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30 Mar 2009 : Column 898W—continued
Work and Pensions
Crisis Loans
Miss Begg: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many crisis loans awarded in each of the last five years were made to applicants who had previously received more than three crisis loans in the same year. [262133]
Kitty Ussher: The available information is provided in the following table.
| Crisis l oan awards for Great Britain | |
| Number of awards made to applicants who had previously received four or more awards in the year | |
| Notes: 1. If, for example, an applicant received seven awards in a financial year, three awards would be counted in the table. 2. The numbers of applications and repayable loans which could be held on the Social Fund Computer System for an individual customer were increased in October 2006. This means that the figures for 2003-04 to 2005-06 are not strictly comparable with that for 2006-07 or for 2007-08, but the impact is small. 3. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100. Source: Analysis of scans of Crisis Loan final decisions taken in each financial year and held on the Social Fund Computer System on 30 September following the financial year. A final decision is either an initial decision or a review decision. One award is counted for each application which is successful initially and/or on review. For each financial year: awards for which initial decisions were made before the financial year but which were reviewed in the financial year are included on the scan; awards on which initial decisions were made in the financial year but which were reviewed after the year ended are not included on the scan. | |
Departmental Energy
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much (a) electricity, (b) gas and (c) other fuel has been used by (i) his Department and (ii) each of its agencies since its inception. [267329]
Jonathan Shaw: The following table gives a breakdown of the energy used by the Department, including its agencies since 2001. As this is consumption data only, it has not been subject to weather correction, and will therefore vary from information published in previous Sustainable Development in Government reports:
| Electricity MWh | Gas MWh | Oil MWh | Total MWh | |
Additionally, in 2007-08 the Department consumed 39,433 kWh of heat from waste.
Employment: Autism
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the percentage of people diagnosed with autism who were in employment in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [264835]
Jonathan Shaw: The Department for Work and Pensions does not hold information on employment rates for people with autism.
Flowers
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was spent by his Department on flowers in the last 12 months. [266285]
Jonathan Shaw: The Department for Work and Pensions does not have a separate or identifiable account code in departmental finance records to distinguish expenditure on flowers. To try and identify any such expenditure would incur a disproportionate amount of time and cost.
Spending public money on flowers as gifts for staff is not allowed under any circumstances, in accordance with published departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety which is based on the principles set out in Managing Public Money and the Treasury handbook on Regularity and Propriety.
Housing Benefit
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what tapers have been applied in calculations of entitlements to housing benefit in each of the last three years. [266318]
Kitty Ussher: Entitlement to housing benefit is assessed by comparing a customer’s net income with an amount intended to cover day to day living expenses called an applicable amount. If the customer’s income is below or equal to the applicable amount, they will normally receive the maximum available help with their rent.
If the net income is above the applicable amount, a fixed taper of 65p for each pound that the income exceeds that level is applied. This means the amount of housing benefit is reduced by 65p for each pound of income above the applicable amount.
The fixed taper has been at 65p since the current housing benefit scheme was introduced in 1998.
Jobcentre Plus: Internet
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) job searches Jobcentre Plus handled through its website and (b) employers posted vacancies through Jobcentre Plus’ Employer Direct Online service in each (i) region and (ii) Jobcentre Plus district in each (A) year from 2002 to 2009 and (B) of the last 24 months. [264264]
Mr. McNulty: People across the country can search for jobs anywhere in the country via the Jobcentre Plus website. It is therefore not possible to determine which region or Jobcentre Plus district a user lives in.
Information on the number of employers who posted vacancies on Employer Direct online is not collated centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Local Housing Allowance
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) people and (b) households received local housing allowance in each of the last four quarters. [266284]
Kitty Ussher: This information is not currently available.
Mortgages: Government Assistance
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what level of assistance his Department provided for vulnerable households under the support for mortgage interest scheme in the period immediately prior to 5 January 2009; and what level has been provided under the scheme since that date; [266307]
(2) what definition of vulnerable his Department uses in respect of its support for mortgage interest scheme. [266311]
Kitty Ussher: Help is provided towards the interest on mortgages (known as support for mortgage interest (SMI)) as part of income support (IS), income-based jobseeker’s allowance (JSA(IB)), income-related employment and support allowance (ESA(IR)) and state pension credit (SPC).
Prior to 5 January, home owners claiming IS, JSA(IB), ESA(IR) generally had to serve a waiting period of 39 weeks before assistance was provided towards their eligible housing costs. Customers in receipt of state pension credit (SPC) receive help immediately with their housing costs as they do not serve a waiting period.
Some home owners, who were considered to be vulnerable, received help towards their housing costs earlier than 39 weeks. Help for these groups was provided at 50 per cent. of eligible mortgage interest after eight weeks then full eligible assistance after 26 weeks. The groups were: carers; widow(er)s or people who have been abandoned by their partner and who had responsibility for the care of a child; prisoners detained in custody pending trial or sentence upon conviction; and those who had been refused payments under an insurance policy due to either a pre-existing medical condition or because they were infected by HIV or AIDs.
From 5 January 2009, all working age customers (those claiming IS, JSA(IB) or ESA(IR)) making new claims will receive help with 100 per cent. of their eligible housing costs after a waiting period of 13 weeks.
This compares favourably with the previous position because although some customers received 50 per cent. of eligible housing costs after eight weeks under the old rules, they had to wait 26 weeks before receiving 100 per cent. We believe that this more generous help, taken together with the increased capital limit for working age customers from £100,000 to £200,000, will reduce the risk of repossessions.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the (a) maximum amount which could be claimed and (b) time limit for claims under the support for mortgage interest scheme was in the period up to 5 January 2009; and what the limit has been since that date. [266309]
Kitty Ussher: Where a home owner is getting income support (IS), income-based jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA(IB)), income-related employment and support allowance (ESA(IR)) or state pension credit (SPC) and they have a mortgage, those benefits may include an additional element called support for mortgage interest (SMI). SMI is meant to assist the home owner with the interest on their mortgage, and an additional amount is included in the applicable amount. It is not a separate benefit, rather an integral part of IS, JSA(IB), ESA(IR) and SPC.
The amount of SMI is calculated by applying a standard interest rate (SIR) to the capital outstanding on the mortgage, subject to upper limits on the amount of that capital. From 5 January, for new claims to IS, JSA and ESA, the capital limit was increased from £100,000 to £200,000. The existing £100,000 capital
limit has been retained in SPC, but we will allow those getting help via SMI on loans over £100,000 to keep the higher capital limit when they move on to SPC within 12 weeks of a claim for a working age benefit ending, for as long as they remain entitled to SPC.
Previously, the SIR had been set at the Bank of England base rate plus an additional 1.58 per cent. However, the Government are concerned that recent cuts in the base rate will disadvantage significant number of customers on benefit if they are reflected in SMI calculations. For this reason, the Chancellor announced in the pre-Budget report on 24 November 2008 that the SIR will remain at 6.08 per cent. for six months.
In addition, the waiting period before help through SMI starts was shortened from 39 or 26 weeks to 13 weeks for new, some repeat and some existing working age claims. There is no waiting period for home owners claiming SPC.
A two-year time limit on SMI for new, some repeat and some existing JSA claims only was introduced from 5 January 2009. Prior to this, help through SMI was available so long as there was a liability for the mortgage and so long as there was entitlement to JSA.
The SMI changes are a temporary short-term measure intended to help people over the potentially difficult labour market problems they face and help limit repossessions, rather than changing existing qualifying conditions, and will be reviewed once housing market conditions are more favourable.
Motability
Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many vehicles comprise the Motability fleet. [267290]
Jonathan Shaw: The Motability fleet is currently comprised of 507,000 vehicles.
New Deal Schemes
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the service fee element of the Flexible New Deal contracts will be (a) for the first 18 months and (b) over the full term of the contract. [262842]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 11 March 2009]: DWP will retain a performance and payment regime based largely on outcomes, providing shortlisted bidders with the opportunity to develop innovative, individually tailored solutions. DWP’s expectation is to have a funding model based on 80 per cent. (outcome) and 20 per cent. (fee based) as originally announced. However, in the initial phase of the contract (first 18 months), DWP will consider alternative models based on a higher service fee element. After the initial phase of the contract we anticipate returning to the funding model as originally announced.
Social Fund
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether recipients of incapacity benefit are eligible to make an application for a social fund loan. [267254]
Jonathan Shaw: There are two types of social fund loan payment—budgeting loans and crisis loans.
To be eligible for a budgeting loan a person has to be in receipt of a qualifying income related benefit. The qualifying benefits are: income support; income-based jobseeker’s allowance; income-related employment and support allowance or pension credit.
Crisis loans, paid to help meet an immediate short-term need in an emergency or as a consequence of a disaster are available to anyone, whether or not they are in receipt of a qualifying benefit.
Social Security Benefits
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people have been disqualified from benefits for 13 weeks under the two strikes policy in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [262825]
Mr. McNulty: The information available is in the table:
| Number of cases where sanction applies | Number of cases where sanction applied to subsequent benefit entitlement | Number of cases where sanction in abeyance—benefit not in payment | |
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