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7 Jan 2008 : Column 70W—continued
DEFRA has not yet released individual delivery body results for 2005-06. These include some selected long term results, which are not included in the table. Similarly, work is currently under way to verify BREW Programme results for 2006-07. I will deposit both sets of results in the House Library when they are available.
Work and Pensions
Occupational Pensions
14. Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to provide further assistance to people who have lost their occupational pensions. [175879]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: My announcement of 17 December extended the FAS to guarantee members of qualifying schemes 90 per cent. of their accrued pension at the date of commencement of wind-up, revalued to their retirement date, but subject to a cap of £26,000 a year.
22. Lynda Waltho: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to increase access to occupational pensions for those on low incomes. [175887]
Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to assist low income employees to gain access to occupational pensions. [175872]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Pensions Bill, having its Second Reading today, would introduce a new simple, low cost personal accounts pension scheme to give those currently without access to a good quality pension scheme—in particular, low to moderate earners—the opportunity to save.
Independent Living
16. Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps the Government are taking to assist disabled people to live independently. [175881]
Mrs. McGuire: The Government will shortly be publishing a five year cross-Government strategy for independent living. The strategy will set out a five year plan for making progress on the Government's aim that all disabled people (including older disabled people) should be able to live autonomous lives, and to have the same choice, freedom, dignity and control over their lives as non-disabled people.
Pensioners: East Anglia
17. Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he next plans to meet pensioner groups from East Anglia to discuss payments of pensions and related benefits. [175882]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: In advance of introduction of the Pensions Bill we have been engaging with stakeholders to discuss pensions reforms, and continue to do so. Currently there are no plans to meet pensioner groups from East Anglia.
Financial Assistance Scheme
18. Angela Watkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Financial Assistance Scheme. [175883]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: A review was carried out this year by Mercers Human Resource Consulting which reported in August that the process of gathering data to operate the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) is fit for purpose and is managed in a satisfactory manner.
They also concluded that delays in obtaining high enough quality data are often caused by trustees’ administrators and insurance firms rather than FAS operational unit processes. Regulatory changes agreed on 11 December will mitigate these delays.
Housing Benefit
19. Mrs. Humble: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department plans to take to improve the administration of housing benefit by local authorities. [175884]
Mr. Plaskitt: Administration has improved significantly. The average processing time on a new claim has dropped from 56 days four years ago, to 33 in 2006-07. The improvement is even more marked in what were previously the worst performing authorities.
We are continually taking steps to simplify the system to make it easier for local authorities to administer the scheme.
Barriers to Employment
20. Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the barriers to employment facing families in temporary accommodation. [175885]
Mr. Plaskitt: Working on reducing barriers to employment is central to the Department's programme of welfare reform. In relation to those in temporary accommodation we support the intentions of the Working Futures pilot being carried out by the Greater London Authority and the East Thames Group.
We believe that the pilot will help inform future housing benefit policy, including our proposals for a new regime for temporary accommodation from April 2009.
Incapacity Benefits
21. Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent estimate he has made of the number of long-term claimants of incapacity benefit. [175886]
Caroline Flint: In May 2007 the number of working age people claiming incapacity benefit for more than five years was 1.5 million.
Claimant numbers more than trebled between the late 1970s and mid 1990s but new claims to incapacity benefits have dropped by more than a third since the mid 1990s and the caseload is at its lowest for almost eight years.
Child Support Agency
23. Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress has been made in replacing the Child Support Agency; and if he will make a statement. [175888]
Mr. Plaskitt: The first concrete steps have been taken in creating the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission with the appointment of the chair designate, Janet Paraskeva, which was announced on 15 November.
Subject to parliamentary approval, the Commission will become operational and take responsibility for the child maintenance system in 2008.
Provision for Retirement
24. Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of people not saving for retirement; and what steps his Department is taking in response. [175889]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: DWP estimates suggest that approximately 7,000,000 people are currently not saving enough to meet their retirement aspirations.
The Pensions Bill, having its Second Reading today, would introduce a requirement on all employers to automatically enrol workers who are eligible into a qualifying workplace pension scheme and to contribute to that scheme. Our estimates indicate this would result in between 6,000,000 and 9,000,000 people newly participating or saving more in workplace pensions.
Lone Parents
Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department has taken to support lone parents in finding work; and what plans he has for further assistance. [175878]
Caroline Flint: The New Deal for lone parents has supported over half a million people into work.
Our recent document “Ready for Work” sets out how we will expect more lone parents with school age children to actively find work along with a package of measures to provide lone parents with the skills, confidence and financial support to both find and stay in work.
Voluntary Organisations
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the role played by voluntary organisations in securing benefits for individuals. [175890]
Caroline Flint: Intermediaries play a valuable role in helping some of our customers to claim benefits, whether by providing them with advice or information, helping them complete claim forms, helping them communicate with us, or advocating on their behalf.
Pensions: Financial Assistance Scheme
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when his Department plans to publish the final report on the Financial Assistance Scheme: Review of Assets; and if he will make a statement. [175519]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: I refer the hon. Member to the statement I made to the House on 17 December 2007.
Prime Minister
Departmental Labour Turnover
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Prime Minister what the percentage turnover of staff was in his Office in (a) the last 12-month period and (b) the last 24-month period for which figures are available. [169026]
The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office (Gillian Merron) on 5 December 2007, Official Report, column 1343W.
Departmental Manpower
Mr. Harper: To ask the Prime Minister how many staff work in his Office’s parliamentary branch; and what proportion of their time is spent on dealing with (a) Parliamentary Questions and (b) correspondence from hon. Members and Peers. [174967]
The Prime Minister: There are currently three people in my parliamentary team. They deal with all my parliamentary business, including correspondence and questions from hon. Members and peers.
Departmental Procurement
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Prime Minister whether the standard terms and conditions of purchase used by his Office in the procurement of goods and services from the private sector prohibit the assignment of debt. [172432]
The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office (Gillian Merron) today.
Departmental Secondment
Mrs. May: To ask the Prime Minister how many secondments of staff were made (a) to and (b) from his Office in each year since 1997; which organisations’ staff were seconded (i) to and (ii) from; how many staff were seconded in each year; for how long each secondment lasted; and what the cost was of each secondment in each year. [167237]
The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office (Gillian Merron) on 5 December 2007, Official Report, column 1343W.
Local Government
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Prime Minister whether he has had meetings in the last 30 days with (a) the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and (b) the Boundary Committee to discuss local government restructuring in (i) Ipswich and (ii) across the rest of England. [176500]
The Prime Minister: I have regular meetings and discussions with ministerial colleagues and others on a wide range of subjects.
Ministers: National Lottery
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Prime Minister how many complaints there have been of breaches of section 4.8 of the Ministerial Code of Practice, on ministerial support for National Lottery bids, in the last 12 months. [175993]
The Prime Minister: A revised “Ministerial Code” was published on 3 July 2007, copies of which are in the Libraries of the House. Guidance on ministerial support for individual applications for lottery funding is set out in section 6 of the Code. Section 1 sets out the process for handling alleged breaches of the “Ministerial Code”.
Olympics
Olympic Games 2012
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Minister for the Olympics what assessment she has made of the likely impact of the 2012 Olympic Games on UK economic growth over the next five years; and if she will make a statement. [174908]
Tessa Jowell: We expect that the 2012 games will have a positive impact on UK economic growth over the next five years.
The 2012 games provide a wide range of opportunities for business growth across the UK, both in terms of direct games related contracts, but also in terms of delivering fitter more innovative businesses able to compete for wider procurement opportunities. Economic growth will also be boosted by the job creation arising from the games, strategies to drive up the skills base, not just in East London but across the UK, and a reduction in worklessness. The games also provide an opportunity to increase inward investment into the UK. Our aim is to ensure these benefits will be spread around the whole of the UK, not concentrated in London.
The forthcoming Legacy Action Plan will set out the programmes that are being developed to boost the contribution of the games to the UK economic growth rate.
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Minister for the Olympics what levels of EU funding will be available in relation to the 2012 Olympics. [174911]
Tessa Jowell: The £9.325 million public sector funding provision for the Olympics announced on 15 March 2007, further details of which I gave in my statement on 10 December, does not include any funding from the EU.
Olympic Games 2012: Finance
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Minister for the Olympics what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the existing contingency fund within the Olympic budget; and if she will make a statement. [174021]
Tessa Jowell [holding answer 13 December 2007]: I refer the hon. Member to my written statement of 10 December 2007, Official Report, column 9WS; and also to the response I provided to the hon. Member for Maldon and East Chelmsford (Mr. Whittingdale) on 10 December 2007, Official Report, column 19.
As I said in my written statement,
“the programme-wide risks, and other risks outside the ODA’s control, have been assessed and quantified and the contingency available has been confirmed as sufficient to cover such risks.”
Olympic Review Group
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Minister for the Olympics (1) what the date was of each meeting of the Cost Review Group at which updates to financial estimates were made after 25 April 2006; [173737]
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