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26 Nov 2008 : Column 2026W—continued

Social Fund

Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which Job Centre Plus districts underspent their allocations for (a) crisis loans, (b) budgeting loans and (c) community care grants in each year since 2003; how much and what proportion of the budget for each such district the underspend represented; and if he will make a statement. [214920]

Kitty Ussher: The loans budget, which covers crisis loans and budgeting loans, is managed centrally and re-allocations are made to Jobcentre Plus budget areas quarterly and towards the end of the year. Funds are taken from some of those budget areas with a projected end of year underspend and given to other budget areas. It is therefore not appropriate to consider which budget areas had an underspend on their loans budget.

The budget areas which underspent their community care grant allocation in 2007-08 are given in the following table, together with the amount of the underspend and the proportion of the budget which it represents.


26 Nov 2008 : Column 2027W
Community care grant budgets for 2007-08 which were underspent
Budget area Underspend (£) Underspend as proportion of budget (Percentage)

East of England

Essex

253,762

10.8

Norwich Benefit Delivery Centre

13,123

0.2

East Midlands

East Midlands North

37,795

1.0

London

Central and East London

14,898

0.2

London South

9,113

0.1

West London

10,981

0.3

North East

Northumbria

207

0.0

South Tyneside and Wear Valley

9,472

0.4

North West

Greater Liverpool and Cheshire

41,691

0.5

Chorlton Benefit Delivery Centre

987,891

8.0

Scotland

Inverness Benefit Delivery Centre

162,295

2.8

Springburn Benefit Delivery Centre

198,703

1.3

South West

South West Central

20,600

0.3

Wales

Llanelli Benefit Delivery Centre

3,570

0.1

South East Wales

1,090

0.0

Yorkshire and Humberside

Yorkshire and Humberside Bradford

1,213

0.0

Notes: 1. In recent years there have been many changes to the boundaries of Jobcentre Plus districts. In some cases, a district has been split and the parts merged with other districts. For such a newly created district, precise data is not available on the amount spent during the entire financial year in the area covered by that newly created district. The last split took place in August 2006. Underspends have therefore been considered only for the financial year 2007-08. During that year, some districts merged, so the underspends have been calculated based on the structure of Jobcentre Plus districts (now budget areas) at the end of the year. 2. The budgets used are the ones allocated at the start of the year 2007-08, adjusted to take account of boundary changes. 3. Some budget areas came under pressure from unforeseen expenditure, eg because of people affected by flooding. These budget areas applied for and were granted an allocation from the Contingency Reserve. They therefore spent more than their allocation at the start of the year 2007-08. 4. Some of the underspends were actually spent on clerical cases, which are not recorded on PBMIS. Sources: Departmental records of budgets.
DWP Social Fund Policy, Budget and Management Information System (PBMIS).
Screen prints taken from the Social Fund Computer System when a Jobcentre Plus district was closed.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many applications for (a) crisis loans, (b) budgeting loans and (c) community care grants were made to Jobcentre Plus in each month in the last 10 years for which information is available, broken down by (i) region and (ii) Jobcentre Plus district. [226220]

Kitty Ussher: The available information has been placed in the Library.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many grants of (a) crisis loans, (b) budgeting loans and (c) community care grants were made by Jobcentre Plus in each month of the last 10 years for which information is available, broken down by (i) region and (ii) Jobcentre Plus district. [226221]

Mr. McNulty: The available information has been placed in the Library.

Social Fund: Finance

Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was paid in (a) crisis loans, (b) budgeting loans and (c) community care grants to people in (i) each Jobcentre Plus district and (ii) each region in each month since April 2003; and if he will make a statement. [216051]

Kitty Ussher: The available information has been placed in the Library.


26 Nov 2008 : Column 2028W

Social Fund: Telephone Services

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what targets have been put in place for the length of time within which telephone calls to Social Fund offices must be answered. [237939]

Kitty Ussher: The administration of Jobcentre Plus 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.

Letter from Mel Groves:

Social Security Benefits

Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average processing time for (a) jobseekers allowance, (b) housing benefit, (c) crisis loan, (d) community care grant and (e) budgeting loan applications was in (i) each of the smallest geographical areas for which information is available and (ii) the UK in each quarter of each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [230440]

Mr. McNulty: The available information has been placed in the Library.

Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his Department’s latest estimate is of the savings it will make from changing the backdating period for (a) pension credit, (b) council tax benefit and (c) housing benefit; and if he will make a statement. [230530]

Ms Rosie Winterton: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Wrexham (Ian Lucas) today.

Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many unprocessed applications for (a) crisis loans, (b) budgeting loans, (c) community care grants, (d) disability living allowance and (e) severe disability living allowance there were at the end of each quarter of the last five years (i) in total and (ii) broken down by the lowest geographical area for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [231133]


26 Nov 2008 : Column 2029W

Jonathan Shaw: Information on unprocessed applications for crisis loans, budgeting loans and community care grants has been placed in the Library.

Severe disablement allowance has been abolished for all new non-linking claims with a potential date of entitlement on or after 6 April 2001. Customers in receipt of severe disability allowance prior to 6 April
26 Nov 2008 : Column 2030W
2001 will remain entitled as long as they continue to satisfy the qualifying conditions. As there can be no new claims for severe disability allowance from 6 April 2001, there are no unprocessed applications.

Information on unprocessed applications for disability living allowance new claims (normal rules) is provided in the following tables.

DLA claims outstanding
2004-05 2005-06 2006-07

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

Edinburgh

3,069

2,805

2,353

2,310

3,383

2,573

2,574

2,393

2,749

2,931

2,485

2,748

Newcastle

2,983

2,679

2,473

2,536

2,848

3,178

2,619

2,742

2,806

440

1

n/a

Leeds

4,659

3,876

4,022

4,424

3,975

4,095

3,916

4,270

4,439

5,062

4,521

5,086

Manchester

3,852

3,382

3,130

3,144

3,026

2,738

2,606

2,743

2,938

4,116

4,265

3,726

Bootle

4,256

4,035

3,029

3,505

3,512

3,327

2,237

3,153

3,572

4,187

4,236

3,948

Midlands

8,178

7,953

6,994

7,441

7,342

8,142

7,065

7,266

7,748

8,723

8,884

9,276

Bristol

4,465

3,538

3,159

3,432

3,581

4,230

3,859

3,798

5,124

5,165

5,370

5,114

Wales

4,053

4,168

3,266

3,300

3,440

3,768

3,830

3,454

3,399

3,902

4,364

4,271

Wembley

8,614

8,648

8,811

9,012

8,614

8,616

8,193

9,733

9,646

10,015

10,169

9,803

Sutton

6,635

6,655

6,631

5,911

4,121

1,999

69

1

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Glasgow

2,482

3,031

2,540

2,497

3,514

3,524

3,592

2,558

2,820

2,925

2,999

2,810

DCPU 5 NCU

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

2,287

3,946

5,686

4,786

4,728

4,933

6,041

3,970

Bootle NE

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

1,572

Wales NE

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

1,402

DCPU 1 NCU

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

National

54,250

50,785

46,424

48,265

49,671

50,363

47,019

47,283

50,245

54,631

56,454

53,745


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