportionate cost.
Disability Living Allowance
Mike Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many new Disability Living Allowance claims were processed between April 2006 and January 2007; how many were (a) rejected, (b) rejected or reduced following medical evidence and (c) appealed, broken down by the result of the appeal. [155900]
Mrs. McGuire: Between April 2006 and January 2007, there were 350,400 decisions made on Disability Living Allowance (DLA) new claims. 187,480 new claims were refused and of these 117,854 were rejected or refused following medical evidence. The available information about the number of claims that were appealed is in the following table.
| DLA appeals broken down by type of award: April 2006 to January 2007 | |
| Number | |
| Source: Disability and Carers' Service report: RAA/RDA 60205-60209 | |
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people were in receipt of disability living allowance in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each year since 1997. [156715]
Mrs. McGuire: The available information is in the following tables.
| Disability living allowance—cases in payment | ||||||||
| May each year | ||||||||
| 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | |||
| May each year | February | |||||||||||
| 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | ||||||||
| Notes: 1. Totals show the number of people in receipt of an allowance, and exclude people with entitlement where the payment has been suspended, for example if they are in hospital. 2. Figures for May 2002—February 2007 are taken from the DWP Information Directorate: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study. 3. Figures for May 2002—February 2007 are rounded to the nearest 10. Some additional disclosure control has also been applied. 4. Figures for May 1997—May 2001 are taken from the Department for Work and Pensions, Information Directorate, 5 per cent. sample. 5. Figures for May 1997—May 2001 are rated in line with WPLS totals and rounded to the nearest 100. Totals may not sum due to rounding. | ||||||||||||
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