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13 Jun 2008 : Column 617W—continued
A second Jobcentre Plus office in Sunley House provides Social Fund services to customers across the South East by telephone or by post. A total of 63 staff are employed there; 41 of these are permanent staff and 22 are employed on either casual or fixed term contracts which are due to end in December 2008.
We have now acquired sufficient space to house the Sunley House operations in Bowback House, Milton Keynes. We plan to move Social Fund work from Sunley House to Milton Keynes Benefit Delivery Centre by 31 March 2009.
All Social Fund staff in Sunley House will be given the opportunity to redeploy to Milton Keynes Benefit Delivery Centre and will be given advice and support to help them decide whether this is what they wish to do, including the option of trying out working in Milton Keynes on a temporary detached duty basis. A number of staff have already successfully transferred to Milton Keynes. Staff will also be able to apply for other DWP vacancies at Aylesbury Jobcentre.
Departmental Computers
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he has issued guidance to staff in his Department to switch off personal computers when not in use; and if he will make a statement. [208092]
Mr. Timms: The Department has issued guidance telling staff to switch off PCs, monitors and all peripherals at night, at weekends and during the day when staff leave their desks for a meeting or for lunch.
Employment and Support Allowance
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much he estimates will be spent on each type of employment and support allowance in each of the next five years. [209311]
Mr. Timms [holding answer 6 June 2008]: Employment and support allowance expenditure forecasts split by the Work Related Activity Group and the Support Group are not available. The following table presents estimates of total employment and support allowance expenditure covering the Government's spending plan period up to 2010-11.
| Employment and support allowance: estimated benefit expenditure | |||
| £ million, nominal terms | |||
| 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 | |
| Notes: 1. The estimates of employment and support allowance are also available on the DWP website through the following link: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd4/expenditure.asp 2. Employment and support allowance will be introduced in October 2008. 3. Figures are rounded to the nearest £10 million. Components may not sum to totals due to rounding. | |||
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many claimants he expects there to be of employment and support allowance in each of the next five years, broken down by type of employment and support allowance. [209691]
Mr. Timms: Employment and Support Allowance caseload forecasts split by the Work Related Activity Group and the Support Group are not available. However, we expect some 10 per cent. of new Employment and Support Allowance customers to be placed in the Support Group, rising to at least 20 per cent. in the future Employment and Support Allowance stock. Information about estimates of total Employment and Support Allowance caseloads to the end of the Government’s spending plans are in the following table.
| Employment and support allowance: estimated benefit caseload | |
| Number (thousand) | |
| Notes: 1. The estimates of employment and support allowance combined with incapacity benefit caseloads are also available on the DWP website through the following link: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd4/expenditure.asp 2. Employment and support allowance will be introduced in October 2008. 3. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10,000. | |
Employment: Hearing Impaired
Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps the Department is taking to enable deaf people to remain in or return to work. [208157]
Mr. Timms: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave the hon. Member for Romsey (Sandra Gidley) on 12 May 2008, Official Report, column 1301W.
Jobcentre Plus: Dorset
Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) crisis loans, (b) interim payments of pension and (c) interim payments of benefits were paid to Jobcentre Plus customers in Dorset and Somerset through the out-of-hours service in the last six months for which information is available. [206552]
Mr. Plaskitt: 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 Mel Groves dated 13 June 2008:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about the number of crisis loans, interim payments of pension and interim payments of benefits which were paid to Jobcentre Plus customers in Dorset and Somerset in the last six months for which information is available. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to Ms Strathie as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus. I am replying in her absence as Acting Chief Executive.
There is no national requirement to collate data relating to the number of crisis loans received on an area by area basis.
However since 1 November 2007 a total of 56,595 Crisis Loan applications were received by the Social Fund Benefit Delivery Centre at Bristol which has responsibility for the South West area, including Dorset and Somerset.
A total of 29,164 crisis loan applications were successful and received payment for the period 1 December 2007 to 31 March 2008 (data for November 2007 and April 2008 is unavailable). It is not possible to advise what proportion of these figures relates to Dorset and Somerset.
Similarly, there is no national requirement to collate data relating to the number of interim payments made.
However both the benefit delivery centres responsible for Dorset and Somerset do retain some data for their own analytical purposes. The benefit delivery centre at Exeter made 24 interim payments in the last six months comprising income support, jobseeker's allowance and incapacity benefit. The benefit delivery centre at Chippenham made a total of six, comprising income support and jobseeker's allowance.
Jobcentre Plus offices in Dorset and Somerset do make counter payments on behalf of The Pension Service but these are made due to late payments and are not interim payments of pension.
Jobseekers Allowance
Mr. Frank Field:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many 18 to 24 year olds have spent more than (a) one, (b) two, (c) three, (d) four
and (e) five or more years, not necessarily continuously in each case, claiming jobseekers allowance. [209701]
Mr. Plaskitt [holding answer 9 June 2008]: The information requested is not available.
Members: Correspondence
Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he will reply to the letter of 25 February 2008 from the right hon. Member for Banff and Buchan on a constituent, Mrs Hewitson of Peterhead. [207209]
Mrs. McGuire: A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 6 June 2008.
New Deal Schemes
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) people, (b) young people, (c) lone parents, (d) people over 25 years old and (e) people over 50 years old participated in the new deal in (i) Jarrow constituency, (ii) South Tyneside, (iii) the north-east and (iv) the UK in 2007. [208366]
Mr. Timms: The available information is in the following table.
| Number of people starting new deals in Jarrow constituency, South Tyneside, north-east Jobcentre Plus region and Great Britain in 2007 | |||||
| New deal for young people | New deal 25 plus | New deal for lone parents | New deal 50 plus | All new deals | |
| Notes: 1. Information on new deal is available for Great Britain, not the UK. 2. Information for South Tyneside is available by local authority area. 3. Information for the north-east is available by Jobcentre Plus region. 4. Information for new deal as a whole includes, where available, data for new deal for disabled people and new deal for partners. Individual new deal figures may thus not sum to totals. 5. Information is for individuals. If a person has started new deal more than once, only their latest start is included in the table. Source: Department for Work and Pensions, Information Directorate | |||||
Older Workers
Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of working people aged 50 years and over have a limiting long-standing illness and level 2 qualification, (b) a limiting long-standing illness and no level 2 qualification, (c) no limiting long-standing illness but have a level 2 qualification and (d) no limiting long-standing illness and no level 2 qualification. [208278]
Mr. Watson [holding answer 4 June 2008]: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 13 June 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many and what proportion of working people aged 50 years and over have (a) a limiting long-standing illness and level 2 qualification (b) a limiting long-standing illness and no level 2 qualification (c) no limiting long-standing illness but have a level 2 qualification and (d) no limiting long-standing illness and no level 2 qualification. (208278)
Statistics on people with health problems or disabilities, by labour market status and level of qualification attained, are available from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). All working age people are asked whether they have any health problems or disabilities that they expect to last for more than a year and if either their day-to-day activities or employment are consequently affected.
The attached table gives estimates of the number and proportion of employed people aged 50 and over for the categories requested. The data provided covers the three month period ending March 2008.
As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
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