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Pensions Service: Occupational Pensions

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of the staff at the Pensions Service are entitled to a final salary pension scheme; and how much employer contributions costs to the scheme cost in the last year for which figures are available. [226174]

Ms Rosie Winterton: As at 30 September 2008, 92 per cent. of staff in the Pension Service are entitled to benefits under the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS) final salary scheme.

The Pension Service also paid out £42.153 million in employer contributions for Pension Service staff in 2007-08⁽¹⁾.

⁽¹⁾ Source:

The Pension Service Annual Report and Accounts.

Personal Records

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many instances of loss of personal documents have been recorded by (a) Jobcentre Plus and (b) the Pension Service in each of the last five years. [225105]

Jonathan Shaw: Prior to November 2007, the Information Commissioner did not require Departments or other organisations to collect or report details of losses of personal documents or data. Therefore this information
22 Oct 2008 : Column 408W
is not available in respect of previous years, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Because of the nature of a Department which handles data relating to millions of individual customers on a daily basis, small localised instances involving personal data loss—for example the loss of an individual’s papers—are not recorded centrally by the Department or its agencies, and the details of such individual instances could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Details of more significant incidents involving personal data, and which have been reported to the Information Commissioner for the year ending 31 March 2008, were published by the Department in its annual resource accounts on 13 August 2008. The Department will publish, on an annual basis, details of all such incidents in future resource accounts.

Post Office Card Account

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects a decision to be made on who will win the tender to run the successor to the Post Office Card Account. [228309]

Ms Rosie Winterton: A holding reply was sent on 21 October 2008.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Secretary of State to the hon. Member for St. Ives (Andrew George) on 20 October 2008, Official Report, column 143W.

Poverty: Children

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many children lived in households with income of less than 60 per cent. of the national average, broken down by the smallest geographical category possible, in each of the last 10 years. [226159]

Kitty Ussher: Specific information regarding low income for the United Kingdom is available in “Households Below Average Income 1994/95-2006/07”.

The data source does not allow us to provide robust numbers for estimates below the level of Government office region or inner and outer London for the London Government office region. Information on the number of children below 60 per cent. of national contemporary median income is set out in the following tables.

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Table 1: Number of children living in households with less than 60 per cent . of contemporary median household income, before housing co sts, by region or country, 1996-97 to 2006-07
Million
	1996-97 to 1998-99	1997-98 to 1999-2000	1998-99 to 2000-01	1999-2000 to 2001-02	2000-01 to 2002-03	2001-02 to 2003-04	2002-03 to 2004-05	2003-04 to 2005-06	2004-05 to 2006-07
North East	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
North West	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4
Yorkshire and the Humber	0.4	0.4	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3
East Midlands	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
West Midlands	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3
East of England	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
London	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4
Inner London	n/a	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
Outer London	n/a	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
South East	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.3
South West	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
England	2.9	2.8	2.7	2.6	2.4	2.4	2.3	2.3	2.3
Wales	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
Scotland	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.2
Northern Ireland	n/a	n/a	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
UK/GB (three-year average)	3.4	3.3	3.3	3.2	3.0	2.9	2.9	2.8	2.8

Table 2 : Number of children living in households with less than 60 per cent . of contemporary median household income, after housing co sts, by region or country, 1996-97 to 2006-07
Million
	1996-97 to 1998-99	1997-98 to 1999-2000	1998-99 to 2000-01	1999-2000 to 2001-02	2000-01 to 2002-03	2001-02 to 2003-04	2002-03 to 2004-05	2003-04 to 2005-06	2004-05 to 2006-07
North East	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
North West	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5
Yorkshire and the Humber	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.3	0.3	0.3
East Midlands	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	L0.3	0.3
West Midlands	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4
East of England	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3
London	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6
Inner London	n/a	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3
Outer London	n/a	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.4
South East	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4
South West	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3
England	3.7	3.7	3.6	3.4	3.3	3.2	3.2	3.2	3.2
Wales	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
Scotland	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.2
Northern Ireland	n/a	n/a	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
UK/GB (three-year average)	4.3	4.2	4.3	4.1	4.0	3.9	3.7	3.7	3.8
n/a = Not available. Notes: 1. These statistics are based on Households Below Average Income data. 2. Small differences should be treated with caution as these will be affected by sampling error and variability in non-response. 3. The reference period for Household Below Average Income figures is single financial years. Three survey year averages are given for each of the regions as robust single year estimates cannot be produced because of volatility in estimates. This will mean the Great Britain and United Kingdom totals will differ from the single year estimates published in the “Households Below Average Income 1994/95-2006/07” report. 4. The income measures used to derive the estimates shown employ the same methodology as the Department for Work and Pensions publication “Households Below Average Income” series, which uses disposable household income, adjusted (or ‘equivalised’) for household size and composition, as an income measure as a proxy for standard of living. Median incomes are used as the national average in the publication. 5. The figures are based on OECD equivalisation factors. 6. Figures have been presented on both a Before Housing Cost and After Housing Cost basis. For Before Housing Cost, housing costs (such as rent, water rates, mortgage interest payments, structural insurance payments and ground rent and service charges) are not deducted from income, while for After Housing Cost they are. 7. Number of children in low-income households have been rounded to the nearest 100,000 children. 8. Totals may not sum due to rounding. Source: Households Below Average Income.

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