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6 Oct 2008 : Column 57W—continued
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what guidance is issued by the Child Support Agency on absent fathers who pay larger than average contributions into their pension scheme thereby reducing the sum payable in child maintenance; and if he will amend this guidance to combat this practice. [224163]
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.
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, what guidance is issued by the Child Support Agency on absent fathers who pay larger than average contributions into their pension scheme thereby reducing the sum payable in child maintenance; and if he will amend this guidance to combat this practice. [224163]
There is currently no limit to the amount of contributions a non-resident parent can make to an occupational pension within the child maintenance system.
A parent with care can however request a “variation” to the amount of the child maintenance liability if he or she believes that there are exceptional circumstances that are not covered by the basic rules. In particular a parent with care can apply for a variation where a non-resident parent has unreasonably reduced the amount of their income by diverting it elsewhere, which can be taken into account when making a maintenance calculation.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Child Support: Proof of Identity
Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will require mothers who name the wrong father to the Child Support Agency to pay the full costs of DNA paternity testing involved. [223984]
Mr. Plaskitt: There are no plans to require mothers to pay the full cost of DNA paternity testing where they have named a man later proved not to be the father. The current system is working well with only 1 per cent. of cases needing a DNA test to resolve disputed parentage and in less than 0.2 per cent. of cases a DNA test fails to prove paternity.
Departmental Air Travel
James Duddridge: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer to the right hon. Member for Horsham of 14 July 2008, Official Report, column 27W, on carbon emissions: Government departments, how much air mileage incurred through departmental travel was used to calculate the departmental payment to the Government carbon offsetting fund in each year that his Department has participated in the fund, broken down by (a) domestic, (b) short-haul and (c) long-haul flights. [222130]
Mrs. McGuire: The Department joined the Government carbon offsetting fund (GCOF) at its outset in 2006-07. The following air mileage was used to calculate the payment for that year:
Short-haul: (1)7,175,100 miles (11,551,911 kilometres)
Long-haul: 976,660 miles (1,606,233 kilometres)
(1) Short-haul data includes domestic air mileage as required by the GCOF guidance for 2006-07.
This equates to a total of £37,845.74 in offsetting costs for 2006-07.
Figures for 2007-08 are subject to confirmation.
James Duddridge: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether those staff of (a) his Department and (b) its agencies who are entitled to business class or first class air travel are permitted to (i) travel in a cheaper class to the destination and (ii) benefit in monetary terms or kind from the saving. [222137]
Mrs. McGuire: All official travel within the Department is carried out in accordance with the requirements of both the Civil Service Management Code and the Departmental Business Travel Policy.
The Department’s Business Travel Policy enables staff only to travel by business class for trips outside of the UK and no overseas business class tickets may be purchased for flights under two and a half hours duration. However, staff are advised always to consider travel in a cheaper class to their destination and they do not benefit in monetary terms or kind from the saving. DWP recommends economy class as the preferred method of air travel regardless of the destination and flight duration and first class travel is never permitted.
The Civil Service Management Code can be accessed at:
Departmental Buildings
James Duddridge: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the location is of each office occupied by (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies which has been (i) newly occupied and (ii) refurbished in the last 24 months; and what the floor area in square metres is of each. [222129]
Mrs. McGuire: Details of the locations of newly occupied offices and offices that have been refurbished in the last 24 months by the Department, and the floor area of each in square metres, will be placed in the Library.
Departmental Co-ordination
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the timetable is for the implementation of the Tell Us Once service recommended in the Varney review; and whether persons will be able to (a) opt in and (b) opt out of the scheme. [222691]
Mrs. McGuire: A business case will be submitted to Government in April 2009. If approval is given the service will be rolled out on a national basis from 2009 onwards.
It will be the individual’s decision whether or not to use the service.
Departmental Data Protection
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many notifications (a) his Department and (b) its agencies made to the Information Commissioner following the loss or mishandling of personal information or data in each of the last three years; and what was notified in each case. [222905]
Mr. Timms: The Department for Work and Pensions has published details of the personal data related incidents notified to the Information Commissioner's Office in 2007-08 in its resource accounts published on 13 August 2008.
Before November 2007 the Information Commissioner's Office did not specifically keep records of instances of security breaches.
I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on 25 June 2008, providing the final report on measures for data handling procedures in government.
Departmental Disciplinary Proceedings
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the five most serious disciplinary breaches in his Department were in the last 12 months; and what steps were taken in response to each breach. [223043]
Mrs. McGuire: We are unable to provide an answer in the format required. The most serious category of misconduct in the Department for Work and Pensions is gross misconduct, which may include different breaches of the Department’s standards of behaviour. Each case is treated on its merits and the Department does not treat any act of gross misconduct as being more or less serious than another.
The Department’s standards of behaviour and discipline policies are on the Department’s internal intranet and are available to each employee.
Departmental Home Working
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 3 July 2008, Official Report, column 1028W, on departmental home working, if he will make it his policy to collate and maintain central records of home working by his Department's staff. [222533]
Mrs. McGuire: DWP employees may work from home in two categories:
(a) On an ad hoc basis under our flexible working framework; and
(b) Permanently, on a contractual basis.
Statistical data are not collected about ad hoc home working arrangements, managers may exercise discretion and authorise ad hoc home working for a variety of reasons.
Details of contractual home workers are held on individual clerical records. To extract these data would be at disproportionate cost.
The Department has no plans to collate and maintain central records of employees home working.
Departmental Information
James Duddridge: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what types of data have been sold by (a) his Department and (b) its agencies under the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations in the last 12 months. [222138]
Mrs. McGuire: We can confirm that no data have been sold by the Department or its Agencies under the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations in the last 12 months.
Departmental Official Residences
James Duddridge: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what permanent residential accommodation is provided for use by civil servants in his Department; how many residential dwellings are provided; where they are located; and for what grade of civil servant they are provided. [222136]
Mrs. McGuire: No permanent residential accommodation is provided for use by civil servants in the Department for Work and Pensions.
Departmental Procurement
James Duddridge: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will place in the Library the names and addresses of each organisation that supplied goods and services to his Department in 2007-08, based on the purchase order data held in the Department’s financial database. [222133]
Mrs. McGuire: The Department for Work and Pensions purchases goods and services from a significantly large number and variety of suppliers every year and information in the format requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, a list of the names and addresses of the Department’s top 30 suppliers for 2007-08 (by value of commercial expenditure), and which is readily available, has been placed in the Library.
Departmental Public Relations
James Duddridge: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff in (a) his Department and (b) its agencies have been seconded to public relations or public affairs firms or consultancies in each of the last five years. [222198]
Mrs. McGuire: Information on the number of staff in (a) the Department for Work and Pensions and (b) its agencies that have been seconded to public relations or public affairs firms or consultancies in each of the last five years is not available in the format requested.
The Department introduced a new personnel computer system incrementally from November 2006, being fully implemented by April 2007. Since April 2007 details of secondments out have been recorded under general headings. The name of the organisation is given but no details of the type of organisation.
To extract more detailed information from individual records under this category would be at disproportionate cost.
James Duddridge: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff from public relations or public affairs firms or consultancies have been seconded to (a) his Department and (b) its agencies in each of the last five years. [222199]
Mrs. McGuire:
Information on numbers of staff from public relations or public affairs firms or consultancies that have been have been seconded to (a) the Department for Work and Pensions and (b) agencies of the Department
for Work and Pensions is not collected centrally. This is handled locally by individual businesses. This information is therefore not available in the format requested.
To extract more detailed information from individual records under this category would be at disproportionate cost.
Disability Living Allowance
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many persons claimed the care component of disability living allowance in each year since its introduction, broken down by type of disability; and how much was paid to claimants with each disability type in each year at the (a) highest, (b) middle and (c) lowest rate. [222516]
Mrs. McGuire: The available information has been placed in the Library.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many claimants of disability living allowance in each year since its introduction had a learning disability as (a) a main disabling condition and (b) in addition to a main disabling condition which was not a learning disability. [222517]
Mrs. McGuire: The available information is in the following table.
| Disability living allowance cases in payment where learning difficulties are cited; in Great Britain, as at February each year | |
| Number | |
| Notes: 1. Figures are subject to a high degree of sampling error and should only be used as a guide 2. Case load figures are rounded to the nearest hundred. | |
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