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6 Dec 2007 : Column 1503W—continued
The Contact Centres are able to move calls around the network to support demand. After three months 700 Contact Centre staff, supported by Benefit Delivery Centre colleagues are undertaking this work. As a result over 90% of calls handled in this way are now being answered first time.
In addition, the call logger system, which captures management information on volumes of calls and numbers of calls answered has been further developed and is currently being implemented in Benefit Delivery Centres and Contact Centres to ensure that sufficient staff are available to answer calls.
I hope this is helpful.
Departmental Publicity
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many full-time equivalent staff are responsible for brand management and marketing in his Department and its agencies. [165230]
Mrs. McGuire: The amount of full-time equivalent staff responsible for brand management and marketing in the Department and its agencies is set out in the following table. It is not possible to separate figures for each category as many posts combine both roles.
| Agency | Staff |
| Note: These figures have been rounded to reflect part-time staff. | |
Government Equalities Office
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which Government Department the Government Equalities Office comes under; and what the Ministerial responsibilities are of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the office. [170007]
Barbara Follett [holding answer 3 December 2007]: The Government Equalities Office is a Government Department in its own right; support services are currently provided by the Department for Work and Pensions. Barbara Follett supports the Minister for Women and Equality (Ms Harman) across the range of equalities issues. A revised list of ministerial responsibilities was published by my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office (Edward Miliband) on 18 October 2007. Copies have been placed in the Vote Office and the Libraries of the House. The list can also be accessed at:
Incapacity Benefit
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many incapacity benefit claimants in receipt of incapacity benefit for two to five years have found (a) employment and (b) sustained employment in each year since 2000; [162355]
(2) how many incapacity benefit claimants in receipt of incapacity benefit for five years or more have found (a) employment and (b) sustained employment in each year since 2000; [162357]
(3) how many incapacity benefit claimants in receipt of incapacity benefit for between one and two years have found (a) employment and (b) sustained employment in each year since 2000. [162358]
Mrs. McGuire: The information is not available as claimants are not obliged to explain why they are leaving incapacity benefit, and the information we have, therefore, is not considered to provide an accurate picture.
Incapacity Benefit: Appeals
Danny Alexander:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the (a) cost of administering,
(b) number and (c) average success rate was of appeals against refusal of incapacity benefit in each of the last 10 years. [169912]
Bridget Prentice: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested is only available from 2000-01 and the costs are not broken down specifically by benefit type.
The following table shows the total number of incapacity benefit appeals cleared at a hearing since 2000-01 and the number found in favour of the appellant. The cost figure for each year represents the average cost of clearing an appeal over the entire appeal caseload and is not broken down specifically by benefit type, or by type of clearance (hearing/non hearing).
| Appeals for incapacity benefit | |||||
| Intake( 1) | Cleared at hearing( 2) | Found in favour of the appellant( 3) | Percentage found in favour of the appellan t( 4) | Average cost of clearing an appeal (£) | |
| (1) The number of appeals accepted by the Tribunals Service (2) All decisions that went to hearing that were cleared. (3)( )All hearing decisions cleared in favour of appellant. (4)( )The percentage of all hearing decisions cleared in favour of appellant. Source: The Tribunal Service, from GAPS and G2 Reports | |||||
Jobseeker's Allowance: Basic Skills
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of jobseeker’s allowance claimants in receipt of basic skills training have succeeded in obtaining a basic skills qualification in each year since 1997. [162361]
Mr. Plaskitt: Skills provision is a devolved issue. Responsibility for monitoring training outcomes rests with the Learning and Skills Council in England, Local Authorities in Scotland and The Welsh Assembly Government in Wales.
Jobseeker’s allowance customers can undertake part-time skills training including basic skills courses without a referral from Jobcentre Plus provided it does not conflict with the work search requirements of their benefit. Jobcentre Plus would not routinely record qualification outcomes for these part-time courses.
Some jobseeker’s allowance customers with identified basic skills needs that are a barrier to finding work are referred by Jobcentre Plus to full-time basic skills provision on a voluntary basis. These customers are supported by a training allowance.
The recently published “Employment, Opportunity and Progression: making skills work” aims to build on these arrangements and provide a more integrated employment and skills service. Obtaining more comprehensive information about the skills as well as the work outcomes will be one element of the new approach.
New Deal Schemes: Disabled
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many individuals participated in the new deal for disabled people in each year since its inception; and what estimate he has made of the number of people who will access (a) the new deal for disabled people and (b) pathways to work following the roll out of pathways to work, broken down by Jobcentre Plus district. [165524]
Caroline Flint: An estimate of the total number of people who will access new deal for disabled people (NDDP) and pathways to work, following roll out of pathways to work, broken down by Jobcentre Plus district, is not available.
Up to the end of August 2007, 271,180 people had participated in new deal for disabled people.
Information on the number of people starting the programme in each year is in the following table.
School Leaving
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what assessment he has made of the likely effect on child support cases of having a different school leaving age in England and other parts of the United Kingdom; [165771]
(2) whether he will seek to amend the definition of child in article 55 of the Child Support Act 1991 in line with the Government's proposals to raise the minimum age to which young people must stay in education or training; and if he will make a statement; [166270]
(3) if he will assess the effect of the Government's proposals to raise the minimum age to which young people must stay in education or training on the projected caseload of (a) the Child Support Agency and (b) the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission; and if he will make a statement. [166271]
Mr. Plaskitt: The details of the Government's proposals to raise the school leaving age are currently being developed. However we intend to continue to mirror child benefit provisions in the definition of a child for child maintenance purposes.
If young people in England are required to stay at school or in training until they are 17 or 18, we anticipate that non-resident parents will still be liable for maintenance until the young person leaves school or training. Young people in other parts of the UK who can choose to leave education or training at 16 will cease to receive maintenance should they do so.
The Government's proposals on raising the school leaving age are due to take effect from 2013, by which time we anticipate that child maintenance cases will largely be subject to the new scheme's rules.
With the increased focus on voluntary arrangements and the ending of the requirement that parents with care on benefit be treated as applying for child maintenance, not all of the current Child Support Agency caseload will choose to use the statutory maintenance service and be subject to the new scheme's rules. Since we do not know the precise composition of the resulting caseload, it is not possible to estimate the impact on those existing cases on moving to the Commission.
Social Fund
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the rate of refusal was for Social Fund applications in the latest period for which figures are available, broken down by (a) type and (b) reason for rejection. [163513]
Mr. Plaskitt: The available information is in the following tables.
| Budgeting loans, Great Britain, 1 April 2007 to 31 October 2007 | ||
| Refusal reason | Number of initial refusals | Initial refusals as percentage of initial decisions |
| Crisis loans, Great Britain, 1 April 2007 to 31 October 2007 | ||
| Refusal reason | Number of initial refusals | Initial refusals as percentage of initial decisions |
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