| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
4 Jun 2008 : Column 1022W—continued
Rented Housing: Cambridge
David Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 15 May 2008, Official Report, column 1699W, on rented housing: Cambridge, if he will publish the information contained on the lettings information database for the Broad Market Rental Area within which Cambridge lies. [208360]
Mr. Plaskitt: The Rent Service is preparing the list of rents used for the setting of the local housing allowance (LHA) for all broad rental market areas (BRMA) across England in a format that will allow them to be published on the internet at:
https://lha-direct.therentservice.gov.uk/
These lists will be provided in a graphic format for ease of use and they will be updated monthly at the time of the LHA reviews. The current list for the BRMA that includes Cambridge is in the following table.
The Rent Service (TRS) is committed to collecting private rented sector rents through contacts with private landlords, lettings agents and other sources of lettings information who are representative of the local lettings market. TRS is also committed to collecting a range of lettings information across the whole market that is representative of rent, condition and property type within neighbourhoods across a BRMA.
| The broad rental market area including Cambridge | ||
| Local housing allowance category | Range of net rents (weekly) | Local housing allowance median (£) |
| Note: The table includes the range of lettings evidence, collected over a 12-month period that is used to calculate the LHA rates for the BRMA | ||
Social Security Benefits
Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the savings limits and tariff income rules are for each category of income-related benefit; and when those levels were last changed. [206691]
Mr. Plaskitt: The information is in the following table.
From 10 April 2006 the lower capital limit across income support, income.
based jobseeker's allowance, housing benefit and council tax benefit was increased from £3,000 to £6,000. At the same time, the upper capital limit for income support and income based jobseeker's allowance was increased to £16,000 from £8,000 in line with housing benefit and council tax benefit. The capital limit in pension credit has not changed since its introduction in October 2003.
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of the (a) number and (b) proportion of those entitled who do not take up benefit entitlements among (i) pensioners, (ii) working age families with children and (iii) working age families without children in (A) the UK, (B) each region and (C) each local authority area. [206771]
Mr. Plaskitt: Estimates of the number of those who do not take-up their entitlement to income-related benefits and the take-up rate, for various groups in Great Britain, are published in “Income Related Benefits Estimates of Take-Up in 2005-06” report. A copy of this and past reports are available in the Library.
Estimates of the number and proportion of those who do not take-up their entitlement are not available below the level of Great Britain. It is therefore not possible to give estimates for each region or local authority in the UK.
International Development
Departmental Pay
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much was paid in end-of-year performance bonuses to (a) all staff and (b) staff at senior civil service level in his Department in the 2007-08 financial year; and how many payments were made. [207487]
Gillian Merron: Department for International Development (DFID) senior civil service (SCS) members are eligible for a non-consolidated bonus award. Bonuses are intended to reward delivery of personal business objectives during the reporting year or other short-term personal contributions to wider organisational objectives. In considering SCS members for bonus, line managers are asked to take into account:
performance against agreed priority business objectives or targets;
total delivery record over the year;
relative stretch (i.e. the challenge of the job compared to that of others); and
response to unforeseen events that affected the performance agreement.
DFID paid a total of £504,000 in non-consolidated performance bonuses to 63 senior civil servants in the 2007-08 financial year in recognition of their performance during the 2006-07 reporting year.
DFID's reward arrangements for the 2007-08 financial year did not allow for the payment of end of year performance bonuses to staff below the senior civil service.
Iraq: Asylum
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate he has made of the number of Iraqi refugees in (a) Syria, (b) Lebanon, (c) Jordan and (d) Iran. [207687]
Mr. Malik: The Office of the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) leads on estimating Iraqi refugee numbers in the region. In their latest April-May situation report, they estimated the following:
Syria -1.2 to 1.5 million Iraqi refugees
Jordan - 450,000 to 500,000
Lebanon - 20,000 to 50,000
Iran - 57,000
UNHCR has registered some 280,000 refugees throughout the region, including 194,273 in Syria and 53,000 in Jordan.
Iraq: Overseas Aid
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what his Department spent on (a) bilateral and (b) multilateral aid to Iraq in each year since 1998. [207694]
Mr. Malik: Details of the Department for International Development's (DFID) bilateral assistance and imputed multilateral assistance to Iraq since 1998 is laid out in the following tables.
| Table 1: Total DFID Bilateral expenditure 2000-01 — 2006-07 | |
| Iraq (£000) | |
| Table 2: Imputed DFID Share of multilateral official development assistance (ODA) 2000-01 — 2006-07 | |
| Iraq (£000) | |
Uganda: Refugees
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether (a) he, (b) officials of his Department and (c) UK representatives in Uganda have had discussions with the government of Uganda on the closure of internally displaced persons' camps in Northern Uganda; and if he will make a statement. [207480]
Gillian Merron: During his visit to Uganda in November 2007, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, visited internally displaced persons’ (IDP) camps and held discussions on a range of issues regarding the return of people to their villages, or settlement in new locations.
The Government of Uganda has recently circulated to development partners its draft “Camp phase out guidelines for all districts that have IDP camps”. We and other partners have commented on the draft guidelines and made the point that the return of displaced persons should be voluntary and the displaced persons should actively participate in the planning of the return process as required under international law. These principals have been recognised in the draft guidelines.
Health
Autism: Finance
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how much funding was allocated to each English local authority to meet the costs of providing services to adults with autistic spectrum disorders in each of the last five reported years; and if he will make a statement; [206776]
(2) what financial support will be given to local authorities to help meet the cost of supporting projected numbers of adults diagnosed with autistic
spectrum disorders in each of the next three years; and if he will make a statement. [206781]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: We do not hold information centrally on allocated funding to each English local authority (LA) to meet the costs of providing services to adults with autistic spectrum disorders.
It is for LAs to determine the level of funding for the next three years from their general allocations. In doing this, they should take into consideration locally identified needs and assessments of individuals.
Benzodiazepines
Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on routine prescribing of benzodiazepines on admission to psychiatric wards. [208543]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department has not commissioned research into the prescription of benzodiazepines on admission to psychiatric wards.
Benzodiazepines: Misuse
Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what statistics his Department collects on the number of patients experiencing benzodiazepine withdrawal but diagnosed with a psychological disorder. [208542]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The information requested is not held centrally.
Cannabis: Mentally Ill
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what research he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on potential links between cannabis use and psychosis; [206005]
(2) how many people are being treated in each primary care trust for psychosis arising from regular cannabis use. [206006]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department’s Policy Research Programme (PRP) has funded a review of the most recent evidence concerning both the impact the use of cannabis has on people with mental health problems, in particular severe mental illness, and effective interventions aimed at reducing such use. The results of the review were published in the Lancet in July 2007 and were available to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs when it recently reviewed the issue of classification.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |