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29 Oct 2008 : Column 1074W—continued
| Number of jobseeker's allowance terminations aged 16 to 24, who terminate their claim between 5 and 6 months, then flow on to income support | ||||||||
| Flowed on to income support | ||||||||
| Quarter ending | Number of jobseeker's allowance terminations | All | Within 1 week | More than a week but less than 1 month | More than a month but less than 3 months | More than 3 months but less than 6 months | More than 6 months but less than a year | More than 1 year |
| Notes: 1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100. Totals may not sum due to rounding. 2. Data commence in 2005 to ensure capture of information on people flowing on to income support up to 12 months after the termination of their claim. 3. Figures for the latest quarter do not include any late notifications and are subject to major changes in future quarters. Figures for previous quarters may also be subject to revisions in future quarters. Source: DWP Information Directorate 5 per cent. sample and 5 per cent. terminations dataset. | ||||||||
Members: Correspondence
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his policy is on whether chief executives of his Department’s executive agencies should reply personally to letters sent directly to them by hon. Members. [227840]
Jonathan Shaw [holding answer 17 October 2008]: As set out in the Department’s departmental framework, published in December 2005, the Secretary of State normally asks the relevant chief executive to write to Members of Parliament or peers in response to individual letters about matters that have been delegated. Ministers also encourage Members of both Houses to write directly to agency chief executives, or appropriate senior managers in respect of non-agency businesses, on matters for which they have day to day responsibility. Members of Parliament and peers are entitled to raise with Ministers any reply from a chief executive or other official.
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when his Department’s office at Mitcheldean, Gloucestershire, plans to reply to the hon. Member for Edinburgh West’s correspondence of 2 September on his constituent Mrs. Janette Ramsay. [228828]
Jonathan Shaw: A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 24 October 2008.
Pensioners: Poverty
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his most recent estimate is of the number of pensioners living in poverty in West Chelmsford constituency. [230518]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 27 October 2008]: Poverty is a complex and multidimensional issue and, as such, there are many possible measures of poverty.
Our public service agreement “Tackle poverty and promote greater independence and wellbeing in later life” includes a range of indicators related to low income for pensioners. These are relative low income (below 50 and 60 per cent. contemporary median household income), and absolute low income (below 60 per cent. of 1998-99 median income uprated in line with prices), all measured after housing costs have been taken into account.
The data source does not allow us to provide robust numbers for estimates below the level of Government Office Region. Latest information for East of England on the numbers of pensioners below each of these thresholds is given in the following table.
Poverty: Children
John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many children have been moved out of poverty in (a) Leeds West constituency, (b) Leeds City area and (c) the UK since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [228291]
Kitty Ussher: The available information, published in the “Households Below Average Income Series”, is that between 1998-99 and 2006-07 there was a 600,000 reduction in the number of children living in households with incomes below 60 per cent., of median contemporary income Before Housing Costs.
Figures before 1998-99 cover only GB, not the UK as a whole.
The Households Below Average Income Series cannot provide information below the level of Government office region.
The constituencies of Leeds West and Leeds Metropolitan are within the Government Office Region for Yorkshire and the Humber. In Yorkshire and the Humber between 2004-05 and 2006-07, on a Before
Housing Costs basis, there were on average 0.3 million children living in a household with below 60 per cent. of median income.
Since 1996-97 to1998-99, the risk of living in a household with below 60 per cent., median income for children in Yorkshire and Humberside has fallen from 32 per cent. to 25 per cent. in 2004-05 to 2006-07.
When presenting results by Government Office Region, in order to ensure that estimates of changes over time yield a reliable picture of how different regions have experienced changes, the risk and number of children living in poverty by region is given as a three year average. The latest three year average is for 2004-05 to 2006-07.
Social Security Benefits: Overseas Residence
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the effect on benefit entitlement is for someone who leaves the UK to live overseas for a number of years and then returns to the UK. [224949]
Kitty Ussher: If a person returns to the United Kingdom from overseas and makes an immediate claim for an income-related benefit such as income support, pension credit, housing benefit or council tax benefit they are required to satisfy the habitual residence test. To satisfy the test a person must first show that they have a right to reside and secondly that they are habitually resident in the Common Travel Area (CTA). The CTA includes the UK, as well as the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and the Republic of Ireland.
In deciding whether a person is habitually resident, decision makers, who decide entitlement to benefit, consider a wide variety of factors. These include reasons for coming to the United Kingdom, the length of their stay, future intentions, previous links with the country and, in the case of people returning to the United Kingdom, the reasons for their absence.
Contributory benefits are generally payable to anyone that satisfies the contribution and other conditions for the benefit regardless of nationality and length of time in the United Kingdom.
TICC Skill Centres: Redundancy
Mr. Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 13 June 2008, Official Report, columns 623-24W, on TICC Ltd: redundancy, what his Department’s policy is on the retention and destruction of such records. [222749]
Jonathan Shaw: The Department’s policy on the retention and destruction of such documents is set out in the DWP Registered File Guide, a copy of which has been placed in the Library.
Mr. Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 13 June 2008, Official Report, columns 623-4W, on TICC Ltd: redundancy, whether his Department consulted other departments and public bodies on the availability of such records before providing a response. [222746]
Jonathan Shaw: Yes. The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and the Department for Children, Schools and Families were consulted, but it was not believed at that point that any such records existed.
Mr. Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 13 June 2008, Official Report, columns 623-4W, on TICC Ltd: Redundancy, what the reasons were for the time taken to reply. [222747]
Jonathan Shaw: As this matter dated back to the early 1990s, it was not clear at the time when the earlier question was asked which Department had responsibility for residual matters relating to TICC Ltd. This necessitated discussions between officials in this Department, the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, and the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
Mr. Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 13 June 2008, Official Report, columns 623-4W, on TICC Ltd: Redundancy, whether the records relating to (a) the terms of transfer of and (b) compensation payments made to former Department of Employment staff have been destroyed. [222748]
Jonathan Shaw: It is now clear that some records relating to the terms of the transfer of staff from the then Skills Training Agency to TICC Ltd do still exist and are currently held by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. They confirm that at the time TICC Ltd went into liquidation 48 civil servants were made redundant and received ex gratia compensation payments from public funds. The payments were based on the settlement each would have received had they been made redundant by the Skills Training Agency at the time of the sale, less any statutory redundancy pay to which they were entitled.
Unemployment: Lone Parents
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the (a) employment and (b) unemployment rate was for lone parents in each of the last 24 months (i) in the UK and (ii) broken down by the smallest geographical area for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [230281]
Kevin Brennan: I have been asked to reply to the hon. Member.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated October 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking what the (a) employment and (b) unemployment rate was for lone parents in each of the last 24 months (i) nationally and (ii) broken down by the smallest geographical area for which figures are available. (230281)
The table shows the employment and unemployment rates for lone parents of working-age with dependent children for the United Kingdom, each Government office region and for each local authority for the calendar years 2006 and 2007. Data are not available on a monthly basis. A copy of the table has been placed in the Library.
Estimates are derived from the Annual Population Survey (APS) household datasets for the periods January-December 2006 and January-December 2007.
As the group in question is very specific the estimates at local authority level are based on very small sample sizes. Therefore, the margin of uncertainty is very large for these estimates and they are deemed unreliable for practical purposes.
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