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2 Jun 2008 : Column 568W—continued
Amendment Papers: Internet
Mr. Amess: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission if he will take steps to ensure that all amendments to Bills are published on the Parliamentary internet site before 8:30 am on days on which those bills are to be considered in Committee or at report stage; and if he will make a statement. [207188]
Nick Harvey:
The present agreement with the electronic services provider to the House allows for up to eight amendment papers to be published progressively on the internet site between 7.30 am and 9.30 am, with any remaining amendment papers published progressively thereafter. The agreement recognises that not everything can be published at the same time without incurring disproportionate costs, but does allow for publishing according to priorities set by the House. Amendment papers relating to committee or report stage for bills to be considered on the day of publication of the amendment paper are given priority. While it is not possible under the agreement to guarantee that any particular amendment paper in this category will be published by 8.30 am, an
examination of the records of uploading times since January 2008 reveals that in fact 70 per cent. of all amendment papers published in the period, including those for future days, were made available on the parliamentary website before 8.30 am. As a recent example, the amendment paper for the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill for Monday 19 May, for consideration that day in Committee of the Whole House, was published on the website at 7.37 am.
Members: Allowances
Mr. Winnick: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission if he will make a statement on the High Court decision in relation to the details of hon. Members' allowances; whether a further appeal is planned against the decision; and how much has been spent on legal and tribunal proceedings in relation to disclosure of hon. Members' allowances since the commencement of the matter. [207071]
Nick Harvey: The House has decided not to seek leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal against the judgment of the divisional court of 16 May 2008. The cost of this litigation up to 20 May 2008 is £82,673. This figure includes charges up to that date not yet invoiced to the House of Commons. There may be further charges.
The House has been ordered to pay the costs of the other litigants. The final figure is not yet established, but court has ordered payment of an interim figure of £39,363.
The breakdown of figures including VAT for other FOI cases related to Members' expenses and allowances charged to the House of Commons as at 30 April 2008 comprise:
| £ | |
Although additional charges may be made to these latter accounts, they are unlikely to rise significantly beyond this total. Within these figures, the legal cost of the tribunal case in February 2007 relating to travel expenses has been given as £17,232 as announced in my previous answer on 28 February 2007, Official Report, column 1374W.
Members: Home Addresses
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission whether incoming mail for hon. Members will continue to be screened at the House after the home addresses of hon. Members have been published; what arrangements will be made to screen incoming mail sent directly to hon. Members' home addresses (a) at those addresses and (b) at the House after re-routing; what estimate he has made of the costs of such screening arrangements; and if he will make a statement. [207442]
Nick Harvey: All incoming mail for hon. Members will continue to be comprehensively screened prior to arrival at the House. Any additional screening would incur some extra cost.
Work and Pensions
Departmental Work
16. Mr. Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the potential for decentralising departmental work to local offices otherwise planned for closure. [208035]
Mr. Timms: In reviewing our network of local offices, we have in a number of cases identified opportunities for decentralisation and implemented them. We have not been willing, however, to decentralise work merely to keep sites open; our key concern is to improve both efficiency and service quality.
Disabled Employees
17. Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to encourage employers to employ those with disabilities. [208036]
Mrs. McGuire: We have already done a great deal to improve employment opportunities for disabled people. The Disability Discrimination Act requires an employer not to discriminate against disabled people who work for them or who apply for a job.
However, we want to do more to encourage employers to increase employment opportunities for disabled people.
As part of our employer engagement strategy, we are working with a number of employers and other organisations to overcome the barriers that disabled people face in getting and keeping jobs.
Pensioner Poverty
18. Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of pensioners in poverty. [208037]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: In 1996-97, 2.9 million pensioners were living in relative poverty, after housing costs. Measures such as pension credit have helped reduce this number by over a million to 1.8 million in 2005-06. I have today placed in the Library a fact sheet containing projections of entitlement to pension credit, and other income-related benefits, up to 2050.
Social Fund
21. Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the operation of the social fund. [208040]
Mr. Plaskitt: We continue to modernise and improve the social fund. Since April 2003, investment has been increased by £300 million. Over the last year, over 2.8 million discretionary loans and grants were awarded, to the value of £770 million.
We are currently exploring ways to achieve a radical reform of the budgeting loans scheme.
New Deal
22. Martin Linton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the merits of extending the new deal for musicians. [208041]
Mr. Timms: From October next year, the flexible new deal will replace today’s mandatory new deals, including new deal for musicians. Flexible new deal providers will be free to incorporate elements of new deal for musicians if this is the best way to address a jobseeker’s individual needs. Ahead of that, we are reviewing plans for new deal for musicians.
Lone Parents
Mr. Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent steps he has taken to increase the support available to lone parents in work. [208019]
Mr. Timms: Sustainability in employment is vital in helping individuals move into jobs. We are providing additional support for working lone parents including, since April, the national roll out of In Work Credit, an In Work Discretion Fund and In Work Advisory Support.
The availability of affordable child care is also vital to enabling sustained parental employment. Since 1997, the Government have invested over £21 billion on early years and child care from around £1.2 billion in 1997-98 to around £4.4 billion in 2005-06.
Minimum Income Guarantee
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of pensioners who will be subject to means-testing for the minimum income guarantee in 2050. [208025]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Our reforms make the state pension a much stronger platform with better coverage. As a result the proportion of pensioner households entitled to guarantee credit is projected to drop from 30 per cent. today to 15 per cent. in 2050.
Foreign Nationals: Employment
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many foreign nationals were employed in the UK in the last quarter for which figures are available. [208026]
Mr. Timms: There were 2.3 million foreign nationals in employment in the first quarter of this calendar year, around 8 per cent. of the record number of people in work.
Barclays Bank
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many contracts his Department had with Barclays Bank in each year since 1997; and what the value of those contracts was. [205487]
Mr. Plaskitt: Since 1999 the Department has had a contract with Barclays Bank plc for the provision of the Government procurement card. As the Department settles its monthly account within the agreed timescale, there are no fees associated with this contract.
Child Support Agency: Correspondence
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when the Child Support Agency will respond to the hon. Member for Cotswold's communications on his constituent Carol Rendell, case 323964324523. [199566]
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 2 June 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 when the Child Support Agency would respond to your communications on your constituent, Carol Rendell, case 323964324523. [199566]
As details about individual cases are confidential, I have written to you separately about this case.
Children: Maintenance
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department is taking to improve the exchange of information between the Child Support Agency and HM Revenue and Customs in relation to the assessment of child maintenance entitlement and payments. [206098]
Mr. Plaskitt [holding answer 16 May 2008]: Current legislation allows for the disclosure by HMRC of information needed for any of a number of child support purposes, including to enable the assessment/calculation of child maintenance liabilities. The Child Support Agency continues to work day to day with HMRC and has recently agreed an enhanced process for the exchange of national insurance contributions information when required by the Agency. This is in addition to HMRC's powers to disclose information relating to the earnings of self-employed non-resident parents and information held for the purposes of functions relating to tax credits or child benefit.
Both Departments are currently working together in preparation for the move to base maintenance assessments on HMRC data as proposed in the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill.
Children: Poverty
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many children were in absolute low-income households in each year since 1997; and what proportion of all children these figures represented in each such year, broken down by age. [204648]
Mr. Timms: The most common measure of low income used to capture poverty is individuals living in households with an income below 60 per cent. of contemporary median income, adjusted to take account of family size and composition. Analysis of low-income households can be found in the annual National Statistics publication Households Below Average Income (HBAI).
The Government's preferred measure of absolute low income poverty is defined as being in a household with a household income of less than 60 per cent. of the 1998-99 median income held constant in real terms.
Available information is shown in the following tables.
Children have been split by age into four age bands. This is in line with the age breakdown presented in the HBAI publication.
| Table 2: Number of children in absolute low income households (after housing costs) | ||
| Coverage | Number of children (millions) | |
| Source: Households Below Average Income, 1997-98 to 2005-06 | ||
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