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10 Nov 2008 : Column 922W—continued
| Table 3: Proportion of those made redundant( 1) who were women aged 16 and over by age, United Kingdom, not seasonally adjusted | ||||||||
| Percentage | ||||||||
| Total( 2) | 16-17 | 18-24 | 25-34 | 35-49 | 50-59 | 60+ | ||
| * Sample too small to provide a reliable estimate — = Zero (1) Includes those who have been made redundant in the three months prior to their Labour Force Survey interview. (2) Includes those who did not state their age. Note: The estimates exclude people in most types of communal establishments (e.g. hotels, boarding houses, hostels, mobile home sites etc.) Source: Labour Force Survey (ONS) | ||||||||
Security Guards: Personal Records
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what information is provided to his Department by the Security Industry Authority on the past and present employment of security guards; and what estimate he has made of the level of benefit fraud amongst workers in the security industry in the last three years. [231743]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 30 October 2008]: Earlier this year the Security Industry Authority (SIA) provided the DWP with the available details of non-EEA security industry licence holders whose licences had been revoked following the recent exercise to check the immigration status of non-EEA nationals who had obtained SIA licences prior to the introduction of routine right to work checks on 2 July 2007. The information passed to DWP included details provided to the SIA by the licence applicants such as name, address, date of birth and national insurance number.
Where DWP considered that the information given appeared to indicate a possible element of benefit fraud, the details were referred through to the DWP Fraud Investigation Service (FIS). Inquiries are still ongoing but no evidence of fraud has been found to date.
The Department has not made any estimate of the level of benefit fraud among workers in the security industry. However, since April 2008 DWP FIS have conducted nine fraud drives relating to the security industry. These are still ongoing.
Social Fund
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average time was for decisions to be taken on crisis loan applications in each of the last 10 years for which information is available. [226189]
Mr. McNulty: The information requested is in the following table:
| Crisis loan applications in Great Britain | |
| Average actual clearance time (working days) | |
| Notes: 1. The clearance time for an individual crisis loan application is measured in whole working days from the date the application is received until the date the decision is taken on whether to make a loan offer, plus, if a loan offer is made, the number of whole working days between receiving the applicant's reply to the offer and the recording of that reply. The minimum clearance time recorded for an individual crisis loan application is one working day, even if the application is cleared immediately. 2. Numbers are based on applications cleared in each year, not on applications received during that year. Source: DWP Social Fund Policy, Budget and Management Information System. | |
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average length of time was for decisions to be taken on crisis loan applications in (a) the last two quarters and (b) each month of 2008-09 to date or the most recent period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [233273]
Kitty Ussher: The information is in the tables.
| Crisis loan applications in Great Britain in the last two quarters | |
| Quarter | Average actual clearance time (working days) |
| Crisis loan applications in Great Britain in the last six months | |
| 2008 | Average actual clearance time (working days) |
| Notes: 1. The clearance time for an individual crisis loan application is measured in whole working days from the date the application is received until the date the decision is taken on whether to make a loan offer, plus, if a loan offer is made, the number of whole working days between receiving the applicant’s reply to the offer and the recording of that reply. The minimum clearance time recorded for an individual crisis loan application is one working day, even if the application is cleared immediately. 2. Numbers are based on applications cleared in each period, not on applications received during that period. Source: DWP Social Fund Policy, Budget and Management Information System. | |
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) crisis loan, (b) budgeting loan and (c) community care grant applications have been received in each (i) month of 2008-09 and (ii) in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [233276]
Kitty Ussher: The information is in the tables.
| Applications received in Great Britain each month | |||
| Thousand | |||
| Crisis loans | Budgeting loans | Community care grants | |
| Applications received in Great Britain each year | |||
| Thousand | |||
| Crisis loans | Budgeting loans | Community care grants | |
| Source: DWP Social Fund Policy, Budget and Management Information System. | |||
Social Fund: Funerals
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps the Government is taking to ensure that funeral payments from the Social Fund are made as quickly as possible. [227831]
Kitty Ussher: The administration of the social Fund is a matter for the acting chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking what steps the Government is taking to ensure funeral payments from the Social Fund are made as quickly as possible. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
We aim to process all claims as quickly as possible. For funeral payments there is an internal target of 16 working days. The actual average clearance time for September was 14.51 days with the year to date figure at 13.63 days. We believe this is well within the period funeral directors would allow for settlement of the bill.
Jobcentre Plus has in recent years introduced a number of initiatives to help funeral directors. This includes allowing payments to be made before the funeral is held where a funeral director is willing to provide an invoice and there are no other outstanding issues. We have recently amended our guidance to make sure staff are aware of this provision. From November 2007 we have also introduced the facility to allow payments to be made directly into the bank account of the funeral director where the bill had not been paid. Previously the payment had been made by a cheque in the name of the funeral director and sent to the customer for them to pass onto the funeral director.
I hope this information is helpful.
Social Security Benefits
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many unprocessed (a) jobseekers allowance, (b) pension credit and (c) incapacity benefit applications there were in (i) each of the smallest geographical areas for which information is available and (ii) in the UK at the end of each quarter in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [230438]
Mr. McNulty: The available information has been placed in the Library.
Social Security Benefits: Carers
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to point 6.15 in the Welfare Reform Green Paper, No one written off: reforming welfare to reward responsibility, how much carers who move off income support on to modified jobseekers allowance (JSA) will receive, broken down into the basic rate of JSA and carers’ premium. [228497]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 20 October 2008]: Under the proposals in the Green Paper carers who move from income support to a modified jobseeker’s allowance would continue to receive the same level of benefit as they currently receive on income support. On current rates they would qualify for £60.50 basic rate jobseeker’s allowance (if single and over age 25—different rates apply to couples and those under 25) and £27.75 carer premium. In calculating the amount of jobseeker’s allowance, carer’s allowance and any other income they may have would be taken into account in exactly the same way as for income support.
Those carers who move from income support to a modified jobseeker’s allowance will not see any increase in the level of conditionality under this proposal.
Social Security Benefits: Databases
Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he has taken to ensure that databases of those in receipt of benefit are kept up to date; and if he will make a statement. [230979]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 29 October 2008]: The Department for Work and Pensions makes every effort to ensure that customers' data are accurate, up to date and relevant. We continue to simplify the means by which customers provide information without detriment to the quality of the data, for example through the Tell Us Once initiative which will enable a citizen to report a birth or death to Government only once by securely collecting the information and sharing appropriately with other Government Departments.
We also seek responsible and lawful data sharing to maintain up-to-date information on our customers and ensure that this information is used effectively to make sure customers' benefits are accurate and timely.
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