| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
7 Feb 2008 : Column 1342W—continued
Carbon Emissions
Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the average level of domestic carbon emissions produced by (a) all houses, (b) an average-sized house built to minimum building regulation standards, (c) an average-sized house built to Level 3 of the Code for Sustainable Homes and (d) an average-sized house built to Level 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes was in the most recent year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [184235]
Mr. Iain Wright: I have been asked to reply.
The standards for the energy performance of homes in the Code for Sustainable Homes are specified in terms of emissions. The relevant emissions rates are expressed as improvements against the standards set in the Building Regulations Approved Document L (2006) and measured using the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP).
In 2005, the latest year for which figures are available, carbon dioxide emissions from the household sector were 148.5 million tonnes. The target emission rate for an average home meeting the standards in Part L of the Building Regulations 2006 is 0.553 tonnes of carbon per annum. For an average home (broadly defined as a semi-detached house with a gas-fired
central heating boiler and a floor area of 88.8 metres squared) this equates to approximately 8300 kWh of gas and 983 kWh of electricity.
To meet Code level 3, a house will have to be designed and built to achieve a 25 per cent. improvement on this rate. To meet Code Level 4, a house will have to be designed and built to achieve a 44 per cent. improvement on the 2006 Part L target emission rate.
Work and Pensions
Children: Maintenance
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of those required to make payments by the Child Support Agency did not fulfil their obligations in the latest period for which figures are available. [183912]
Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 7 February 2008:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the chief executive.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of those required to make payments by the Child Support Agency did not fulfil their obligations in the latest period for which figures are available.
The proportion of those required to make payments by the Child Support Agency that did fulfil their obligations (and hence by derivation those that did not) is available in table 7.2 of the December 2007 Quarterly Summary of Statistics.
This can be found in the House of Commons Library or at the following website http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/child_support/dec2007/csa_dec07_tables.xls.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many active Child Support Agency cases have been outstanding for more than three months. [183914]
Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 7 February 2008:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the chief executive.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many active Child Support Agency cases have been outstanding for more than three months.
The Agency currently has 121,000 uncleared applications over three months old. Under the Agency’s Operational Improvement Plan the number of uncleared applications has been halved since March 2006, and is now at its lowest point since October 2003. Additional information on uncleared cases can be found in tables 2.1 and 5 of the December 2007 CSA Quarterly Summary of Statistics (QSS), available in the House of Commons Library or online at http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/csa.asp.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Departmental Foreign Workers
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) EU foreign nationals and (b) non-EU foreign nationals are employed by his Department. [168092]
Mrs. McGuire: The information requested is not currently available and to obtain it would involve disproportionate cost.
Departmental ICT
Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) male and (b) female members of staff in his Department were issued with personal digital assistants in each year since 2001; and if he will make a statement. [181371]
Mrs. McGuire: The Department has issued 731 personal digital assistants. 103 were issued in 2005 with 31 issued to female staff and 72 issued to male staff. 628 were issued in 2007 with 275 issued to female staff and 353 issued to male staff.
Departmental Public Appointments
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many political appointments were made by his Department in each of the last 10 years. [183218]
Mrs. McGuire: Since 2003, the Government have published on an annual basis the number of special advisers in each pay band. For the most recent information I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 22 November 2007, Official Report, columns 147-50WS.
Information on the numbers and costs of special advisers prior to 2003 was provided at regular intervals and is available in the Library of the House.
Disability Living Allowance
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the cost of raising the age limit for claiming disability living allowance in line with the increase in state pension age. [181807]
Mrs. McGuire: It is estimated that, based on 2007-08 prices, the cost of raising the age limit for claiming disability living allowance in line with the increase in state pension age will rise to about £0.6 billion a year by 2050-51.
Disability Living Allowance: Children
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what estimate he has made of the number of disabled children eligible to claim the (a) lower, (b) medium and (c) higher rate of the (i) care and (ii) mobility component of the disability living allowance who are (A) under 16 and (B) under 18 years old in full-time education; [183532]
(2) what estimate he has made of the number of children and young people up to the age of 18 years old eligible to claim disability-related benefits in the UK, broken down by age. [183534]
Mrs. McGuire: No such estimates are available.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many disabled children under (a) 16 and (b) 18 years old in full-time education claimed the (i) lower, (ii) medium and (iii) higher rate of the (A) care and (B) mobility component of the disability living allowance in the latest period for which figures are available. [183533]
Mrs. McGuire: All children aged between five and 15 (inclusive) are required to be in full-time education. Information about the number of these children who are in receipt of disability living allowance is in the table.
It is not possible to estimate with confidence the number of disabled children who are aged 16 and 17 in full-time education and in receipt of disability living allowance.
| Children aged five to 15 claiming disability living allowance by award type—May 2007 | |||||
| Care component | Mobility component | ||||
| Age | Highest | Middle | Lowest | Higher | Lower |
| Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Some additional disclosure control has also been applied. 3. Totals may not sum due to rounding. 4. Caseload totals show the number of people in receipt of an allowance, and exclude people with entitlement where the payment has been suspended, for example if they are in hospital. Source: DWP Information Directorate: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study | |||||
Employment Schemes: Greater London
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of participation in the employment retention and advancement pilot by Leyton and Wanstead residents; how many residents have participated; what they have received in (a) monetary and (b) non-monetary terms; and how long that pilot has been in operation. [178799]
Mrs. McGuire: The Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) demonstration was launched in six Jobcentre Plus districts, including North East London, from October 2003 and final participants completed their time on ERA in November 2007.
ERA was designed to test the effectiveness of a package of post-employment support and financial incentives in helping customers sustain and progress in employment. It was offered to lone parents on New Deal for Lone Parents, lone parents who were already working part-time and receiving working tax credit, and eligible long-term unemployed adults on New Deal 25 plus.
Around 16,000 people were randomly assigned to either the ERA programme or to a control group across the six districts. Just under 1,500 people in north east London district, which comprises the local
authorities of Barking and Dagenham; Havering; Red bridge, and Waltham Forest, received the ERA service. The requested information is not available broken down at constituency level.
ERA participants were eligible to receive the service for 33 months, and received the following support once in employment:
(1) in-work advisory support from Jobcentre Plus,
(2) an employment retention bonus of £400, available up to six times, for staying in full-time work for 13 out of every 17 weeks;
(3) access to emergency payments to overcome short-term barriers to staying in work;
(4) training tuition assistance up to the value of £1,000, and
(5) a training bonus for completing training while employed, which was also up to the value of £1,000.
A report on year-one ERA findings ‘Implementation and First-Year Impacts of the UK Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) Demonstration’, DWP Research Report No 412, was published in February 2007, and is being placed in the Library. A report on outcomes two years after random assignment is due to be published in April 2008. The full evaluation of ERA will not be available until 2010.
Incapacity Benefit
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people (a) died and (b) reached state retirement age while in receipt of incapacity benefit in each of the last three years. [181645]
Mrs. McGuire: The information is in the following table.
| Number of those leaving incapacity benefits through retirement or death( 1) (year to February) | |||
| 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | |
| Notes: 1. (1)some destinations for those leaving incapacity benefits are not known, so these figures may undercount the true number leaving through retirement or death. 2. Incapacity benefits include incapacity benefit, income support for incapacity and severe disablement allowance. Source: DWP 5 per cent. administrative, terminations data, May 2007 | |||
Industrial Health and Safety: Influenza
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the obligations on employers under (a) the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and (b) other health and safety legislation to prepare for a potential influenza pandemic. [174747]
Mrs. McGuire: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave the hon. Member for Westbury (Dr. Murrison) on 8 January 2008, Official Report, column 435W.
Industrial Health and Safety: Noise
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what guidance he gives to operators of sports stadiums on the volume of recorded music and public announcements; and if he will make a statement. [180370]
Mrs. McGuire: The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 require employers to reduce risks arising from noise at work to as low a level as is reasonably practicable. HSE guidance booklet ‘Controlling Noise at Work’ (ISBN 0717661644) provides advice on these regulations and their application. Further advice is provided in ‘The Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds’ published by the Department for Culture Media and Sport. This provides general advice on safety at sports grounds including the operation of public address systems.
Industrial Health and Safety: Prosecutions
Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) enforcement notices have been served and (b) prosecutions have been initiated by health and safety inspectors under health and safety at work legislation in each year since 2002-03, broken down by region. [181130]
Mrs. McGuire [holding answer 22 January 2008]: The information is as follows:
(a) The full regional breakdown of notices initiated by health and safety inspectors is not available below the country level of England, Scotland or Wales, as local authority (LA) figures are available only at this level.
LAs issued the following number of notices between 2002-03 to 2006-07.
| 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |
These LA figures are from non-statutory annual returns to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Estimates are made for notices issued where an LA does not make a return and these are included in the aforementioned figures.
However the total number of enforcement notices issued by HSE inspectors, since 2002-03, by Government office region are available, and are as follows:
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |