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18 Feb 2008 : Column 252W—continued
Pensioners: Hendon
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners in (a) Hendon and (b) the UK received (i) pension credit and (ii) pension guarantee credit in the latest period for which figures are available; and in each case, what the average amount received each week was. [177497]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: In Hendon 4,360 households receive pension credit with an average award of £73.63, of which 2,410 households receive guarantee credit only with an average award of £102.65 and 1,450 households receive both guarantee credit and savings credit with an average award of £46.67, as at August 2007.
In Great Britain 2,734,530 households receive pension credit with an average award of £50.29, of which 811,260 households receive guarantee credit only with an average award of £83.69 and 1,326,130 households receive both guarantee credit and savings credit with an average award of £46.50, as at August 2007.
In Northern Ireland Pension Credit administration is a matter for the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
Notes:
1. The figures provided are early estimates. The preferred data source for figures supplied by DWP is the Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS). However, the figures provided are the latest available figures, which are taken from the GMS scan at 31 August 2007. These are adjusted using the historical relationship between WPLS and GMS data to give an estimate of the final WPLS figure.
2. Caseloads are rounded to the nearest 10.
3. Households are those people who claim pension credit either for themselves only or on behalf of a household.
4. Parliamentary constituencies are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant postcode directory.
Source:
DWP 100 per cent. data from the Generalised Matching Service (GMS) Pension Credit scan taken as at 31 August 2007.
Pensions Service and the Disability and Carers Directorate
Tom Levitt: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he has taken to ensure that (a) families of disabled children and (b) disabled people of working age realise benefits from the proposed merger of the Pensions Service and the Disability and Carers Directorate of his Department. [184135]
Mrs. McGuire: Matters in respect of the Disability and Carers Service fall within the responsibility of the Acting Chief Executive of the Agency, Mrs. Vivien Hopkins. She will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Vivien Hopkins, dated 18 February 2008:
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to ensure that (a) families of disabled children and (b) disabled people of working age realise benefits from the proposed merger of the Pension Service and the Disability and Carers Service of his Department.
The Minister for Disabled People, Anne McGuire MP, promised you a substantive reply from the Acting Chief Executive of the Disability and Carers Service.
The creation of the new Agency will not of itself change the way in which DWP delivers services to its working age customers and children. Both the Disability and Carers Service and The Pension Service currently hold joint Board meetings with Jobcentre Plus and will continue this in the future, while pursuing even closer working to ensure a joined-up service to working age customers. The Disability and Carers Service has set in train work to look at improving services for disabled children and their families, and this will continue to be a priority.
I hope this reply is helpful.
Pensions: Anniversaries
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to mark the centenary of the introduction of the old age pension in the UK. [185448]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The introduction of the first state pension as an alternative to the Poor Law is something to be celebrated.
We plan to mark the centenary of the introduction of the state pension as a key element of the celebrations around the second UK Older People’s Day in October 2008.
Reinstatement of Deficiency Notices Programme
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will place in the Library a specimen copy of the letter sent by his Department in 2004-05 to women over pension age as part of the Reinstatement of Deficiency Notices Programme. [170570]
Mr. Plaskitt [holding answer 3 December 2007]: The information has been placed in the Library.
Shaw Trust
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the value was of the Provider Led Pathways to Work contract awarded to the Shaw Trust in Hampshire. [182930]
Mrs. McGuire [holding answer 28 January 2008]: The Shaw Trust were awarded a phase 2 Provider Led Pathways to Work contract for the Hampshire and Isle of Wright Jobcentre Plus district, which is worth a total indicative contract value of £18,260,000.
The Provider Led Pathways to Work contracts were let with the expectation of a certain contract value. However, actual contract expenditure may be greater or less than that expected value, dependent on customer volumes and the provider performance levels achieved.
Social Fund
John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when the Secretary of State will respond to the social fund review; and if he will make a statement. [183139]
Mr. Plaskitt: The discretionary social fund plays an important role in helping vulnerable people meet the costs of large items of expenditure; in 2006-07 over 2.6 million awards were made.
Operational aspects of the scheme are kept under review to meet our aims of improving delivery and effectiveness. We are also considering longer term reform of the budgeting loans scheme in the context of the Government’s wider financial inclusion strategy.
The Government’s financial inclusion action plan for 2008 to 2011 announced plans to conduct a feasibility study to look into whether the private and third sectors could be brought into partnership with the Government in delivering a reformed social fund budgeting loans scheme.
Social Security Benefits
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what pilots his Department and Jobcentre Plus have carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of online access to better off calculations; [181259]
(2) when better off calculations will be made available online; [181260]
(3) what training Jobcentre Plus staff will be given of the use of the online better off calculations software. [181261]
Mrs. McGuire: The “My DWP” project is delivering the first stage of a secure customer account on the internet, it will be accessible via the Directgov website. The initial release in spring 2008 will focus on customer inquiries and establishing the IT platform to enable further releases to follow as the DWP Change programme progresses. The next release planned for June will include online access to better off calculations.
To aid the design of the better off calculator, a cross section of citizens, ranging from jobseekers to pensioners were involved in the early customer engagement workshops during July 2007. Their feedback has been invaluable in informing the overall design. We continue our dialogue with our customers and front line staff to ensure that the new service will meet their needs.
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