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14 Jan 2009 : Column 759W—continued
Yorkshire Forward
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what estimate he has made of the benefit to the local economy arising from the operation of Yorkshire Forward since 2006. [246169]
Mr. McFadden: The Government have commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers to conduct an independent evaluation of the economic impact of RDAs. Their report has just been completed and I will be presenting it to the House shortly.
Treasury
Child Tax Credit
Steve Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families claimed children's tax credit for 2002-03; if he will estimate the number of families who were eligible for the credit in that year; what the last date is on which claims for that year may be submitted; and if he will make a statement. [247170]
Mr. Timms: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws) on 14 July 2005, Official Report, column 1173W, and to paragraph 5.11 of Budget 2002, which can be found on the HM Treasury website at:
Claims for children's tax credit for tax year 2002-03 must be submitted to HMRC by 31 January 2009.
Children: Day Care
Jenny Willott: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to his Statement of 24 November 2008, Official Report, columns 489-504, on the Pre-Budget Report, what form the proposed trials of systems to make child care payments more closely reflect child care costs are to take; where and when they are planned to take place; and when the results will be made available. [246899]
Mr. Timms: New Opportunities, published on 13 January 2009, provides further details on the pilots to make child care payments that more closely reflect child care costs at the time they are incurred. The document also announces the forthcoming publication of a refresh to the 10-year child care strategy, which will contain additional information on the pilots.
Cox Review
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the (a) total and (b) staffing cost of the Cox review of creativity in business was. [247437]
Angela Eagle: The cost of the design, printing and distribution of the report of the Cox review of creativity in business, excluding internal staffing costs, was £34,420. half of which was met by the then Department of Trade and Industry. Any Treasury internal staffing costs associated with the review formed part of general departmental staff costs and are not therefore available separately.
Non-domestic Rates: Valuation
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment has been made of the effect on the economy of the changes to business rates in ports made by the Valuation Office Agency. [245977]
John Healey: I have been asked to reply.
It is not the Government's practice to make any specific assessment of the overall effect on the British economy of particular tax bills issued in the normal course of business under existing legislation. The legislation under which the VOA is operating is designed to ensure
fairness in the tax system, so that businesses using similar properties face equivalent tax liabilities regardless of their location.
Private Finance Initiative
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the total capital value of all (a) operational and (b) non-operational signed private finance initiative projects is for (i) Government Departments, (ii) local authorities, (iii) the NHS, (iv) police authorities and (v) Government agencies; [247606]
(2) how many signed private finance initiative projects have become operational since 1997. [247607]
Angela Eagle: The full list of all signed PFI projects can be found on HM Treasury's website at:
For each PFI project, this list details the project name, the capital value, the constituency, the procuring authority and the annual unitary charge that needs to be paid over the life of the contract.
Welfare Tax Credits
Jenny Willott: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) in how many and what proportion of disputed tax credit cases the liabilities were (a) wholly and (b) partly written off in each month since April 2003; [246901]
(2) how many and what proportion of tax credit claims were disputed in each month between April 2003 and April 2008. [246902]
Mr. Timms: The Tax Credit Office does not separately record whether an overpayment is written off in part or in full.
For information up to and including 2007-08, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 13 October 2008, Official Report, columns 1010-11W.
The corresponding information for October and November 2008 is provided in the following table:
| Households | |
| 2008 | Number of newly disputed overpayments |
Work and Pensions
Airwave Service
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many Airwave handsets issued to his Department's Fraud Investigation Service have been lost in each year since their introduction; and how many handsets issued to the service have been disabled by the service provider through (a) loss, (b) breakage and (c) other reasons in each such year. [246191]
Jonathan Shaw: The information is as follows:
(a) The Airwave service went live in the DWP in August 2007, and in the 2007-08 year, one radio was lost and disabled. Since then no radios have been lost.
(b) There have been no breakages to radio terminals that have necessitated a terminal to be disabled.
(c) In one or two instances the radios fitted to surveillance vehicles can be difficult to remove, so when these vehicles are in for routine mechanical servicing the radios are temporarily disabled, as a precaution, for the duration of the service.
Cold Weather Payments: Hertfordshire
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of households in (a) Hemel Hempstead, (b) Hertfordshire and (c) the UK which will be eligible for cold weather payments if the temperature falls below the level which triggers payment of the allowance in 2008-09. [243980]
Kitty Ussher: The temperature criterion for cold weather payments is that the average temperature has been recorded as, or is forecast to be, 0° C or below over seven consecutive days at the weather station linked to the customer's postcode.
The estimated number of benefit units(1) eligible for cold weather payments is not available by local authority, parliamentary constituency or county, but only by weather station.
The estimated number of benefit units(1) eligible for cold weather payments in Great Britain in 2008-09 if the temperature criterion is met is 4.1 million.
(1)( )Cold weather payments are made to benefit units rather than households. For example, a disabled adult on income support living with his mother on pension credit counts as two benefit units but would be thought of as one household.
Notes:
1. The estimate is the one most recently available, but it is only an estimate.
2. Estimates of the number of benefit units eligible for cold weather payments are not available by parliamentary constituency or county.
3. Information regarding cold weather payments in Northern Ireland is a matter for the Northern Ireland office. estimates of the number of households eligible for cold weather payments are not available.
Source:
Analysis of a scan of benefit recipients eligible for cold weather payments taken at the end of October 2008.
Housing Benefit
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average processing time was for (a) new housing benefit claims and (b) reassessed housing benefit claims (i) in total and (ii) in each of the smallest geographical areas for which figures are available in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [246597]
Kitty Ussher: The available information has been placed in the Library.
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average length of time was for a housing benefit claim to be suspended pending a reassessment following notification of a change of circumstances (a) in total and (b) in each of the smallest geographical areas for which figures are available in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [246598]
Kitty Ussher: The information is not available.
Income Support: Ex-servicemen
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 16 December 2008, Official Report, column 616W, on income support: ex-servicemen, what proportion of the weekly payments of compensation schemes are disregarded; and if he will make a statement. [246761]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 12 January 2009]: Normally for the income-related benefits, all income is taken into account, with disregards available only in specific circumstances.
Payments to ex-servicemen attract a disregard of £10 when calculating entitlement to income support and the other income-related benefits.
This disregard, which gives war pensioners an advantage over other disabled groups, is paid in recognition of the special nature of these payments.
Jobseeker’s Allowance
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many individuals receiving jobseeker's allowance were (a) UK born and (b) non-UK born, broken down by (i) local authority area and (ii) Government Office region, in each year since 1997; [247165]
(2) how many individuals receiving housing benefit were (a) UK born and (b) non-UK born, broken down by (i) local authority area and (ii) Government Office region, in each year since 1997. [247166]
Mr. McNulty: The information is not available; benefit systems do not record place of birth.
Local Housing Allowance
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of local housing allowance payments have been made (a) directly to tenants, (b) directly to landlords on grounds of the tenant's vulnerability and (c) directly to landlords on the grounds that the tenant has rent arrears in excess of eight weeks, since April 2008. [247618]
Kitty Ussher: This information is not available.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department is taking to monitor the effectiveness of the implementation of provisions within local housing allowance regulations for local authorities to make direct payment to landlords in cases where claimants are vulnerable. [247619]
Kitty Ussher: The Department is undertaking a review of local housing allowance over the two years from the commencement of its national roll-out in April 2008. As part of this review, we will be monitoring the effectiveness of direct payments to landlords in cases of vulnerable claimant.
Means Tested Benefits
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which benefits provided by his Department take account of assumed interest on saving in calculating entitlements; how frequently assumed interest rates are reviewed; when the last such review took place; what the assumed rate of interest is; and if he will make a statement. [246358]
Kitty Ussher: Tariff income rules apply to all the income-related benefits for which the Department is responsible: income support; income-based jobseekers allowance; income-based employment and support allowance; pension credit; housing benefit; and council tax benefit.
For the information about tariff income, I refer the hon. Member to the written answer given to the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, Central (Jim Cousins) on 15 December 2008, Official Report, columns 418-19W.
National Workload Forecasts
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what (a) methodology and (b) assumptions Jobcentre Plus uses in calculating its national workload forecasts; and if he will make a statement; [245479]
(2) how often Jobcentre Plus updates its national workload forecasts; and what period is covered by each forecast. [245481]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 12 January 2009] : A common methodology is used to produce the projections of workloads across the benefits, based on the estimates of caseload and new awards of benefit required to forecast benefit expenditure, and published at the pre-Budget report and the Budget. The caseload and new claims are projected using the most appropriate demographic, benefit payment, operational and policy information, and project forward Jobcentre Plus management information. The projections are also adjusted to take into account any seasonality in volumes.
The underlying assumptions vary according to the benefit, but are based on projecting forward recent trends, taking into account changes in relevant factors that are expected in the future. The number of assumptions underlying the projection is very large and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Jobcentre Plus updates its national workload projection once a quarter, on 31 January, 30 April, 31 July and 31 October. Each projection covers the period up to 2020-21.
Post Office Card Account
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will place in the Library a copy of the (a) invitation to tender, (b) specifications and (c) descriptive documents relating to the Post Office card account tender process. [245474]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 12 January 2009]: As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced to the House in his statement of 13 November 2008, the procurement exercise for a successor to the Post Office card account has been halted and instead another contract will be awarded to Post Office Ltd.
The tender process never reached a final conclusion. We have already published the notice that appeared in the Official Journal of the European Union (already in the Library) which set out what we intended to procure.
We do not intend to publish any other related documents.
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the change in revenue which the Post Office will experience as a result of the award of the Post Office card account contract in each year of the contract period. [245475]
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