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31 Jan 2008 : Column 547W—continued
National Insurance: Foreign Workers
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many temporary national insurance numbers have been issued to non-EU nationals in each year since 1997; and if he will give a breakdown by nationality of the number issued in (a) 1997 and (b) the most recent year for which figures are available.[181144]
Mr. Plaskitt: The Department does not issue temporary national insurance numbers. Employers sometimes create temporary reference numbers for the purpose of their payroll records, where an employee has not provided a national insurance number. Such numbers are not recognised or used by either DWP or HMRC systems.
New Deal Schemes
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people were on a New Deal programme on the most recent date for which figures are available. [181652]
Mrs. McGuire: In May 2007(1), there were 464,350 people participating on a new deal programme.
(1) Latest available data.
Pensioners
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average income of pensioners in each London borough was in each quarter of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [178419]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Information for London cannot be provided at a lower level than Government office region, averaged over three years. Information that is available is set out in the following table.
Pensioners: Barnsley
Jeff Ennis: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average value of benefits provided by the state was to a (a) single pensioner and (b) pensioner couple in Barnsley, East and Mexborough in each year since 1997. [181046]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The information is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Pensioners: Paisley
Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average value of benefits in kind provided by the state to (a) single pensioners and (b) pensioner couples in Paisley and Renfrewshire, North was in each year since 1997. [180985]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: A wide range of services and benefits in kind are available to older people and these are administered both centrally and locally. As a result the information requested is not available in the format requested: some information is not collected, some could be obtained only at disproportionate cost and some is devolved to Scottish Ministers. The information which is available is as follows.
Free television licences for people aged 75 or over were introduced in November 2000. TV Licensing, who administer free licences as agents for the BBC, are not able to provide geographical breakdowns of licences issued. However, figures, shown in the following table, are available for the number of households with at least one person aged 75 or over claiming winter fuel payments in Paisley and Renfrewshire, North constituency. These people would be eligible for a free television licence.
| Paisley and Renfrewshire, North constituency | |
| Number of households with someone aged 75 or over | |
| (1) Main payment run only Notes: 1. Data for 2004-05 include West Renfrewshire, Paisley North and Paisley South as this was before the new parliamentary constituencies were divided. 2. Data prior to 2004-05 are not available. | |
Pensions Act 2004
Mr. Rooney: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what regulations have been made under sections (a) 257 and (b) 258 of the Pensions Act 2004. [183498]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Transfer of Employment (Pension Protection) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005 No. 649) have been made under powers contained in section 258 of the Pensions Act 2004.
Performance Appraisals
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 16 January 2008, Official Report, column 1381W, on performance appraisals, what standards of (a) behaviour and (b) attendance employees of the Department are required to meet. [181265]
Mrs. McGuire: All employees are expected to comply with the Department’s Standards of Behaviour policy which is based on the Civil Service Code. A copy of this document is available in the Commons Library.
Key principles of the Department’s Standards of Behaviour policy include integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality. These apply to employees at work and in aspects of their private life which may impact on their work.
Under the Department’s Attendance Management policy, the majority of employees would be formally interviewed if their absences due to sickness reached or exceeded eight days in a rolling 12-month period. The specific action taken would depend on the particular circumstances of the case. In many instances, this would take into account the advice given by an occupational health specialist.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 16 January 2008, Official Report, column 1381W, on performance appraisals, how many and what percentage of staff in his Department did not meet (a) some and (b) all of the objectives and targets in their appraisals in each of the last five years. [181266]
Mrs. McGuire: The information requested is not available.
Postal Services
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which companies are under contract to his Department to provide mail services. [170177]
Mrs. McGuire: The list of companies DWP has contracts with for the provision of mail services is as follows:
Royal Mail Group: postal services (this is UK-wide via an agreed memorandum of understanding)
TNT: Internal courier services (this is a cross Government courier contract let by DWP)
UK Mail: Down Stream Access provision for second class output from DWP’s regional delivery centres to customers. (This is a framework contract let by Office of Government Commerce Buying Solutions.)
Spring Global Mail: International Mail (this is a DWP let contract)
Hays DX: Document Exchange service for DWP Solicitors, Debt Management and Compensation Recovery Unit (DWP access this via an HMRC let contract).
Social Security Benefits: Employment
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) which Jobcentre Plus offices offer Better Off Calculations; and if he will make a statement; [178296]
(2) in which circumstances repeat Better Off Calculations are offered; and if he will make a statement; [178297]
(3) whether Better Off Calculations take into account income from tax credits and benefits in the second year of employment; and if he will make a statement; [178298]
(4) what advice is provided to individuals along with the outcome of their Better Off Calculation; and if he will make a statement; [178299]
(5) which unit of his Department is responsible for Better Off Calculation policy. [178300]
Mrs. McGuire: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. I have asked her to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 30 January 2008:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions asking which Jobcentre Plus offices offer Better Off Calculations; in which circumstances repeat Better Off Calculations are offered; whether Better Off Calculations take into account income from tax credits and benefits in the second year of employment; what advice is provided to individuals along with the outcome of their Better Off Calculation and which unit of his Department is responsible for Better Off Calculation policy. This is something, which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
All Jobcentre Plus offices offer Better Off Calculations. Additionally, a stand-alone version of the calculator, known as Personal Benefit Advice, is distributed on request to external organisations, such as the Citizen’s Advice Bureau, which enables them to offer Better Off Calculations to their customers.
Personal Advisers consider offering a Better Off Calculation during all interviews with the customer and one is performed whenever it is appropriate to do so throughout the life of the customer’s claim. Guidance is available to Personal Advisers about the minimum expectations of when it is appropriate to offer a calculation to each individual customer group. For example, for lone parents calculations are expected to be reviewed at each interview in order to ensure the information is current. Equally, the customer can request a calculation at any time.
During the interview, the Personal Adviser records a ‘snapshot’ of the current circumstances, based on personal and financial information provided by the customer and compares this with their potential income if they were to get a job at a particular wage. This ‘snapshot’ takes into account any benefits or tax credits that are in payment to the customer and includes information on entitlement to both Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit. The customer also gets an indication of their in work Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit and tax credit entitlement when considering employment opportunities. BOC has the facility to conduct and hold two calculations (usually one on benefit and one in employment); the results are then used to produce an individual ‘better off’ amount.
Additional functionality has been developed, which will enable Personal Advisers to also provide a comparison of circumstances in the second year of employment. Jobcentre Plus will be able to provide this additional service each year to customers who receive a calculation in the period between the announcement of the revised tax bands in the Chancellor’s Pre Budget Report and the end of the current tax year. As soon as HM Revenue and Customs confirm the revised tax bands for 2008/2009, this new enhancement will be made available to Personal Advisers.
The Better Off Calculator provides written information for the customer including advice about other in-work benefits, including Housing & Council Tax Benefits, Job Grant, Free School Meals, which helps the customer to make an informed decision about entering work.
Within the Department for Work and Pensions, Jobcentre Plus has responsibility for Better Off Calculations Policy.
I hope this is helpful.
Social Security Benefits: Fraud
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many benefit claimants were prosecuted for falsely declaring income in each year since 1997, broken down by type of benefit. [181388]
Mr. Plaskitt: Information regarding the number of people prosecuted for falsely declaring income is not available for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit claims. The information regarding DWP administered benefits is unavailable by benefit type and is not available prior to 2005.
The available information is in the table.
| Number of claimants prosecuted for falsely declaring income in DWP administered benefits | |
| Number of claimants | |
| Notes: 1. “Prosecuted” means those accepted by the Department for prosecution. 2. DWP administered benefits include Income Support, Jobseeker's Allowance, Pension Credit, Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance and Carer's Allowance. Source: Fraud Information by Sector | |
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Flood Defences
9. Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much he has made available to the Environment Agency as flood defence grant-in-aid; and if he will make a statement. [178864]
Hilary Benn: Flood and coastal erosion risk management spending will rise from £600 million this year to £800 million in 2010-11. No final decisions have yet been made on how these record levels of investment will be allocated but a formal announcement will be made in due course. Decisions on individual regional funding allocations are a matter for the Environment Agency.
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