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31 Mar 2008 : Column 543W—continued

Local Housing Allowance

16. Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has for the implementation of the local housing allowance. [197205]

Mr. Plaskitt: The local housing allowance will roll out nationally from 7 April 2008 to all tenants who make a new claim for housing benefit in the de-regulated private rented sector.

It has already been successfully implemented and evaluated in 18 local authorities. The results of this evaluation have been extremely positive.

We have undertaken to review all aspects of the local housing allowance over the first two years of the scheme.

National Insurance Numbers

17. Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make it his policy to allocate national insurance numbers to people who are discovered to have been trafficked into the UK. [197206]

Mr. Timms: Trafficked people who have been granted leave to enter or remain in the UK, and have access to work or benefits, will be eligible to apply for a national insurance number.

18. Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many migrant workers have been given national insurance numbers in (a) Northamptonshire and (b) England in the last three years. [197207]

Mr. Timms: Figures are available only for the last two years. In 2005-06, 8,400 national insurance numbers were issued to adult foreign nationals in Northamptonshire and 578,840 in England. In 2006-07, 8,170 numbers were issued in Northamptonshire and 614,780 in England.

Pensioner Benefits

19. Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department is taking to increase take-up of benefit entitlements by pensioners. [197208]


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Mr. Mike O'Brien: We want every pensioner to claim the benefits they are entitled to which is why we have made claiming more straightforward. From October claims for state pension, pension credit, housing benefit and council tax benefit can be made in one phone call with no forms to fill in and we are always looking at ways to make the application process simpler. As part of our drive to increase take up, I recently launched a communication campaign to target specific areas where take-up of entitlements is low. The campaign will explore partnership opportunities with Help the Aged, Age Concern, Citizens Advice and other partners.

21. John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he plans to take to enable pensioners to take up their benefit entitlements. [197211]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: We want every pensioner to claim the benefits they are entitled to which is why we have made claiming more straightforward. From October claims for state pension, pension credit, housing benefit and council tax benefit can be made in one phone call with no forms to fill in and we are always looking at ways to make the application process simpler.

Child Support Agency

22. Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost of the Child Support Agency was in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [197212]

Mr. Plaskitt: The cost of running the Child Support Agency for the 12 months to March 2007 was £520.3 million. In this period the Agency collected and arranged £898.1 million in maintenance payments benefiting almost 642,000 children.

Carers Allowances

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost to the public purse would be of not offsetting carer's allowance against (a) the basic state pension and (b) other benefits. [195309]

Mr. Plaskitt: After adjusting for offsets in income-related benefits and pension credit, the estimated cost of exempting all pensioners with entitlement to carer's allowance from the overlapping benefits rule would be around £310 million.

This estimate does not take account of carers presently not claiming carer's allowance who might be encouraged to do so by a change in the rules.

The estimated cost of exempting all those of working age with entitlement to carer's allowance from the overlapping benefits rule after adjusting for offsets in income-related benefits would be around £90 million.

Child Support

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 20 March 2008, Official Report, column 1393W, on child support, how much and what proportion of debt was collected in each year. [197350]


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Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is the matter for the chief executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.

Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 31 March 2008:

Child Support Agency: Correspondence

Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the procedures are for the Child Support Agency to make electronic copies of correspondence (a) received and (b) sent by it. [195836]

Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is the matter for the chief executive.

He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.

Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 31 March 2008:

Child Support Agency: ICT

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 5 March 2008, Official Report, column 2591 on IT projects, what the (a) start date, (b) original planned completion date, (c) current expected completion date, (d) planned cost and (e) current estimated cost is for the Child Support Agency Operational Improvement Plan, including IT elements; and if he will make a statement. [194128]


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Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is the matter for the chief executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.

Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 31 March 2008:

Departmental Pay

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the 24-hour overnight allowance for his Department’s civil servants based outside London is when working in London. [197343]

Mrs. McGuire: The 24-hour overnight allowances payable to DWP employees is a national rate and therefore the same whether employees are working in London or in any other part of the country.

Applicable rates are as follows:

Actual costs for accommodation and breakfast booked via the hotel booking agent. When not booked via the agent, costs must be supported by a receipt and are limited to £45(1).

In addition, a flat rate amount of £21 is payable to cover the cost of lunch, evening meal and any incidental travel(2). In exceptional circumstances, actual costs for meals and incidental travel is paid if expenses are incurred above the flat rate. Receipts will be required in these circumstances

If the individual chooses to stay with friends or relatives, then a night subsistence allowance of £25 is payable for each day.

Additionally, £5 per night is paid to cover personal incidental expenses such as newspapers or phone calls home.


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Departmental Publications

Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what documents his Department, its associated agencies and non departmental bodies translate for people in the UK who do not speak English. [197587]

Mrs. McGuire: The Department for Work and Pensions translates a range of documents into other languages, as determined by each of the individual businesses and services. We have a range of policies to guide them, such as the Ethnic Language Standard, Welsh Language Scheme, Welsh Language Standard and our interpretation policy, which are based on legislation and best practice. When requested to do so by our customers, the Department is also required to provide customers with specific and personal communications, such as letters, in their preferred language.

The Department for Work and Pensions and non departmental bodies also produce all publications and services bilingually in English and Welsh, as both languages are treated equally under the Welsh Language Act.

Employment Benefits: Greater London

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people were in receipt of (a) one and (b) more than one work-related benefit in (i) London and (ii) each London borough in each of the last 10 years. [195902]

Mr. Plaskitt: The information is not available in the format requested. The available information about out-of-work benefits has been placed in the Library.

Employment: Sight Impaired

Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many registered blind people of working age there are in (a) each region and (b) Bolton, South-East constituency. [195533]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: I have been asked to reply.

The following table shows the number of working-age people registered as blind or partially sighted, broken down by region. Figures broken down into constituencies are not held centrally.

The numbers have been rounded to the nearest five.


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Number of people aged 18 to 64 (as at 31 March 2006)
Registered as:
Blind Partially sighted

England

33,420

29,310

North East

1,700

1,740

North West

5,350

5,240

Yorkshire and The Humber

4,490

3,490

East Midlands

2,780

2,375

West Midlands

3,665

3,335

South West

2,915

2,430

Eastern

2,925

2,915

London

5,335

3,950

South East

4,150

3,765

Note: Registration onto the blind and partially sighted register is voluntary. Registration is not, however, a pre-requisite for certain social services concessions and this factor, combined with uncertainties about the regularity with which the councils review and update their records, makes it difficult to assign a degree of reliability to these registers.

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