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20 Jan 2009 : Column 1404W—continued
Electronic Data Systems
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether EDS will achieve capability maturity model integration levels 4 and 5 in the IT services they provide to his Department. [248937]
Jonathan Shaw: EDS have provided the following statement:
“EDS achieved Capability Mature Model Integration (CMMI) level 3 in all its UK DWP Applications Services in May 2007. It intends to continue to improve the quality of the services it provides to the Department and plans to move from CMMI level 3 to CMMI level 5 in the UK by the end of 2010”.
Employment: Discrimination
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether, following the European Court of Justice rulings in the case of Coleman v. Attridge Law, he plans to make it an offence to harass or discriminate against anyone who is associated with someone with long-term medical conditions such as HIV. [248854]
Jonathan Shaw [holding answer 19 January 2009]: We are considering carefully the implications of the European Court of Justice's judgment in the case of Coleman v. Attridge Law for the prohibition of direct discrimination and harassment in domestic disability discrimination.
Employment: Lone Parents
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate his Department has made of the average income for a lone parent with a single child in their first year back into work if they worked on average (a) 16 hours, (b) 18 hours, (c) 20 hours, (d) 22 hours, (e) 24 hours, (f) 26 hours, (g) 28 hours, (h) 30 hours, (i) 32 hours, (j) 34 hours, (k) 36 hours, (l) 38 hours and (m) 40 hours, per week in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [244144]
Kitty Ussher: Information on the average income for a lone parent with a single child in their first year back into work is not available.
The available information is shown in the following table.
| Median net weekly income for lone parents with a single child in work by hours of work, 2006-07 | |
| Number of hours worked per week | Median net weekly income (£) |
| Notes: 1. The Family Resources Survey (FRS) is a nationally representative sample of approximately 26,000 households. 2. Data for 2006-07 were collected between April 2006 and March 2007. 3. The figures are based on a sample of households which have been adjusted for non-response using multi-purpose grossing factors which align the FRS to Government Office Region populations by age and sex. Estimates are subject to sampling error and remaining non-response error. 4. The FRS does not collect details on when the respondent started work. So the estimates include lone parents who may always have been in work and never on benefits. 5. The categories for the number of hours worked have been grouped together owing to small sample sizes. 6. Weekly income is based on self-assessment and therefore may be subject to misreporting. Source: Family Resources Survey | |
Industrial Health and Safety: Cancer
Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department has taken to (a) assist cancer survivors to return to work and (b) raise awareness that cancer is covered by disability discrimination legislation. [247216]
Jonathan Shaw: Jobcentre Plus offers a number of employment programmes which help disabled people gain and retain employment. These programmes are open to people with a range of disabilities, including those with cancer-related conditions.
For example, customers in receipt of incapacity benefits or employment and support allowance can access Pathways to Work, which offers a series of interviews with a specialist personal adviser, a condition management programme and the possibility of financial incentives when the customer returns to work. Other customers who have a disability or health condition that affects them in the workplace can receive information and support from the disability employment adviser. The disability employment adviser can also provide access to a number of specialist programmes that can help them move into paid work, including, Access to Work, Work Preparation, Residential Training and Workstep, a programme of supported employment.
Amendments were made to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 by the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, which included provisions to extend protection from disability discrimination for people with cancer effectively from the point of diagnosis. Following these changes, the Department ran a Disability Discrimination Act awareness-raising campaign called “Adjusting for Better Business” from December 2005 to May 2006. The Department continues to provide information about the Disability Discrimination Act, including the inclusion of people with cancer within the Disability Discrimination Act definition of disability, on both the DWP and the Directgov websites.
Through the “Employ ability” programme, we are also engaging with employers to improve their understanding of disability and their attitudes towards employing disabled people.
The key aims of “Employ ability” include challenging negative assumptions about the skills and talent that disabled workers, and those with long-term health conditions, have to offer, building the confidence of employers in recruiting and retaining disabled workers. “Employ ability” activity is aimed at small to medium-sized employers and is being rolled out to Scotland, Wales and seven English regions between 24 March 2008 and 27 February 2009.
Pensioners: Housing
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of pensioner households were (a) owner-occupiers, (b) social renters and (c) private renters in 2007-08. [248833]
Mr. Iain Wright: I have been asked to reply.
It is estimated from the 2007 Labour Force Survey that there were a total of 5,959,000 pensioner households in the period April to June 2007.
Pensioner households are defined as those households where the household reference person has reached pensionable age. Currently, females reach pensionable age at 60; males reach pensionable age at 65.
The estimated number of pensioner households by tenure in 2007 was as follows:
| Estimated number of pensioner households by tenure, England, April to June 2007 | ||
| Housing tenure | Number of pensioner households | Percentage |
| Source: Labour Force Survey, Office for National Statistics | ||
Poverty
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the Department’s estimate is of the number and proportion of adults (a) who were out of work and in poverty and (b) who had moved out of poverty as a result of moving into work in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [242186]
Mr. McNulty: The information on the number and proportion of adults who were out of work and in poverty is shown in the following table.
Information on the number and proportion of adults who had moved out of poverty as a result of moving into work is not available. Poverty is a complex and multidimensional issue with many different factors acting at the same time in moving individuals into or out of poverty.
The risk of a working age adult who is working being in a low income household in the United Kingdom in 2006-07 is much lower at 7 per cent. (before housing costs) and 11 per cent. (after housing costs), than for workless working age adults, where the equivalent proportions are 38 per cent. (before housing costs) and 48 per cent. (after housing costs) as shown in the aforementioned table. Data from the Low Income Dynamics publication illustrate that an increase in the number of workers or full time workers in a household greatly increases the likelihood of that household moving out of low income. The Low Income Dynamics paper is available in the Library.
Poverty: Children
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many children are living in relative poverty in a working age single parent family; and how many of them are living in a family in which the adult is (a) working full-time, (b) working part-time and (c) not working, broken down by the smallest geographical area for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement; [244146]
(2) how many children are living in relative poverty in a household with more than one working age parent, and how many of them are living in a household in which (a) at least one of the adults is (i) working full-time and (ii) working part-time and (b) neither parent is working, broken down by the smallest geographical area for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [244147]
Kitty Ussher: Available information is shown in the following tables.
Child poverty statistics, published in the Households Below Average Income series, only allow a breakdown of the overall number of children in relative poverty at Government office region level or for inner or outer London, with no further tabulations available broken down by Government office region or by any lower geography.
| Table 1: Numbers of children living in households with incomes below 60 per cent of median in 2006-07 in a working age lone parent family overall and by whether the adult is working full-time, working part-time or not working, United Kingdom | |
| Work status of working age lone parent family | Number of children |
| Source: Households Below Average Income, 2006-07 | |
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