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2 Apr 2008 : Column 929Wcontinued
Mr. Pickles:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will place
in the Library a copy of each report on the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund prepared by each of the Government Offices for the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit. [193774]
John Healey: Government Offices do not systematically prepare such reports, although information on the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund may form part of Local Strategic Partnership reporting.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what contracts were awarded by his Department to (a) KPMG, (b) PricewaterhouseCoopers, (c) Ernst and Young, (d) McKinsey, (e) Deloitte and (f) other consultancy firms in each of the last 12 months; and what the (i) purpose and (ii) value was of each of these contracts. [196578]
Mr. Timms: Contracts awarded to the suppliers (a) to (e) are listed in the following table. Details of contracts awarded to other consultancy firms (f) can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people received incapacity benefits or severe disablement allowance on the grounds of dependency on (a) drugs and (b) alcohol in each year since 1997 for which information is available. [185923]
Mrs. McGuire: The Governments drugs strategy was published on 27 February 2008. It stresses the need for the benefit system to support re-integration and personalisation. We will ensure that it provides the right level of support, and also creates incentives for people with drug problems to move towards treatment.
We will put in place arrangements which require drugs misusers on benefits who are not already in treatment to attend a discussion with an appropriate specialist treatment provider or partner organisation.
Entitlement to incapacity benefit is not linked to any specific diagnosis or condition. Entitlement, which is assessed by the personal capability assessment, depends on the effect that a persons condition has on their ability to carry out a number of activities relevant to work. Most people with drug or alcohol dependency also have other conditions, such as mental illness; and it is these other conditions which result in entitlement to benefits.
We do record the diagnosis of incapacity that is written on a claimants medical certificate. The table shows the number of people receiving incapacity benefits whose recorded diagnosis includes drug or alcohol dependency.
Working age incapacity benefit/severe disablement allowance claims which includes a recorded diagnosis of alcoholism or drug abuse from the claimant s medical certificate. | ||||
Number as of May: | Alcoholism | Drug abuse | Alcoholism as proportion of caseload | Drug Abuse as proportion of caseload |
Notes: 1. May 1997 to May 1999 (inclusive) numbers are uprated to WPLS totals and rounded to the nearest hundred. 2. May 2000 to May 2007 (inclusive) numbers are rounded to the nearest 10. 3. Totals may not sum due to rounding. 4. May 1997 to May 1999 (inclusive) numbers are based on a 5 per cent. sample, and are therefore subject to a degree of sampling variation. 5. These figures should be used as a guide to the current situation only. 6. Causes of incapacity are based on the International Classification of Diseases, 10(th) Revision, published by the World Health Organisation. Source: DWP Information Directorate 5 per cent. sample and 100 per cent. Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study |
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether all registered blind people are required to undertake a personal capability assessment. [195534]
Mr. Timms: Registered blind people are treated as meeting the threshold of incapacity for benefit purposes and are exempt from the personal capability assessment process.
New arrangements will apply when the work capability assessment for the Employment and Support Allowance is introduced in October this year.
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many litres of bottled water were purchased by his Department in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [191249]
Mrs. McGuire: The Department for Work and Pensions currently has a single contract to supply DWP offices with water coolers, bottled water and associated services and equipment. Bottled water may also be provided for business meetings but is sourced from a variety of contracts and is not accounted for separately.
From April 2006 to March 2007, DWP purchased 3.4 million litres of bottled water. So far this year, from April 2007 to January 2008, DWP has purchased 2.9 million litres. Information prior to these dates is not available.
DWP is committed to phase out the use of bottled water for all business meetings and replace it with tap water. We are aiming to have this process in place by the summer of 2008.
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