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24 Nov 2008 : Column 1000W—continued
New Deal Schemes: Standards
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the performance of (a) all designated New Deal providers and (b) the Shaw Trust against the objectives set for delivery of the New Deal. [236217]
Mr. McNulty:
The Department continuously reviews the performance of providers including new deal providers.
The Department has implemented a number of initiatives to improve the management of contracts and of providers to achieve better performance and quality of delivery in all contracted employment provision including new deal. Formal processes are in place to deal with performance issues.
For individual organisation performance, a revised Contract Management Framework has been implemented which sets out the processes for monitoring DWP contracts, enabling early identification of poor performance so remedial action can be put in place.
A supplier relationship management team was also established in April this year. Their remit is to develop strong, positive relationships with providers in order to improve delivery of services to customers. In addition, all providers in England and Wales are subject to inspection.
Shaw Trust has one new deal contract to deliver. The contract is managed using standard contract management procedures to ensure performance meets contractual expectations. Any issues arising are addressed in this context.
Pension Credit
Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his Department's most recent estimate is of the number of pensioners who (a) are not claiming and (b) have been refused pension credit because a gross rather than a post-tax net level of state retirement pension was used for the assessment. [234198]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is not available.
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many foreign nationals resident in the UK are in receipt of pension credit. [235306]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is not available.
Pension Credit: Carers
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many people claimed (a) carer’s allowance and (b) pension credit for being a carer in each of the last five years; [233299]
(2) what the (a) budget for and (b) expenditure on pension credits for carers was in each of the last five years; [233302]
(3) what estimate he has made of the number of people eligible for pension credit for being a carer in each of the last five years; and how many of them claimed the credit. [233303]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
Pension credit ensures a guaranteed minimum income for all people aged 60 and over. People who are entitled to carer’s allowance—whether or not carer’s allowance is in payment—may benefit from the additional amount for carers in pension credit. The pension credit standard minimum guarantee of £124.05 for single pensioners (£189.35 for couples) is increased by £27.75 where the additional amount for
carers is payable. (If both members of a couple are entitled to carer’s allowance, the additional amount is doubled.)
The guarantee element of pension credit tops income up to the appropriate guarantee level, which means that people entitled to the additional amount for carers could receive either more or less than the additional amount for carers depending on their circumstances. It is not therefore possible to specify what element of pension credit expenditure relates specifically to the additional amount for carers.
Pension credit is part of the Department’s annually managed expenditure (AME). Forecasts of the expenditure for each benefit which is part of AME are produced twice a year and published on the Department’s website. The forecasts are used to assess the expected provision required for each benefit which is part of AME. However, none of the elements which comprise the forecast for a particular benefit is budgeted for separately. In addition, all eligible benefit claims are met and so AME benefits are not budgeted for in the same way as other departmental expenditure.
The latest estimates of take-up of means-tested benefits in Great Britain, covering income support, pension credit, housing benefit, council tax benefit and jobseeker’s allowance (income-based) are published in the report “Income Related Benefits Estimates of Take-Up in 2006-07”. Estimates of the number of people eligible for the additional amount for carers in pension credit are not available.
The number of people in receipt of pension credit and carer’s allowance over the last five years is shown in table 1 and all pension credit expenditure on recipients entitled to the extra amount for carers is shown in table 2.
| Table 1: Pension credit and carer’s allowance | |||
| Pension credit | |||
| As at February each year | Carer’s allowance | Total pension credit recipients | Recipients with the additional amount for caring |
| Notes: 1. Carer’s allowance figures include those people who are entitled to carer’s allowance but who do not receive a payment as a result of the overlapping benefit rules. 2. Case load figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 3. Pension credit recipients are people who claim pension credit either for themselves only or on behalf of a household. 4. From February 2005, estimates are derived from Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent. data. Prior to this, information on receipt of carer’s addition in pension credit is not available from the same source, so estimates are derived from 5 per cent. sample data. Source: DWP: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study. | |||
Pensions: York
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people (a) in the City of York local authority area and (b) City of York constituency receive (i) the basic state pension and (ii) pension credit; and what the average weekly value of the pension credit issued was in the last period for which figures are available. [236881]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is in the following tables.
| Pension credit household recipients and average weekly amount of benefit—May 2008 | ||
| Pension credit | ||
| Households in receipt | Average weekly amount of benefit (£) | |
| Notes: 1. Caseloads are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Household recipients are those people who claim pension credit either for themselves only or on behalf of a household. 3. Average amounts are shown as pounds per week and rounded to the nearest penny. Source: DWP Information Directorate Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent. data | ||
| Basic state pension recipients—September 2007 | |
| Basic state pension recipients | |
| Notes: 1. Data are taken from 5 per cent. extract of PSCS, therefore figures are subject to a degree of sampling variation. They are also adjusted to be consistent with the overall caseload from the Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study. 2. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100. 3. September 2007 are the latest data currently available. Source: DWP Information Directorate | |
Personal Pensions
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent steps he has taken to encourage the use of personal private pensions. [238382]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Government are keen to encourage more people to save more for their retirement by contributing to pensions (including personal pensions).
The current Pension Bill builds on the Pensions Act 2007 through a set of reforms, primarily to the private pensions system, that will enable and encourage more people to build up a private pension income to supplement that received from the state. The reforms will simplify pension saving and enable individuals to take responsibility for their own retirement. All eligible workers will be automatically enrolled into a qualifying workplace pension- helping to overcome barriers to saving such as inertia.
Post Office Card Accounts
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the Oral Statement of 13 November 2008, Official Report, columns 965-82W, on the Post Office Card Account, what (a) legal and (b) economic factors were taken into account in taking the decision to cancel the tender. [237001]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 18 November 2008]: At all stages we have taken the proper course of action based on the Government’s wider social and public policy, legal advice and economic factors pertaining at the time.
Income from the Post Office card account has come to form an increasingly important part of the Post Office’s income, as well as providing vital footfall to sub-postmasters. The loss of this business would mean there would be a real risk of a significant number of unplanned closures which would impact most on those vulnerable customers who rely on the Post Office and do not have easily accessible alternatives.
Global economic events have made people, particularly the most vulnerable in our society, more concerned about financial transactions. The Post Office is a trusted brand, and is seen as a safe, secure and reliable provider of services in these turbulent times. Now is not the time for the Government to do anything to put the network at risk, particularly as Post Offices are often the only providers of financial services in remote areas.
Taking all of these factors into account, we believe that awarding Post Office Ltd another contract is the right thing to do in public policy terms, because it will help maintain the existing Post Office network which provides vital services to vulnerable customers in areas where there is often little or no alternative provision. We are also clear that it represent best value overall to the taxpayer.
We recognise the importance of competition in the awarding of public contracts, but we have concluded that, in these exceptional circumstances, protecting vulnerable groups by preserving a viable Post Office network justifies the award of a contract outside the competitive process. These are exceptional times and we believe that this is a proper and proportionate response.
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many written representations he has received on the Post Office card account. [238375]
Ms Rosie Winterton: My ministerial colleagues and I received a number of such representations from hon. Members and others.
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department was paid for the advertising to potential bidders of the Post Office Card Account contract. [238390]
Ms Rosie Winterton: My Department has received no payment for the advertising to potential bidders of the Post Office card account contract.
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people have a Post Office card account. [238391]
Ms Rosie Winterton: There are 3.8 million active Post Office card accounts.
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many customers in Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency had active Post Office card accounts in each year since their introduction. [220395]
Kitty Ussher: The following answer was provided to the hon. Member on 17 September 2008, however, due to a procedural error was not published in the Official Report. The answer is as follows:
The requested information is not available.
The information available was provided in the written answer I gave to the hon. Member on 17 July 2008, Official Report, column 648W.
Racial Harassment
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many complaints of racial abuse relating to staff for which his Department is responsible have been (a) investigated and (b) upheld in the last 12 months. [236910]
Jonathan Shaw: The Department holds information on the number of complaints of racial abuse investigated by its central team of investigators.
During the last 12 months, the Department has investigated 18 cases of racial abuse. Of these, four cases were upheld on the grounds of racial abuse.
The Department takes all forms of racial abuse very seriously and publishes its Harassment, Discrimination and Bullying policy on the Department's intranet, which is accessible by all its employees. In addition this policy complies with the Department's commitment to embrace diversity and promote equality of opportunity.
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