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4 Jun 2008 : Column 1016W—continued
Sports: Drugs
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether the plans for the establishment of a National Anti-Doping Agency referred to in his Department’s Corporate Plan have been approved. [208221]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Plans for the new National Anti-Doping Organisation (NADO) remain under discussion between the Department and UK Sport.
World Creative Business Summit
Mr. Hunt:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when the World Creative Business summit steering group will be established; and when
the first world creative business summit will take place. [207781]
Margaret Hodge [holding answer 2 June 2008]: In our strategy for the creative economy, ‘Creative Britain: New Talents for the New Economy’, published in February 2008, we announced that we would initiate the launch of the World Creative Business Conference.
We have now appointed an events agency (Acclaim) and a public relations agency (Edelman) to help fulfil this commitment. There are currently no plans to set up a steering group.
Our intention is that the first World Creative Business Conference should take place in late 2009.
Northern Ireland
Departmental Written Questions
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many days it took on average to answer written parliamentary questions tabled by each hon. Member for answer by him in the last six months. [201765]
Paul Goggins: The Northern Ireland Office received 379 questions since the start of this Session (up to Friday 25 April). The average time taken to answer a question over that period was 6.3 days.
Work and Pensions
Benefits: Expenditure
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how much his Department paid in jobseekers allowance in each year since 1997, broken down by (a) constituency, (b) local authority and (c) Government Office region; [203280]
(2) how much his Department paid in incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance in each year since 1997, broken down by (a) constituency, (b) local authority and (c) Government Office region; [203281]
(3) how much his Department paid in income support to working age households in each year since 1997, broken down by (a) constituency, (b) local authority and (c) Government Office region; [203282]
(4) how much his Department paid in out-of-work benefits in each year since 1997, broken down by (a) constituency, (b) local authority and (c) Government Office region. [203285]
Mr. Plaskitt: Information on expenditure by constituency and local authority could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
The available national and regional information has been placed in the Library.
Children: Support
Kate Hoey:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) for what reasons the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission will be
required to obtain court permission to confiscate driving licences; [206871]
(2) what reasons the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission will be able to confiscate travel documents of non-payers of child support on its own authority. [206858]
Mr. Plaskitt: Disqualification from driving for failure to pay statutory maintenance is an established part of the child maintenance enforcement process and there has been wide agreement that the surrender of a passport, or in some cases the travel element of an ID card, would be a useful tool to gain compliance from some non-resident parents.
The Child Maintenance White Paper in December 2006 said that we were exploring whether to make disqualification from driving and the surrender of travel documents an administrative process and these options were seriously considered. However, we have acknowledged concerns raised in relation to passports during the passage of the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill that these should not be administrative measures.
Subject to passage of the Bill, the Commission will be able to apply to the court to disqualify the non-resident parent from holding or obtaining a travel authorisation or from driving.
However, we want the Commission to be able to vigorously pursue those who are not discharging their legal and moral duties to support their children and we will continue to explore whether these decisions need to be made by the court or could be more effectively made administratively.
Citizens Advice Bureaux
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what resources his Department makes available to Citizens Advice Bureaux to provide benefits advice and debt advice. [206770]
Mrs. McGuire: My Department does not core fund the Citizens Advice organisation, or other advice agencies, but we do work very closely with Citizens Advice to provide their advisers with information about the services that my Department delivers. This includes a quarterly magazine and information on our advisers website, and we also help quality assure information they make available to their advisers through their CABnet information system.
At agency level, Jobcentre Plus has a Partnership Agreement with Citizens Advice, and they are a key partner for the Pensions, Disability and Carers Services in work around pension credit take-up.
We do on occasion provide funding for specific initiatives that support the Department’s aims and objectives. Most recently, £1.65 million in funding was provided to 24 bureaux, for the period March 2005 to February 2007, from the Department’s Partnership Fund, which was aimed at encouraging initiatives to support the take up of pension credit.
Departmental Data Protection
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to prevent security breaches in his Department. [206675]
Mr. Timms [holding answer 19 May 2008]: The Department takes its responsibilities for the protection of personal data extremely seriously, and has in place a number of technical safeguards, rules, and clear standards of behaviour for all staff. These are designed to protect all assets, including information. They are regularly reviewed in the light of events.
On 21 November 2007, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced that he had asked the Cabinet Secretary to work with Departments to ensure that they check their procedures for the storage and use of data.
Since then the Department has worked closely with the Cabinet Office, and has already implemented a number of improved controls to reduce the risk of security breaches. Particular improvements include increased staff awareness of information risks; new controls over the physical movement of personal data; encryption of all laptop computers; introduction of encrypted media where data movements cannot be made electronically; and new IT controls which prevent staff who handle personal customer data from copying onto unencrypted media.
Jobcentre Plus: Dorset
Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many customers in Dorset and Somerset used the out-of-hours service that Jobcentre Plus operates on behalf of his Department in each of the last six months for which figures are available. [206553]
Mr. Timms [holding answer 19 May 2008]: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. I have asked her to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 4 June 2008:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions about the number of customers in Dorset and Somerset who used the Out of Hours Service that Jobcentre Plus operates on behalf of his Department in each of the last six months for which figures are available. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Since October 2007 there have been 203 referrals to the Out of Hours Service in Dorset and Somerset. Of these referrals 88 were ‘effective’, i.e. resulted in a visit because they were appropriate referrals.
The information available is set out in the table below.
| Referrals | Visits | Percentage of calls resulting in visit | |
| Source: Collected locally by South West Out of Hours Service and this format may not be compatible with information collected by other Out of Hours offices. | |||
Since the Out of Hours Service was established we have radically changed the way we deliver our services. There is now easier access to Crisis Loans and efficient telephony channels for customers to resolve any problems with benefit and pension claims. The introduction of direct payment into bank accounts has almost eliminated the non-receipt/loss of benefit payments. These changes have dramatically reduced the need for Out of Hours emergency payments, especially during the week. As a result, with effect from 12 May 2008, the Out of Hours Service is now only available at weekends, statutory holidays and when there are exceptional circumstances resulting in an office closure.
Jobcentre Plus: Working Hours
Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people used the out-of-hours service that Jobcentre Plus operates on behalf of his Department during week-day evenings in the last six months for which figures are available. [206554]
Mr. Timms [holding answer 19 May 2008]: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. I have asked her to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 4 June 2008:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking how many people used the Out of Hours Service that Jobcentre Plus operates on behalf of his Department during week-day evenings in the last six months for which figures are available. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
As management information collected on Out of Hours Service may not have been consistent across offices, a three month sampling exercise was undertaken as part of the review of the Out of Hours Service. It was found during this period that on average 556 calls were made nationally to the Out of Hours Service which resulted in an average of 242 visits being made to customers each week. The proportion of these calls that occurred between Monday to Thursday was 15% which equates to an average of 40 visits to customers per week.
New Deal Schemes
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what estimate he has made of the number of exemptions from the New Deal in each year since 1997; [203276]
(2) for what reasons a person may be exempted from the New Deal. [203277]
Mr. Timms: No estimate has been made of the number of exemptions from the New Deal since 1997 as this information is not recorded by the Department. The only exemptions from New Deal are those who request an exemption from being designated as part of a joint claim for Jobseeker's Allowance. For example, if one member of the couple is: responsible for a child or young person; a carer; studying full-time; incapable of work through illness or disability; living in a care home; registered blind; incapable of work because of pregnancy; a refugee learning English; required to attend a court or tribunal as part of the proceedings; or involved in a trade dispute, only one member of the couple would need to meet the conditions for them to receive the couple rate of Jobseeker's Allowance. The other member would be a 'dependant partner'. In this scenario, only the member of the couple required to meet the Jobseeker's Allowance conditions would be required to participate in New Deal.
The number of customers excluded from New Deal for Young People and New Deal 25 Plus is estimated to be approximately eight in every 1,000 participants. Figures to August 2007 show that around 7,040 customers (0.4 per cent. of a total of 1,725,000 participants) have been excluded from New Deal for Young People since the programme began in January 1998; and around 16,050 customers (1.6 per cent. of a total of 1,033,500 participants) have been excluded from New Deal 25 Plus since the programme began in July 1998.
Customers are excluded from New Deal when their behaviour (which may include verbal or physical assault, threat of assault, or intentional damage to property) poses major difficulties to Jobcentre Plus staff. Managers have the discretion to exclude participants from New Deal if they feel their presence would cause disruption to others. In this instance, every effort is made to refer such customers to organisations who may be able to help them tackle their problem, or to discuss with them whether Jobseeker's Allowance is the appropriate benefit. The circumstances of the small number of participants who have been excluded are reviewed regularly and, where these change, participants can be brought back in to New Deal at the point at which they left.
Occupational Pensions
Mr. Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many companies have appealed against decisions on the amount of their annual contribution to the Pension Protection Fund for 2008-09; how many of those appeals have been successful; and what the average amount by which a contribution has been reduced following a successful appeal is. [208421]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Information in relation to the levy year 2008-09 is not available, as invoices for the pension protection levy will not be issued until later this year.
Pathways to Work
Greg Mulholland:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many participants in Pathways
to Work are aged (a) under 50 and (b) 50 years and over. [208277]
Mr. Timms: Estimates for the number of participants on Pathways to Work are not available.
To October 2007 there have been 733,740 starts to Pathways to Work. Of these starts around 527,000 (72 per cent.) relate to customers who were under the age of 50 at the start of their Pathways to Work spell, around 193,000 (26 per cent.) relate to people over 50, and age information is not recorded for around 14,000 (2 per cent.) of starts.
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