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29 Nov 2007 : Column 572W—continued

Local Authorities: Equal Opportunities

Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what discussions he has had with the Treasury on the appropriate level of resources for local authorities in relation to their obligations under the disability equality duty. [162609]

Mrs. McGuire: The Department held discussions on this issue with the Department for Communities and Local Government (then Office of the Deputy Prime Minister) as part of the development of the Disability Discrimination Act 2005.

We provided local authorities with an additional £11 million over the last two financial years, in line with our responsibilities under the New Burdens rules for the work which authorities were required to carry out to develop a disability equality scheme.

Pensions: British Nationals Overseas

Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many recipients living overseas have had their state earnings related pension frozen; and how much it would cost to uprate those pensions (a) with and (b) without back payments. [169581]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: We estimate that the state earnings related pension is paid to around 110,000 overseas recipients of the UK state pension who live in countries where the pension is not uprated.

The estimated cost to uprate this element of the state pension is around 18 million in 2007-08 and it would cost around £170 million in 2007-08 if this was backdated and arrears paid.

Note: Estimates based on the latest available September 2006 RPWB dataset (5 per cent. administrative data sample).

Social Security Benefits: Pensioners

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the value was of attendance allowance and disability living allowance payments to people over retirement age living in the Huddersfield local authority area in (a) 1996 and (b) 2006-07. [162543]


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Mrs. McGuire: Information about the value of attendance allowance and disability living allowance payments to people over retirement age is in the following tables.

Kirklees local authority Status Year Annual expenditure (£ million) cash terms

Attendance allowance

Outturn

1996-97

15.4

Provisional outturn

2006-07

21.1

Disability living allowance

Outturn

1996-97

8.7

Provisional outturn

2006-07

22.2


Kirklees local authority Status Year Annual (£ million ) 2 007-08 prices expenditure

Attendance allowance

Outturn

1996-97

20.3

Provisional outturn

2006-07

21.8

Disability living allowance

Outturn

1996-97

11.5

Provisional outturn

2006-07

23.0

Notes:
1. The 1996-97 caseloads used in the apportionment of expenditure are based on 5 per cent. samples, which have been calibrated to 100 per cent. data.
2. 100 per cent. data has been used to apportion expenditure for 2006-07.
3. All figures have been rounded to the nearest £100,000.
4. Expenditure has been converted from cash terms to 2007-08 prices using GDP deflators which were published alongside the 2007 pre-Budget report and comprehensive spending review.
5. All figures are consistent with the 2007 pre-Budget report and comprehensive spending review, as well as expenditure information published on the internet at www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd4/expenditure.asp.
Source:
Expenditure has been taken from departmental accounting systems and combined with 100 per cent. statistical data to identify the proportion of expenditure paid to people over retirement age living in Kirklees local authority.

Social Security Benefits: Peterborough

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people on benefits in Peterborough constituency had been in receipt of benefits continuously for over 12 months in each year since 1997, broken down by (a) active and (b) inactive benefits. [165918]

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


29 Nov 2007 : Column 574W
Working age claimants of active or inactive benefits with a duration of over 12 months in the Peterborough parliamentary constituency, as at May each year
Active benefits( 1) Inactive benefits( 2)

1997

3,110

6,100

1998

2,160

6,200

1999

2,000

6,500

2000

1,770

5,600

2001

1,640

5,700

2002

1,450

5,880

2003

1,740

5,930

2004

1,800

5,940

2005

1,960

5,740

2006

2,210

5,750

2007

2,280

5,820

(1) ‘Active benefits’ means jobseeker’s allowance.
(2) ‘Inactive benefits’ means working age claimants of income support (income support claimants include: lone parents; sick and disabled; carers; and others), incapacity benefit (including national insurance credits only cases), and severe disablement allowance.
Notes:
1. Inactive benefits case loads 1997 to 1999 figures are rounded to the nearest 100 and for 2000 onwards are rounded to the nearest 10.
2. Inactive benefits case loads for 1997 to 1999 have been uprated by applying 5 per cent. proportions to 100 per cent. WPLS data.
3. Active benefit case loads are rounded to the nearest 5.
Sources:
Department for Work and Pensions, Information Directorate, 5 per cent. sample, February 1997 to 1999; Information Directorate, Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS) 100 per cent. data, February 2000 onwards; and 100 per cent. count of claimants of unemployment-related benefits, Jobcentre Plus computer systems.

Defence

Armed Forces: Compensation

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 13 November 2007, Official Report, column 121W, on armed forces: compensation, how many multiple injuries cases there were in each financial year since 2005-06. [166112]

Derek Twigg: The information requested is not held centrally for the War Pensions Scheme and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. However, I am able to provide details of the number of awards made under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme for multiple injuries in each year. These are shown in the following table:

Multiple injury awards( 1, 2)
Number

April 2005-March 2006

20

April 2006-March 2007

160

April 2007-September 2007

100

(1) Data have been rounded to the nearest five. (2) Figures show the year in which the award was made, this is not necessarily the year in which the injury/illness occurred.

Armed Forces: Housing

Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the contribution that can be made to remedying homelessness by releasing void married quarters to Annington Homes. [168241]

Derek Twigg: None. The alternative use of surplus service families accommodation returned to Annington Homes Limited (AHL) is a matter for the company.

Armed Forces: Manpower

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the (a) percentage recruitment gap and (b) percentage change in personnel numbers of each regiment was in the latest year for which figures are available. [167886]


29 Nov 2007 : Column 575W

Derek Twigg: Officers are not recruited against regimental targets but against a whole Army requirement. It is only after completing officer training and commissioning that an officer joins a particular regiment.

Army recruitment targets are broken down by arm/service for soldiers. There are no recruitment targets set for the small arms school corps or the Army
29 Nov 2007 : Column 576W
physical training corps because recruits are required to serve as a soldier before they are entitled to join.

The following tables provide details of army officer and soldier recruitment targets and achievement for the financial year 2006-07, and the change in Army officer and soldier full-time trained strengths between 1 April 2006 and 1 March 2007.

Army recruitment targets and achievements during financial year 2006-07
Rank Arm/service Recruitment target Number recruited Recruitment percentage

Officers

840

780

92.9

Soldier

Total

13,070

12,660

96.9

Household Cavalry

170

170

100.0

Royal Armoured Corps

630

630

100.0

Royal Artillery

1,030

970

94.2

Royal Engineers

1,370

1,340

97.8

Royal Corps of Signals

870

750

86.2

Infantry

4,260

4,310

101.2

Army Air Corps

190

210

110.5

Royal Logistics Corps

2,410

2,100

87.1

Army Medical Service

450

430

95.6

Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers

1,060

1,290

121.7

Adjutant General Corps

400

260

65.0

Intelligence Corps

160

160

100.0

Corps of Army Music

70

40

57.1

Notes:
1. Figures for Army recruitment targets and achievement have been taken from recruiting databases and cannot therefore be compared directly to National Statistics published by the Defence Analytical Services Agency.
2. The counts of targets and achievements have been rounded to the nearest 10. Due to the rounding methods used, totals may not always equal the sum of the parts. Numbers ending in “5” have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias.

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