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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:

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.


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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 (£)

Under 20

248

20-30

282

30-40

324

40 or over

403

All

312

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.


20 Jan 2009 : Column 1406W

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

Owner-occupiers

4,346,000

72.9

Social renters

1,312,000

22.0

Private renters

297,000

5.0

Not known

4,000

0.1

Total

5,959,000

100.0

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.


20 Jan 2009 : Column 1407W
Number and risk of working age adults living in households with incomes less than 60 per cent. of contemporary median household income who are not in work, before and after housing costs, United Kingdom
Before housing costs After housing costs

Number (million) Proportion (percentage) Number (million) Proportion (percentage)

2002-03

3.4

37

4.3

47

2003-04

3.3

37

4.3

47

2004-05

3.2

35

4.0

44

2005-06

3.4

37

4.3

47

2006-07

3.5

38

4.5

48

Notes:
1. These statistics are based on Households Below Average Income, sourced from the Family Resources Survey and Low Income Dynamics data, sourced from the British Household Panel Survey.
2. Small changes should be treated with caution as these will be affected by sampling error and variability in non-response.
3. The reference period for Households Below Average Income figures is single financial years.
4. The income measures used to derive the estimates shown employ the same methodology as the Department for Work and Pensions publication ‘Households Below Average Income’ series, which uses disposable household income, adjusted (or “equivalised”) for household size and composition, as an income measure as a proxy for standard of living.
5. For the Households Below Average Income series, incomes have been equivalised using OECD equalisation factors.
6. Numbers of adults have been rounded to the nearest 100,000 and proportions have been rounded to the nearest percentage.
7. Adults have been classified as workless if they are unemployed or economically inactive.
8. Adults have been classified as being of working age if they are 64 or below for men or 59 or below for women.
Source:
Households Below Average Income

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]


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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

All children in working age lone parent families

1,200,000

of which:

Parent is working full-time

Parent is working part-time

200,000

Parent is not working

900,000

Source:
Households Below Average Income, 2006-07

Table 2: Numbers of children living in households with incomes below 60 per cent of median in 2006-07 in a family with more than one working age parent by whether at least one of the adults is working full-time, at least one of the adults is working part-time or neither parent is working, United Kingdom
Work status of family with more than one working age parent Number of children

All children in families with more than one working age parent

1,700,000

of which:

At least one parent is working full-time

1,000,000

At least one parent is working part-time

500,000

Neither parent working

400,000

“—” Indicates less than 50,000 children.
Notes:
1. Figures in table 1 may not sum due to rounding.
2. In table 2, the categories ‘At least one parent is working full-time’ and ‘At least one parent is working part-time’ are not disjoint, as families where one parent is working full-time and the other working part-time will be included in both categories. Figures therefore do not sum.
3. These statistics are based on Households Below Average Income, sourced from the Family Resources Survey.
4. Small differences should be treated with caution as these will be affected by sampling error and variability in non-response.
5. The reference period for Households Below Average Income figures is single financial years.
6. The income measures used to derive the estimates shown employ the same methodology as the Department for Work and Pensions publication ‘Households Below Average Income’ series, which uses net disposable household income, adjusted (or “equivalised”) for household size and composition, as an income measure as a proxy for standard of living.
7. Incomes have been equivalised using OECD equalisation factors.
8. Numbers of children have been rounded to the nearest hundred thousand children.
9. Children have been counted as being in workless families where they are in lone parent families where the parent does not work or in couple families where both parents do not work.
10. Families have been included if the parent is of working age (i.e. 64 or below for men, 59 or below for women) for lone parent families and both parents are of working age for couple families.
11. An adult has been classified as working full-time if they are working for 31 or more hours per week, in line with the Households Below Average Income publication.
Source:
Households Below Average Income, 2006-07

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