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24 Oct 2007 : Column 321W—continued

Disability Living Allowance: Peterborough

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Peterborough constituency were in receipt of disability living allowance in each year since 1997. [160213]

Mrs. McGuire: The available information is in the following table.


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Disability living allowance—cases in payment in Peterborough parliamentary constituency
Number

May 1997

3,200

May 1998

3,400

May 1999

3,700

May 2000

3,700

May 2001

3,700

May 2002

4,100

May 2003

4,350

May 2004

4,460

May 2005

4,590

May 2006

4,680

February 2007

4,740

Notes:
1. Totals show the number of people in receipt and exclude people with entitlement where the payment has been suspended, for example if they are in hospital.
2. May 97-May 2001 case load figures are rated in line with WPLS totals and rounded to the nearest hundred.
3. May 2002-February 2007 case load figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
4. Some additional disclosure control has also been applied.
5. Totals may not sum due to rounding.
Source:
DWP Information Directorate: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (May 2002-February 2007); Department for Work and Pensions, Information Directorate, 5 per cent. sample (May 97-May 2001).

Disability: Young People

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what publicly-funded assistance is available to young people with a disability who wish to move from education into work. [159273]

Mrs. McGuire [holding answer 18 October 2007]: Jobcentre Plus provides a wide range of help to young people with disabilities who wish to move from education into work.

New deal for young people (NDYP) is mandatory for all 18-24 year-olds who have been claiming jobseeker’s allowance (JSA) continuously for six months. Early entry can be allowed for certain groups including people with disabilities. NDYP aims to move people into sustainable work as quickly as possible and provide those who need it with extra help to improve their employability.

There is also a range of specialist disability measures and programmes for young people who are not in receipt of JSA.

Disability employment advisers (DEAs) are trained to help people with a range of disabilities and health conditions consider work, take up work and also retain their jobs. DEAs concentrate on making their customer aware of their capabilities and how to overcome their own particular barriers in the workplace.

Young people may benefit from The Access to Work programme. They can be helped by a support worker in a number of ways, for example as a job coach, mentor, advocate or counsellor.

WORKSTEP is a programme of supported employment which can provide tailored support to find, and retain, jobs for people with disabilities who have more complex barriers to finding and keeping work.

Work preparation is an individually tailored, work-focused programme that enables people to address barriers associated with their disability and prepare to access a labour market with the confidence necessary to achieve and sustain their job goal.

Incapacity Benefit

Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to link the lower limit of the earnings disregard of incapacity benefit with (a) the minimum wage and (b) average earnings. [159670]

Mrs. McGuire: Recipients of incapacity benefit are able to undertake permitted work subject to some limits, which include weekly earnings limits. The
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permitted work lower limit is £20 a week. There are no plans to link the lower limit to the minimum wage or average earnings but the Government keep such limits under review.

Incapacity Benefit: Employment

Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the impact of the lower limit of the earnings disregard of incapacity benefit on benefit recipients' (a) willingness and (b) ability to enter the labour market. [159671]

Mrs. McGuire: There has been no specific assessment of the impact of the permitted work lower earnings limit on benefit recipients' willingness and ability to enter the labour market. However, there is clear evidence that, for a number of clients, the permitted work rules have acted as a stepping stone to employment.

Incapacity Benefit: Peterborough

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of adults of working age in Peterborough constituency were claiming incapacity benefits in each year since 1997. [160209]

Mrs. McGuire: The information is not available.

Industrial Health and Safety: Formaldehyde

Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the Government will adopt the recommendations of the European Commission's Scientific Committee on Occupational Exposure Limits to reduce occupational exposure limit values for formaldehyde to 0.2 ppm for eight-hour time weighted average and to 0.4 ppm for short-term exposure limits up to 15 minutes. [160389]

Mrs. McGuire: The Government do not intend to adopt the recommendations on formaldehyde from the European Commission’s Scientific Committee on occupational exposure limits, at the current time.

However, discussions are currently ongoing within the European Commission on whether or not to include formaldehyde in the annex to a future indication occupational exposure limit values (IOELV) directive, and if so at what level. We anticipate the Commission will present a proposal to the Luxembourg Advisory Committee on Safety and Health in November.

Should an IOELV be agreed for formaldehyde in a future Commission directive, the UK Government will take that limit into account when setting their own domestic limit.

Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE's) Disease Reduction Programme has concluded its benchmarking exercise; what steps the HSE plans to take on workplace exposure limits for formaldehyde; and if he will make a statement. [160390]


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Mrs. McGuire: The Health and Safety Executive's benchmarking exercise was presented in June 2007 to representatives of employers, trades unions, pressure groups and the scientific community at a workshop chaired by a highly respected independent academic.

There are no immediate plans to amend the current workplace exposure limits for formaldehyde. If, however, formaldehyde is included in the third European Commission Indicative Occupational Exposure Limit Values Directive, the Health and Safety Executive would be obliged to take account of that limit when setting a domestic limit in the UK.

Industrial Health and Safety: Recycling

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will place in the Library a copy of the most recent research from the Health and Safety Executive, the Health and Safety Commission and the Health and Safety Laboratory on manual handling in kerbside collection and sorting of recyclables. [158180]

Mrs. McGuire: The final and revised research report produced by the Health and Safety Laboratory, ‘Manual handling in kerbside collection and sorting of recyclables’ was published in May 2006 and is available to the public via the Health and Safety Executive’s website. A copy has been forwarded to the House of Commons Library following this inquiry.

Industrial Health and Safety: Sunbeds

Mrs. James: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress he is making in updating Health and Safety Leaflet INDG209 to contain information on the use of automated tanning salons. [160208]

Mrs. McGuire: Officials of the Health and Safety Executive and the Department for Health are continuing to assess how leaflet INDG 209 might best contain information on the use of automated tanning salons.

Members: Correspondence

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when the Complaint Review Team, Falkirk Child Support Agency office will reply to the fax of 17 September 2007 from the hon. Member for Edinburgh West in relation to his constituent Mr. Grant Lumsden. [158771]

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 24 October 2007:


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National Insurance: Peterborough

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many new national insurance numbers were issued to non-UK citizens resident in Peterborough City Council area in each month since January 2004. [160616]

Mr. Plaskitt: Information is not available prior to April 2004. The available information is in the following table.

National insurance number registrations in respect of non-UK nationals in Peterborough local authority area from 6 April 2004
Month of registration Number of registrations

6 April-30 April 2004

100

May 2004

170

June 2004

180

July 2004

170

August 2004

120

September 2004

170

October 2004

180

November 2004

350

December 2004

390

January 2005

250

February 2005

570

March 2005

720

April 2005

480

May 2005

480

June 2005

450

July 2005

300

August 2005

210

September 2005

420

October 2005

440

November 2005

310

December 2005

290

January 2006

470

February 2006

560

March 2006

690

April 2006

200

May 2006

290

June 2006

360

July 2006

370

August 2006

250

September 2006

330

October 2006

360

November 2006

400

December 2006

360

January 2007

770

February 2007

510

March 2007

560

Notes:
1. Numbers are rounded to the nearest 10.
2. Totals may not sum due to rounding.
3. Numbers are based on 100 per cent. data from the National Insurance Recording System (NIRS).
4. Local authority is assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant postcode directory.
5. Local authority counts are based on the most recently recorded address of the national insurance number recipient.
Source:
100 per cent. sample at 25 June 2005, 17 June 2006 and 14 May 2007 from the National Insurance Recording System (NIRS).

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