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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.
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.
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.
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about what targets have been put in place to measure the length of time within which telephone calls to Social Fund offices must be answered. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
There are currently no targets in place regarding the length of time within which telephone calls to Social Fund offices must be answered.
We are part way through the implementation of our telephony modernisation programme. Therefore, although this does not currently form part of our Customer Service Target, we do measure the percentage of calls answered for those Crisis Loan lines which are supported by appropriate modernised telephony systems. We monitor this against an industry standard of 90% of calls received to be answered, which supports optimum deployment of resources.
As we fully roll out our telephony modernisation programme to support the delivery of Social Fund services on a uniform telephony platform, we will keep under review and develop our targets to support future service delivery.
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]
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
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 | |
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