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20 Jun 2008 : Column 1221W—continued
Poverty: Liverpool
Mrs. Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what recent assessment he has made of measures to tackle worklessness in Liverpool, Riverside constituency; and if he will make a statement; [212385]
(2) what recent assessment he has made of measures to tackle poverty in Liverpool, Riverside constituency. [212387]
Mr. Timms [holding answer 19 June 2008]: Work is the best route out of poverty. For example, children in working households are much less likely to be in poverty than those living in households where no one is working. The Government have made considerable progress in tackling worklessness through national back-to-work programmes such as New Deal and Pathways to Work, as well as local initiatives such as Step Closer 2 Work.
Since 1997 the number of unemployed people in the Liverpool Riverside constituency has fallen by 45 per cent., the number of lone parents claiming benefit has fallen by 28 per cent. and the number of people claiming incapacity benefits has fallen by 17 per cent. Specific information on the level of poverty are not available below regional level.
However we recognise that there is more to do.
In August the Jobcentre Plus District for Liverpool Riverside will start a campaign targeting over 2,000 small to medium-size employers, encouraging them to work with us in local employment partnerships. This
will open up job opportunities for those of our customers who have found it difficult to take advantage of the employment opportunities that exist across the district. Across Liverpool the working neighbourhoods fund is investing over £3 million in 2008-09 and the deprived area fund over £2 million to improve employment opportunities. Jobcentre Plus have also been working with the local authority and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs to improve the transition when people move between welfare and work.
Vertex Data Science
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many times he met the Chief Executive of Vertex Data Science Ltd. in each of the last three years. [212023]
Mrs. McGuire: Neither the Secretary of State nor any of his predecessors have met with the Chief Executive of Vertex Data Science Ltd. in any of the last three years.
Women and Equality
Age: Discrimination
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality pursuant to the Answer of 6 March 2008, Official Report, column 2684W, on age: discrimination, what the terms of reference of the research commissioned by her Department on the costs and benefits of eliminating age discrimination in health and social care provision are. [208257]
Barbara Follett: The briefs for the two literature reviews commissioned by the Department of Health were:
for a rapid literature review with the key focus on costs (and if possible benefits) of removing age discrimination in social care and mental health services with particular emphasis on international literature (Centre for Policy on Ageing); and
to summarise the theoretical literature in order to explore what are the specific age-based criticisms and defences of cost-effectiveness analysis within the literature, to what degree could alternative methods address the different equity concerns raised within the debate, and related issues (university of Leeds).
The briefs for the two research studies commissioned by the Department of Health were:
On social care (university of Kent):
to investigate the extent, reasons for and impact of any age discrimination in the commissioning and provision of adult social services;
to produce an estimate of the costs of eliminating any such age discrimination, on the basis that services for the disadvantaged group would be levelled up to those of the advantaged group;
to prepare a report setting out findings from the study, including details of caveats, and suggestions for any further research on this topic.
On mental health (London School of Economics/university of Swansea):
to explore the extent of age discrimination in mental health services. Three broad issues are addressed: inequalities between adult and older people’s mental health services; inequalities between adults and older people with mental health problems in their use of health and social care services; and knowledge about the likely single equalities legislation in current services and the possible costs of implementation.
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality pursuant to the Answer of 6 March 2008, Official Report, column 2684W, on age: discrimination, whether the research commissioned by her Department on the costs and benefits of eliminating age discrimination in health and social care provision has examined the issues in relation to those under 18 years. [208258]
Barbara Follett: The research commissioned by the Department of Health considered age discrimination in relation to adults (aged 18 and over), in keeping with the proposal in the consultation paper “A Framework for Fairness” that any legislation to ban unfair age discrimination would deal with adults but not with people under 18.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what recent discussions she has had with ministerial colleagues on proposals for implementing a positive duty on public bodies to promote age equality; and if she will make a statement. [210722]
Barbara Follett: Throughout the progression of the Equality Bill, I and my officials have been in close contact with colleagues in a number of key departments including the Department of Health, Department of Work and Pensions, the Treasury and others, to discuss among other things the proposals for a single public sector duty. Our proposals for the Bill will be included in the Government's response to the Discrimination Law Review consultation, which will be published shortly.
Clubs: Membership
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what representations she has received on the applicability of sexual discrimination legislation to the membership rules of private members’ clubs; and if she will make a statement. [209516]
Barbara Follett: The Government consulted on the issue of discrimination in private member clubs in their consultation on proposals for an Equality Bill which closed in September last year. Nearly 200 responses were received on this issue. The Government will publish their response to the consultation shortly.
Consumers: Protection
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality if she will commission research into the incidence of discrimination in the supply of goods and services to children and young people under 18 years of age on the basis of their age; and if she will make a statement. [209654]
Barbara Follett:
The consultation paper on proposals for the Equality Bill, “A Framework for Fairness”, signalled that the Government were considering the case for prohibiting age discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities and services and that they considered any legislation should only apply to those aged 18 and over. Nevertheless, during the consultation process the Government commissioned the Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) to organise an event at which a cross-section of children discussed their own experiences
of age discrimination. A report of the event is available on CRAE’s website. In addition, a number of consultation responses raised the issue of age discrimination against those aged under 18. The Government will publish their response to the consultation shortly.
Departmental Manpower
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality how many and what proportion of staff working in the Government Equalities Office are (a) male, (b) female, (c) from an ethnic minority, (d) disabled and (e) not heterosexual; and if she will make a statement. [208404]
Barbara Follett: In the Government Equalities Office 40 per cent. of staff are male and 60 per cent. are female. Complete information for the other categories is not available as declaration of ethnic background and disabled status is voluntary and information on civil servants’ sexual orientation is not collected.
Departmental Responsibilities
Mrs. May: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality (1) what (a) projects, (b) initiatives and (c) programmes the Government Equalities Office has (i) started and (ii) concluded since its creation; [202569]
(2) what projects have been carried out by the Government Equalities Office since its creation, excluding those projects carried out by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the Women's National Commission, and the former Equalities Commissions; [201424]
(3) what projects the Government Equalities Office has taken the lead on since its establishment. [204687]
Barbara Follett: Since its creation the Government Equalities Office has undertaken a wide range of projects and initiatives. These include work on the setting up of the Equality and Human Rights Commission; developing and undertaking preparatory work to deliver the Equalities Public Services Agreement; managing the consultation and policy development work relating to proposals for a new Equality Bill, and undertaking a variety of initiatives relating to the Minister for Women's Priorities set out in Command Paper Cm 7183.
More detailed information about the work and achievements of the Government Equalities Office will be set out in its first departmental report due to be published later this year.
Departmental Transport
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality when the Government's Equalities Office's green transport plan was introduced; and if she will place in the Library a copy of the plan. [209417]
Barbara Follett: The Government Equalities Office, which was established in October 2007, is a small department of some 80 people based in central London. Its staff use public transport and, given these circumstances, the GEO has not introduced a Green Transport Plan.
Equality
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality (1) what estimate she has made of the number of people who do not feel they have been treated with dignity and respect from (a) disadvantaged and (b) non-disadvantaged backgrounds for use as a baseline against performance for indicator five in the 2008 to 2011 PSA 15; and if she will make a statement; [208690]
(2) what estimate she has made of the number of people who feel they have been discriminated against for use as a baseline for performance against indicator 4 in the 2008 to 2011 PSA 15; and if she will make a statement. [208691]
Barbara Follett: [holding answer 5 June 2008]: In respect of tackling discrimination (indicator 4), we will use responses to the 2008 Citizenship Survey to inform a baseline. This is because previous surveys did not separately identify disability-related discrimination. Baseline data based on the revised questions will be available in July 2009.
For reducing unfair treatment (indicator 5), we are considering whether early evidence from the 2007 Citizenship Survey is suitably robust to inform a baseline.
We will publish high-level delivery plans for PSA15 by the summer, which will include the baseline information available at that time for all of the PSA indicators. We will report twice-yearly thereafter on progress in delivering the PSA, beginning in October 2008.
Prisoners: Females
Julie Morgan: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Justice on the implementation of the recommendations of the Corston Report on the needs of vulnerable women in prison. [212142]
Barbara Follett: The Minister for Women has had a number of discussions with the Secretary of State for Justice on implementing Baroness Corston’s recommendations. We are fully committed to reducing the number of vulnerable women in prison. My hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Maria Eagle) will make a statement on progress six months on from the recommendations.
Welsh Language
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what recent assessment she has made of the level of demand for the services provided by the Government Equalities Office to be provided in the Welsh language; and if she will make a statement. [210536]
Barbara Follett: The Government Equalities Office provides a Welsh language translation of documents in downloadable PDF form through its website where appropriate. We do not have records of how often these are downloaded.
Health
Ambulances: Fuels
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what contingency plans his Department has for the provision of fuel for ambulances during periods of fuel shortages. [211516]
Mr. Bradshaw: The arrangements for accessing fuel for ambulances are handled at the local level. The Department encourages all national health service organisations to establish contingency plans in line with business continuity management advice and guidance, of which the sourcing of fuel is one element. It is the responsibility of each ambulance trust to put in place local arrangements to mitigate the effects of fuel shortages.
The Government have also established emergency provisions, as a part of the National Emergency Plan—Fuel, which can be invoked should the emergency services be unable to obtain fuel.
Continuing Care
Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people received continuing care (a) in total and (b) per 50,000 of population in each primary care trust area in England in (i) the last quarter of 2007-08 and (ii) the first quarter of 2008-09. [211755]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The information for 2007-08 is shown in the following table. However information for the first quarter of 2008-09 is not available.
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