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6 Mar 2008 : Column 2826W—continued
| Provisional shared room rate in the local housing allowance pathfinder areas from April 2008 | ||
| Pathfinder a rea | Broad rental market areas | Shared room rate ( £ per week) |
| Note: Figures rounded to the nearest 1. | ||
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many localities were in operation in relation to the local reference rent as at April 2007; and how many broad market rent areas will be in operation from April 2008. [188060]
Mr. Plaskitt: From April 2007 there were 440 local reference rent localities and from April 2008 there will be 188 broad rental market areas.
Shropshire
Daniel Kawczynski:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the value was of each grant provided by his Department, its associated agencies and non-departmental public bodies to (a) Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council, (b) Shropshire County Council and (c) Telford and the Wrekin Borough Council in (i)
2006-07 and (ii) 2007-08; and what grants have been planned for 2008-09. [184097]
Mr. Plaskitt:
Details of the grants provided for Shrewsbury and Atcham borough council and Telford and Wrekin borough council by DWP in 2006-07, 2007-08 are recorded in the following table. Figures have also been supplied for those grants that have so far been allocated for 2008-09. The grants consist of housing benefit (HB) administration subsidy and discretionary housing payments which are based on a
specific formula, local housing allowance roll out, HB performance standards funding and HB Data scan funding. The table excludes benefit expenditure.
We are unable to provide information on grants supplied by the Department’s agencies and non-departmental public bodies. This information is not held centrally and is held by the bodies themselves. We are also unable to provide figures for Shropshire county council as they do not administer housing benefit therefore they receive no HB grants from DWP.
| £ | ||||
| LA | G rant | 2006- 07 | 2007- 08 | 2008- 09 |
Social Security Benefits: Employment
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department is taking to allow people to move from unemployment to work without losing income. [187312]
Mr. Timms: The design of the tax and benefits system ensures that in the majority of circumstances individuals are financially better off in work. Our plans for building on our successful welfare to work policies are set out in Ready for work: full employment in our generation, which is available in the Library.
This includes the introduction of our new Better off in Work Credit which will allow us to assure qualifying customers that if they move into full-time employment their income from work, including in-work benefits, will be at least £25 a week more than the income they received from out of work benefits.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what discussions he has had with Ministerial colleagues at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform about the role of employers in relation to Government policy to move benefit claimants into employment. [190334]
Mr. Timms: I talk regularly with my ministerial colleagues at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform on subjects of mutual interest. Employers have an important role to play in opening up job opportunities to benefit claimants and influencing the design of employment and skills policies to ensure they accurately respond to the needs of the local labour market.
For example, Local Employment Partnerships aim to secure a stronger commitment from employers to recruit from those who face the greatest barriers to finding work.
Social Security Benefits: Recipients
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people have received benefits meant for another person, excluding cases of fraud, in each of the last 10 years. [189310]
Mr. Plaskitt: The information requested is not available.
Social Security Benefits: Spain
Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the oral answer of 18 February 2008, Official Report, column 16, what the evidential basis is for his statement that UK citizens retiring to Spain have the same access to social services as people from other parts of the EU retiring to the UK. [190596]
Mr. Plaskitt: As in the UK, when a person moves to live in another member state, access to social services will depend on what services are available in the member state of residence and national legislation.
European nationals who move to live in another member state, such as UK citizens retiring to Spain, can access the social security systems of their new state of residence on the basis of rights laid down in European legislation, such as the European social security coordinating regulations.
State Retirement Pensions: Females
Mr. David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many women receive reduced pensions having paid the married woman’s stamp; what steps he is taking to help women adversely affected as a result of reduced pension payments; and if he will make a statement. [181211]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Basic pension entitlements for women who paid national insurance contributions at the married women’s reduced rate at some point in their working lives are shown in the following table.
Women who elected to pay reduced rate contributions were able to revoke their elections at any time. Leaflet NI 1 — “National Insurance for Married Women” went to great lengths to make it clear that married women who chose to pay reduced-rate contributions would not qualify for national insurance entitlements, including retirement pension. Married
women opting to pay reduced-rate contributions were required to sign a declaration on a form attached to NI1 that they had read and understood the leaflet.
There are no current plans to take steps to alter the level of pensions which they acquired as a result of this choice.
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