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25 Mar 2009 : Column 448W—continued
Work and Pensions
Children: Maintenance
Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people who have made overpayments to the Child Support Agency are waiting for a refund; and how many have been waiting for a refund for longer than (a) one month, (b) three months, (c) six months and (d) one year. [263628]
Kitty Ussher: I have consulted with the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission who are now responsible for the child maintenance system including the Child Support Agency. They have confirmed that the information requested is not available.
Community Care Grants
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of applications for community care grants were rejected in the most recent period in each of the smallest geographic areas for which figures are available. [264589]
Kitty Ussher [holding answer 19 March 2009]: The information is provided in the following table.
| Jobcentre Plus Social Fund budget area (ordered by region) | Percentage of community care grant applications initially refused from 1 April 2008 to 28 February 2009 |
| Note: Percentages are based on applications processed from 1 April 2008 to 28 February 2009, not on applications received during that time period. Source: DWP Social Fund Policy, Budget and Management Information System. | |
Council Tax Benefits
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the revenue forgone by the Exchequer by increasing personal allowances for the purposes of calculating council tax benefits by (a) 10, (b) 20, (c) 30, (d) 40 and (e) 50 per cent.; and if he will estimate the effect of each level of increase on the number of claimants of council tax benefit. [264427]
Kitty Ussher [holding answer 18 March 2009]: The information is in the following table.
| Estimates of the cost and number of council tax beneficiaries if personal allowances are increased | ||
| Increase in personal allowance (percentage) | Number of beneficiaries | Cost in annually managed expenditure (£ million per year) |
| Notes: 1. All figures are for Great Britain. 2. Beneficiaries are rounded to the nearest 10,000 and costs are rounded to the nearest £10 million. These include both customers who gain and those who become entitled to the benefit. 3. Each beneficiary represents a benefit unit, which can be a single claimant or a couple. 4. The impact is estimated using the Department’s Policy Simulation Model for 2008-09, using data from the 2006-07 Family Resources Survey up-rated to 2008-09 prices, benefit rates and earnings levels, and is calibrated to latest published forecasts and policies. 5. Results are subject to sampling and reporting errors and estimation assumptions, and are therefore indicative only. No behavioural changes are assumed. | ||
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the effect on the public purse would be of raising the applicable amounts at which households begin to start paying council tax to (a) £116 per week for a (i) single person aged under 25, (ii) single person aged over 25 and (iii) couple of working age, (b) £174 per week for a single person aged between 65 and 74 years old and (c) £177 per week for a single person aged 75 years and over. [264762]
Kitty Ussher [holding answer 19 March 2009]: The information is in the following table.
The table shows estimates of the cost and number of council tax benefit (CTB) beneficiaries and the saving and number of losers if the following changes are made to applicable amounts in CTB:
Option 1: Applicable amount for single people under 25 set to £116
Option 2: Applicable amount for single people over 25(1) set to £116
Option 3: Applicable amount for working age couples(2) set to £116
Option 4: Applicable amount for single people between 65 and 74 set to £174
Option 5: Applicable amount for single people 75 and over set to £177
(1) This change has not been applied to elderly cases i.e. only applied to those aged under 60.
(2) This has only been applied to cases where both are aged under 60.
| Change applicable amounts in council tax benefit for some groups | |||||
| Change in applicable amount | Number of beneficiaries | Cost in annually managed expenditure (£ million p.a. ) | Number of losers | Saving in annually managed expenditure (£ million p.a. ) | Impact on annually managed expenditure (£ million p.a. ) |
| Notes: 1. All figures are for Great Britain. 2. Beneficiaries and losers are rounded to the nearest 10,000. Costs and savings are rounded to the nearest £10 million. These estimates include both customers who gain/lose and those who become entitled or lose entitlement to the benefit. 3. Each beneficiary represents a benefit unit, which can be a single claimant or a couple. 4. The impact is estimated using the Department's Policy Simulation Model for 2008-09, using data from the 2006-07 Family Resources Survey uprated to 2008-09 prices, benefit rates and earnings levels, and is calibrated to latest published forecasts and policies. 5. Results are subject to sampling and reporting errors and estimation assumptions, and are therefore indicative only. No behavioural changes are assumed. | |||||
Departmental Manpower
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many full-time equivalent staff in his Department worked primarily or solely on the Social Fund in each of the last 10 years. [263077]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 12 March 2009]: 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 for Work and Pensions has asked me to reply to your question asking how many full-time equivalent staff in the Department worked primarily or solely on the Social Fund in each of the last 10 years. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
The tables attached at Annex 1 provide the average number of staff working on Social Fund from April 2008 to September 2008, the mid point of the 2008/09 operational year for each Benefit Delivery Centre and Contact Centre.
The table below shows the approximate numbers working on social fund in each year since 2003/4. No data are available prior to 2003/04.
| Staff (FTEs) | |
Historically it is difficult to make a robust estimate of the number of staff working on Social Fund alone. Although Social Fund activity was recorded on our Activity Based Modelling System, we know that for many of these staff Social Fund was only part of their work. Following centralisation of benefit processing, which began in April 2006 and was completed in March 2008, we can be more confident that our data represent people working full time on Social Fund.
| Annex 1: Social Fund processing locations and average staff numbers between April 2008 and September 2008 | |
| Benefit delivery centre | Average staff numbers (FTEs) |
| Source: Jobcentre Plus ABM systems | |
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