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16 Jan 2008 : Column 1385W—continued
New claims for income support and jobseeker’s allowance no longer include amounts for children; parents receive child tax credits instead. Because of this, there is no reliable information on those claimants who have dependent children.
As at May 2004, the most recent available figure, there were 22,000 women aged 16 to 19 claiming housing benefit who had a dependent child in their household. This figure includes both single claimants and those with a partner. The average weekly amount of housing benefit in these cases was £80.10.
As at May 2004, the most recent available figure, there were 18,000 women under 19 years of age claiming council tax benefit who had a dependent child in their household. This figure includes both single claimants and those with a partner. The average weekly amount of council tax benefit in these cases is £13.00.
Telephone Services
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the suitability of his Department's call centre automated response systems to meeting the needs of customers; and if he will make a statement. [173433]
Mrs. McGuire: The National Audit Office report on the Department's contact centres (“Delivering effective services through contact centres” (HC941 published 15 March 2006) noted that
"all the automated systems used by the Department comply with good practice. In particular, they have short scripts and offer useful information to the caller".
These systems are kept under constant review by managers to ensure they continue to be as helpful as possible.
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what measures are in place to ensure that his Department’s customer contact centres facilitate the provision of support to individuals who have a variety of cross-cutting queries to be addressed in a single contact; and if he will make a statement. [173434]
Mrs. McGuire: The Department’s contact centres provide a good quality of service to the majority of its customers but we do recognise that customers who need to deal with more than one part of the Department may not always find it as easy as we would like to get answers to cross-cutting queries. The Department has recently introduced a new internal directory for customer contact staff to use to help signpost customers to the right point of contact for the resolution of their inquiry. This is the first step towards the introduction of a more integrated approach. Our aim is that in the future there should be ‘no wrong door’ for customers who contact the Department.
Electoral Commission Committee
Peter Hain
Adam Price:
To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission whether the Electoral Commission has received the final and comprehensive account of the donations that the right hon. Member for Neath (Mr.
Hain) received as part of his campaign for the deputy leadership of the Labour party; and what steps the Commission plans to take with regard to the previously undeclared donations. [179356]
Peter Viggers: The Electoral Commission informs me that the right hon. Member for Neath (Mr. Hain) provided further information on 10 January about donations made to his deputy leadership campaign. The Commission is undertaking initial permissibility checks on this information before publishing the relevant details on its website in the register of donations to regulated donees. The Commission will then follow up any outstanding compliance issues.
Political Parties: Finance
Mr. Tyrie:
To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission pursuant to the answer of 18 December 2007, Official Report, column 1235W, on political
parties: finance, whether the sponsorship or subsidy of a regulated donee's website is a donation or a donation-in-kind; and what records the Commission holds of the regulated donors which have declared such sponsorship. [177637]
Peter Viggers: The Electoral Commission informs me that subsidy of a regulated donee's website might constitute a donation (cash or non-cash), depending on the particular circumstances. In the Commission's view, donations in support of websites do not fall within the definition of ‘sponsorship’ in paragraph 3 of Schedule 7 to the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000.
The register of donations made to regulated donees is published on the Commission's website and includes both cash and non-cash donations. There are two entries on the register of donations to regulated donees which explicitly mention non-cash donations given for website services.
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