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5 Mar 2009 : Column 1793W—continued


Industrial Injuries: Compensation

Julie Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make it his policy to establish a compensation scheme to make provision for the payment of employer liability claims for injury and illness which relate to employers whose insurers cannot be traced. [260503]

Mr. McNulty: The Government have no plans to introduce such a scheme but are fully committed to ensuring that people who become ill as a result of their work can receive the compensation to which they are entitled.

The Code of Practice for Tracing Employers’ Liability Insurance Policies enables potential claimants to identify employer’s liability policies which they need to claim against. The Department for Work and Pensions monitors the success rate of the Code of Practice, and works with insurers and claimant representatives to improve tracing success rates. For example, we have asked the Association of British Insurers to consider the feasibility of an electronic database for recording details of all future employers’ liability insurance policies.


5 Mar 2009 : Column 1794W

Jobcentre Plus: Labour Turnover

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many Jobcentre Plus staff have been (a) recruited and (b) made redundant in each Jobcentre Plus region in each (i) year, (ii) month and (iii) quarter since 1 January 2006; and if he will make a statement. [249890]

Mr. McNulty: 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:

Jobcentre Plus: Sutton

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the address is of each Jobcentre which has closed in the London borough of Sutton since 2002; on what date each closed; and if he will make a statement. [258542]

Mr. McNulty: 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:

Jobcentre Plus: Telephone Services

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many calls were received by each Jobcentre Plus call centre in each of the last 24 months; and what the (a) average waiting time for calls to be dealt with and (b) number of dropped calls was in each call centre in each of those months. [251407]

Mr. McNulty [holding answer 26 January 2009]: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the acting chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked the acting chief executive to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.

Letter from Mel Groves:

Lehman Brothers: Pensions

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what requests have been made to the Pension Protection Fund in respect of employees of Lehman Brothers by the Lehman Pension Fund Trustees. [260370]

Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 2 March 2009]: Following a qualifying insolvency event the Lehman Brothers pension scheme entered an assessment period on the 15 September 2008. The assessment period will last for a minimum of one year and could be longer. Disclosure of scheme-specific information is restricted under section 197 of the Pensions Act 2004.

During the assessment period, the Lehman Brothers pension fund trustees retain responsibility for the administration of the scheme and for communicating with and making pension payments to scheme members. The trustees must continue to act in the interests of all the scheme members. However, during an assessment period, various restrictions and controls will apply in relation to the scheme. In particular, pensions will be restricted to pension protection fund compensation levels.


5 Mar 2009 : Column 1796W

During the assessment period the Pension Protection Fund will work with the trustees to establish whether the scheme has sufficient assets to pay benefits at least as good as PPF compensation. The PPF will in particular seek to pursue any debts owed to the scheme.

Roscommon Way Extension

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment has been made of the effect of the Roscommon Way Extension on Canvey Island on the (a) pipelines and (b) other major accident hazard sites in its vicinity; and if he will make a statement. [259636]

Jonathan Shaw: The Health and Safety Executive has made no assessments of the impact of the Roscommon Way Extension on Canvey Island on major accident hazard sites or pipelines in its vicinity.

Social Security Benefits

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what the processing time for each new benefit claim was, broken down by benefit type in each of the last 24 months; [249280]

(2) how many new benefit claims waiting to be processed there were in each of the last 24 months, broken down by benefit type. [249281]

Kitty Ussher [holding answer 19 January 2009]: The number of outstanding claims provides a snapshot of claims that are waiting to be processed at the end of the month. It is entirely possible that claims outstanding at the end of the month will be processed within the average actual clearance time target.

The available information is in the following tables.


5 Mar 2009 : Column 1797W

5 Mar 2009 : Column 1798W
New c laims- average actual clearance times
Days
Bereavement benefits Incapacity benefit Incapacity benefit for young people Income support Jobseeker’s allowance Maternity allowance

January 2007

14.27

16.97

26.23

9.7

13.1

13.68

February 2007

16.64

14.73

24.9

8.93

13.4

14.89

March 2007

17.75

13.77

24.16

8.79

12.85

13.2

April 2007

16.04

13.97

25.81

9.34

12.62

14.77

May 2007

17.22

13.98

24.55

9.84

12.49

17.7

June 2007

20.55

14.61

28.15

9.54

11.04

16.77

July 2007

18.99

13.62

25.25

9.37

11.25

16.95

August 2007

19.09

12.46

22.11

9.62

11.47

18.07

September 2007

18.64

12.19

23.53

9.61

10.61

21.36

October 2007

22.29

12.35

24.96

9.43

10.22

22.25

November 2007

17.76

11.93

26.4

9.19

9.42

19.79

December 2007

23.1

13.02

28.37

9.52

9.89

19.08

January 2008

19.13

13.6

27.81

8.93

9.79

19.54

February 2008

16.28

11.32

24.31

7.92

9.75

17.53

March 2008

18.2

11.41

22.14

8.09

9.43

17.19

April 2008

15.75

11.11

24.31

8.4

9.94

19.63

May 2008

16.74

11.33

20.98

8.15

9.65

20.45

June 2008

17.74

11.2

22.01

8.08

9.9

22.83

July 2008

14.06

11.29

21.33

8.14

10.19

26.14

August 2008

14.1

11.34

19.81

8.15

10.43

27.87

September 2008

14.94

12.04

22.19

8.46

10.02

27.55

October 2008

14.87^

12.38

23.96

8.65

9.94

13.28

November 2008

13.18

15.57

27.84

9.41

9.99

10.68

December 2008

14.82

21.68

31.99

9.35

10.36

12.21


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