Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 2 July 2008
House of Commons Commission
Manpower
Mr. Maude: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how many permanent staff of the House of Commons are classed as (a) staff without posts and (b) part of a people action team. [215577]
Nick Harvey: None. The House does not classify any staff as being without posts, and does not have people action teams.
Morning Star
Mr. Maude: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how many copies of the Morning Star publication the House subscribes to each week; and at what cost. [215673]
Nick Harvey: The House receives seven copies of the Morning Star on sitting days, four copies on non-sitting days and two copies on Saturdays, at a cost of £4.00, £2.20 and £1.00 per day respectively.
Work and Pensions
Children: Maintenance
Mr. Pope: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects the chief executive of the Child Support Agency to resolve the case of Mr William O'Sullivan. [213684]
Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is the matter for the chief executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 2 July 2008
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he expects the Chief Executive of the Child Support Agency to resolve the case of Mr William O'Sullivan. [213684]
As details about individual cases are confidential, I have written to you separately about this case.
Departmental Pensions
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the effect on his Department's expenditure would be from increasing the employee contribution to each pension scheme for which his Department is responsible by one per cent.; and if he will make a statement. [200764]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: I refer the Member to the answer given by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office, my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich, East (Mr. Watson) on 1 May 2008, Official Report, column 630W.
Departmental Retirement
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the standard retirement age in his Department is; and how many people worked beyond the standard retirement age in each of the last five years. [214122]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Department for Work and Pensions has no standard retirement age for staff below the senior civil service.
The Department has, since October 2003, operated a policy where staff could remain in employment after reaching age 65.
Numbers of staff employed by DWP, below the senior civil service, aged 65 and over, since 2003 are as follows:
| As at 30 September each year | Number |
As at 31 March 2008, the latest date for which data are available, 604 staff in DWP are aged 65 and over.
At 31 March 2008 DWP had 113,792 staff (102,371 full-time equivalents), of whom 604 (0.5 per cent.) are aged 65 and over. DWP has 4498 staff aged 60-64 inclusive, 3.9 per cent. of the workforce.
Staff can retire, if they wish, when they reach civil service minimum pension age. For most staff that is age 60, but they are not obliged to retire at that age and there is no standard retirement age.
All Departments have delegated authority from Cabinet Office to determine their own retirement age for staff below the senior civil service. DWP was the first Department to abolish mandatory retirement age for all staff below the senior civil service; an important move which supports the Government's agenda of extending working life. 50 per cent. of civil servants now work in Departments which have no retirement age.
Terms and conditions of employment for staff in the senior civil service are managed centrally by the Cabinet Office. DWP does not have delegated authority to determine their retirement age which remains at 65, consistent with the national default retirement age introduced by the Age legislation.
Staff aged 65 and over are treated in exactly the same way as all other staff; no special management arrangements are in place.
Income Support: Disabled
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make it his policy to allow claimants of income support with a disability element to receive weekly payments. [215085]
Mr. Plaskitt: All claims to income support are currently paid on a weekly basis in arrears.
From April 2009 all new claims to income support will be paid fortnightly in arrears in line with employment and support allowance (ESA) which will be introduced in October 2008.
Weekly payments will be considered in exceptional circumstances and for up to 26 weeks. A customer's disability would not, of itself, justify weekly payment.
National Insurance: Romania
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many national insurance numbers were issued to (a) Romanian and (b) Bulgarian citizens in each quarter since 1 January 2007. [206261]
Mr. Timms: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave him on 13 December 2007, Official Report, column 805W. This provides the latest available National Statistics data on national insurance numbers issued to Romanian and Bulgarian nationals.
Pension Credit
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much pension credit has cost to administer in each year since October 2003. [213998]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The information requested on the cost of administering pension credit is not available from October 2003. The earliest date from which any information is available is April 2004.
Such information as is available is in the following table:
| Pension credit administration costs | |
| £ million | |
| Note: These figures have been taken from the Activity Based Information and its successor Activity Based Management. Source: Activity Based Information | |
Post Office Card Account
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when the contract for the Post Office Card Account will be awarded; and if he will make a statement. [211469]
Mr. Plaskitt: The Post Office card account contract was awarded in 2002 and runs from 2003 to 2010.
We are currently in the process of procuring a successor to the existing Post Office card account. An announcement on the successful bidder will be made in accordance with appropriate procurement rules later this year.
Poverty
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of (a) children, (b) families, (c) pensioners and (d) working age households were in persistent poverty in each year since 1997 for which information is available. [211153]
Mr. Timms: Persistent poverty figures are presented for children, pensioners and working age adults in the “Low income Dynamics” publication. Analysis of persistent poverty usually focuses on individuals in persistent poverty, which is defined as an individual being in a household with an income below 60 per cent. of median income in at least three out of four years.
The information is in the tables.
| Number and proportion of children, working age adults and pensioners below 60 per cent. of median income in at least three out of four years, before housing costs, Great Britain | ||||||
| Children | Pensioners | Working age adults | ||||
| Before housing costs | Number (millions) | Percentage | Number (millions) | Percentage | Number (millions) | Percentage |
| Source: DWP analysis of British Household Panel Study, 1991 to 2005. | ||||||
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