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25 Jun 2008 : Column 322W—continued
Departmental Accountancy
Mr. Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department’s (a) chart of accounts and (b) resource account codes and usage descriptions for the 2008-09 financial year. [210987]
Mrs. McGuire: The information requested is not readily available and can only be obtained at disproportionate costs.
Since the introduction of its resource management system in 2005, the Department does not routinely publish its chart of accounts as the information is managed and controlled within the system.
The chart of accounts for 2008-09 reflects the Department's structure for the year and will not necessarily reflect the 2007-08 structure, or that for future years. The chart shows the relationship between parent codes (used for preparing resource accounts) and children codes (used for more detailed management purposes). Each code has a brief description that describes its use.
Departmental Manpower
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of his Department's employees are (a) male, (b) female, (c) from an ethnic minority, (d) disabled and (e) not heterosexual; and if he will make a statement. [208405]
Mrs. McGuire: The following table sets out the number and proportion of male, female, ethnic minority and disabled staff employed by the Department for Work and Pensions at March 2008. We are unable to provide the information on non-heterosexual staff as the Department only started monitoring this equality strand in April 2008 and we have not yet built up any meaningful data.
| Number | Percentage | |
| (1) Not known | ||
Declaration of ethnicity and disabled status is voluntary. The proportions given are based on those individuals who have declared their status.
Departmental Ministerial Policy Advisers
Mr. Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the special advisers employed in his Department since 6 May 1997; and what the (a) start and (b) end date of employment was in each case. [184378]
Mrs. McGuire: Since 2003, the Government have published on an annual basis the names and numbers of special advisers in each pay band. For the most recent information I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister on 22 November 2007, Official Report, columns 147-50WS.
Information on the employment of special advisers prior to 2003 was provided at regular intervals and is available in the Library of the House.
Departmental Paper
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department and its executive agencies spent on paper supplies in each of the last five years. [211145]
Mrs. McGuire: The information that is available is provided in the following table.
| £ million | |||||
| Type of product | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 |
|
Configurable print (letterheads, compliment slips and posters) | |||||
| n/a — not available. | |||||
Expenditure figures on core, configurable and secure print include the cost of printing, storing and distributing the products and cannot be separately identified. Expenditure figures on cut paper for the years 2003-04 to 2005-06 are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
To reduce environmental impact, wherever technically possible, DWP uses recycled paper as standard and closely manages stocks to avoid wastage.
Departmental Pay
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was paid in end-of-year performance bonuses to (a) all staff and (b) staff at senior civil service level in (i) his Department and (ii) its agencies in the 2007-08 financial year; and how many payments were made. [207479]
Mrs. McGuire:
DWP employees in pay bands below the senior civil service are eligible for an annual individual performance bonus if they attain a ‘Top’, ‘Higher’ or ‘Majority’ rating under the annual performance and
development system. The amount of bonus awarded is differentiated on the basis of the employee's pay band and the performance level achieved.
For the senior civil service end of year bonuses were determined on an individual basis by the relevant Pay Committee.
A total of £36.61 million was paid in performance bonuses in the 2007-08 financial year broken down in the following tables:
| Table 1: Department total | ||
| Financial year | Total paid (£ million) | Total number of recipients |
| Table 2: Agency/business totals below SCS | ||
| Agency/business | Total paid (£ million) | Number of recipients |
| Table 3: DWP SCS | ||
| Financial year | Total paid (£ million) | Number of recipients |
| (1) Performance awards from the year 2006/07 are paid in the financial year 2007-08. | ||
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of employees in his Department who received a performance-related bonus at their last appraisal were (a) male, (b) female, (c) from an ethnic minority, disabled and (e) not heterosexual; and if he will make a statement. [208368]
Mrs. McGuire: The Department's Performance and Development system is designed to help manage performance throughout the reporting year. Bonus payments are linked to an end of year assessment and paid to those who achieve a ‘majority’, ‘higher’ or ‘top’ marking in their appraisal. To attain these markings employees are expected to meet or exceed all of their performance objectives. The latest period for which information is available is for the 12 months ending March 2007.
A distribution by gender, ethnicity and disability of all 111,943 staff who received a performance bonus for the year ended 31 March 2007 is in the following table. Information about the percentage numbers of the different individual groups in relation to overall employees is also included.
For the 2006-07 performance year to which these figures relate we did not gather data on sexuality.
Departmental Trade Unions
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which trades unions represent members of staff in (a) his Department and (b) its agencies. [212474]
Mrs. McGuire: The Department for Work and Pensions and its agencies recognise three trade unions as representing members of staff; the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), FDA and Prospect.
Employment and Support Allowance
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what estimate he has made of how much a single recipient under the age of 35 years, who would have received an adult dependent addition under incapacity benefit, would receive in employment and support allowance each week if they were in receipt of the support component of contributory employment and support allowance, assuming the rates as set out in the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008 come into force in October 2008; [211035]
(2) what estimate he has made of how much a couple, both under the age of 35 years, who are eligible for the support component of the contributory employment and support allowance, would receive each week, assuming the rates as set out in the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008 come into force in October 2008; [211036]
(3) what estimate he has made of how much a single recipient under the age of 35 years, who is eligible for the support component of the contributory employment and support allowance, would receive each week, assuming the rates as set out in the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008 come into force in October 2008. [211037]
Mr. Timms: Employment and support allowance has a completely different structure to incapacity benefit. Contributory employment and support allowance is not payable in respect of couples. The employment and support regulations provide that single people in the support group will receive a rate of contributory benefit of £89.50 a week. If the claimant is single and has low or no other income they would receive an income-related top up taking their benefit of £102.10 a week, through the proposed passport to the enhanced disability premium.
If a contributory claimant has a partner and has low or no other income, they can also receive an income-related top up; including an automatic passport to the enhanced disability premium, guaranteeing couples where the claimant only is claiming employment and support
allowance and is in the support group a minimum income of £142.10 a week. If both members of a couple are entitled to contributory employment and support allowance and in the support group, they would each receive £89.50 a week, making a total of £179 a week.
Incapacity Benefit: Lincolnshire
Shona McIsaac: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his latest estimate is of the number of people receiving incapacity benefit in (a) Cleethorpes constituency, (b) Great Grimsby constituency, (c) North East Lincolnshire and (d) North Lincolnshire. [212837]
Mrs. McGuire: The available information is in the table.
| Number of incapacity benefit/severe disablement allowance claimants: November 2007 | |
| Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Figures are also published on the NOMIS website at www.nomisweb.co.uk Source: DWP Information Directorate 100 per cent. WPLS | |
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