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10 Jan 2008 : Column 721W—continued
Figures up to and including 2006-07 are based on published HSE annual statistics, the 2006-07 is the provisional figure.
The 2007-08 figure is the numbers issued in the first half of this year, and this is also a provisional figure.
(b) The total number of prosecutions initiated (i.e. specific charges laid) by HSE since 2002-03 are:
| Total number of prosecutions initiated | |
| (1) Half year figures. | |
Figures up to and including 2006-07 are based on published HSE annual statistics, the 2006-07 is the provisional figure.
The 2007-08 figure is the number of specific charges laid before the courts in the first half of this year, and this is also a provisional figure.
Jobcentre Plus: Interpreters
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what interpreter services are available to support Jobcentre Plus (a) interviews and (b) telephone calls; [173273]
(2) which Jobcentre Plus materials are available in languages other than English, broken down by language. [173274]
Caroline Flint: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive, Lesley Strathie. I have asked her to reply to the hon. member.
Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 10 January 2008:
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has asked me to reply to your questions about what interpreter services are available to support Jobcentre Plus (a) interviews and (b) telephone calls, and which Jobcentre Plus materials are available in languages other than English broken down by language. This is something, which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Jobcentre Plus recognises that additional support may be required to enable people who do not have English as a first language to gain access to our services, (a) when contacting us by telephone, or (b) attending an interview.
We provide this additional support through the:
(a) DWP Telephone Interpreting Service, currently contracted to “thebigword”. This service allows immediate access to interpreters for callers to our Contact Centre networks, for example when making new claims to benefits or applying for National Insurance Numbers.
(b) Face to Face Interpreting, including access to interpreters available through our partnership working with the Voluntary Sector, and local community and customer representative groups. We may also use staff with relevant language skills, or customer's
friends and relatives, where the customer has indicated that this is their preferred method of language support.
Jobcentre Plus currently produces its suite of customer information leaflets (providing details of benefits and entitlements, and our mandatory Welfare to Work programmes) in English, Welsh and in the following ethnic languages:
Arabic
Bengali
Chinese (Some titles only available on request, due to file size)
Gujurati
Punjabi
Urdu (Some titles only available on request, due to file size)
This information is also available as online electronic-only files that can be downloaded or printed as required.
Information in Somali and Vietnamese is also available in audio format on request.
The languages offered are based on analysis of UK demographic data.
I hope this is helpful.
Marginal Tax Rates
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the marginal deduction rate experienced by a lone parent, local authority tenant, with two children under 11, with child care costs, working 36 hours per week at adult rate minimum wage. [173347]
Caroline Flint: The Department considers the issue of marginal deduction rates (MDRs) within the wider context of making work pay. It is not possible to calculate the MDR in this particular example because it would require assumptions to be made about rent levels and child care costs as well as issues such as disability. More generally, the number of families facing MDRs in excess of 70 per cent. has fallen by 545,000 since before Budget 1998.
The Government provide a broad range of support for lone parents that focuses on ensuring that work pays, that barriers to employment are addressed and that lone parents are made aware of the employment opportunities available to them.
The in-work credit (IWC) is currently being piloted in 22 Job Centre Plus districts and will be rolled out nationally from April 2008. The IWC further increases the financial benefit from a move into employment and is helping lone parents move away from benefit dependency. This, combined with tax credits and the national minimum wage, means that most lone parents are likely to be significantly better off in work.
National Identity Register
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans his Department has to make use of data on the National Identity Register when it is established; and what the estimated cost to his Department of that use is. [174050]
Mrs. McGuire: DWP will be working with the Home Office prior to the introduction of the national identity scheme to establish how data held on the proposed National Identity Register might be used to provide easier access to DWP benefits and services for our customers. It is too early in the process to identify estimated costs and benefits.
National Insurance Fund
Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effect of employers paying employee pensions contributions at the reduced rate on national insurance fund revenue in the last three years. [173578]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The information is in the following table.
| Cost of contracted-out rebat e | ||||||
| £ billion | ||||||
| Tax year | ||||||
| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | ||||
| Type of scheme | Employer | Employee | Employer | Employee | Employer | Employee |
| Note: 1. Rebate expenditure for all years is estimated and based on the latest available contracting-out data in ‘Second Tier Pension Provision’. 2. Figures are for the UK and expressed in cash terms. 3. The cost of paying the rebate will be balanced in the longer term by a reduction in the cost of the additional state pension. Source: Department for Work and Pensions | ||||||
Occupational Pensions
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many occupational pension schemes have fully wound up since 1997; how many are in the process of winding up; and what the total membership of such schemes was in each year since 1997. [173750]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him on 29 October 2007, Official Report, column 764W.
Occupational Pensions: Financial Assistance Scheme
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what plans he has to change the proportion of pension payments made to occupational pension scheme members who make claims to the financial assistance scheme; and what the timescale is for such changes; [173781]
(2) what assessment he has made of the findings in the Young report on changes to the proportion of pensions payable in cases involving the financial assessment scheme. [173786]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Findings of the Young Review, released on Monday 17 December 2007, has indicated we are able to increase our commitment to the financial assistance scheme for pension scheme members who have lost their pension since April 1997 to April 2005 from 80 per cent. to 90 per cent. of their expected pension, in addition I have also announced that we will now pay all members from their normal scheme retirement age subject to a lower age limit of 60.
We are keen to ensure that members do not wait any longer than is absolutely necessary for increased
payments. We are considering the changes that will require legislation in order to bring the new FAS benefits into effect.
We will bring forward some legislative changes as part of the Pensions Bill currently before Parliament
The full scheme will only be in place when the regulations made under any new powers are in force; we intend to make sure this happens as soon as possible.
Pensioners: Macclesfield
Sir Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what percentage of pensioners in Macclesfield constituency claimed pension credit at the latest date for which figures are available. [172060]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Population estimates from the Office for National Statistics are not available on a constituency basis, so the question has been answered for Macclesfield local authority.
As at May 2007 5,290 households in Macclesfield were receiving pension credit which represents 14 per cent. of the pensioner population.
There were 6,190 individual beneficiaries of pension credit in Macclesfield in May 2007.
Notes:
1. Household recipients are those people who claim pension credit either for themselves only or on behalf of a household.
2. The number of individual beneficiaries includes both claimants and their partners, some of which may be under 60 years of age.
3. Pensioner population includes all those people aged 60 or over based on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) mid-2006 population estimates.
4. Household recipients and individual beneficiaries data is rounded to the nearest 10.
Source:
DWP Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent. data
Pensions
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the answer of 1 October 2007, Official Report, column 2376W, on pensions, for what reason his Department’s Resource Accounts 2006-07, page 104, give the number of letters sent to pensioners between September 2004 and September 2005 as 414,427; and if he will make a statement. [173770]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: As stated in the answer of 1 October 2007, Official Report, column 2376W, on pensions, the Pension Service contacted 470,000 pensioners in the target group of 632,000 up to the end of the project in April 2006.
The figure of 414,427 pensioners stated in the Deficiency Notices paragraph (note 39 of the Department’s Resource Accounts 2006-07) refers to the number of pensioners contacted between the period September 2004 to September 2005. The figures quoted therefore relate to different periods and this is the reason for the difference.
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people have opted to contract out of the state second pension since its introduction. [175064]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Since its introduction on 6 April 2002, around five million people have contracted out of the state second pension into either a personal pension, a stakeholder pension or an occupational pension. This figure is an estimate and based on a 3 per cent. sample of the national insurance records system database.
Pensions: Fraud
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department is taking to prevent the fraudulent use of deceased pensioners’ details; and if he will make a statement. [175061]
Mr. Plaskitt: DWP has specific processes in place to help ensure that deceased pensioners’ details are not used for fraudulent purposes within the tax and benefit systems.
When a person dies, DWP is notified of the registered death by the Office of National Statistics for deaths in England and Wales, the General Registrar’s Office (Scotland) for deaths in Scotland and the General Registrar’s Office (Northern Ireland) for deaths in Northern Ireland.
When a death is notified, the date of death is recorded on the DWP customer information system (CIS) which in turn notifies the benefit systems in order to end payment of pensions and benefits. Local authorities are also notified for housing benefit and council tax benefit purposes.
CIS will also notify the HMRC national insurance recording system (NIRS) of this date of death for tax purposes.
Once an account held on CIS has a date of death inserted, there are specific checks in place to ensure that all access to deceased accounts for tax and benefit purposes is legitimate. There will often be some legitimate access to a deceased national insurance account held on CIS if for example, the surviving spouse claims pensions based on their late partner’s national insurance contributions.
This process helps protects the tax and benefit system from fraudulent attack using deceased pensioners’ details. Processes are also in place, and will be utilised in the new year, to notify the Identity and Passport Service of deaths in order to prevent fraudulent use of a deceased person’s identity to obtain, or use, a passport in the deceased person’s name.
Pensions: National Insurance Contributions
Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of individuals who will reach state pension age between now and April 2010 with 30 years or fewer national insurance contributions or credits. [172159]
Mr. Mike O'Brien:
The latest information available indicates that at the end of the financial year 2003/04 there were around 1.8 million people due to reach state
pension age before the 6 April 2010 who had not yet accrued more than 30 qualifying years for basic state pension.
Notes:
1. Figures refer to people who are estimated to be resident in the UK in 2003-04.
2. Entitlement to basic state pension depends on a number of factors including the number of qualifying years accrued, home responsibilities protection and the spouse's contribution record.
Source:
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