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12 May 2009 : Column 680W—continued
New Deal Schemes
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what contingency plans his Department has put in place to be invoked should delivery of flexible New Deal phase 1 not take place on the expected timetable. [271717]
Mr. McNulty: The Government remain committed to bringing in the Flexible New Deal (FND) phase 1 from October 2009. None of the bids received from shortlisted suppliers in the FND competition have indicated they could not start up by the expected date.
If a provider were to be unable to start delivery in October 2009, suitable contingency arrangements would be agreed for each Jobcentre Plus District involved. Customers would continue to receive support from Jobcentre Plus and have access to the additional support at six months, until the provider was ready to accept referrals.
Pathways to Work
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what estimate he has made of the average cost (a) per start and (b) per job of the Pathways to Work programme after its national roll-out; [266112]
(2) what estimate he has made of the cost per head of the Pathways to Work programme after its national roll-out. [266113]
Mr. McNulty: Figures are not yet available for the average costs of Pathways to Work since national rollout in April 2008. An independent report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (Department for Work and Pensions Research Report 498) looked at the costs and benefits of Pathways in Jobcentre Plus pilot areas:
they estimated the cost per Pathways participant (i.e. start) was £402; and
the Institute for Fiscal Studies study did not estimate costs per job entry, but did make an estimate of the total costs and benefits, from job entries. They concluded that for every £1 spent on Pathways, the Government gains £1.51 back in terms of saved benefit bills and increased tax income. This is based on a conservative assumption that Pathways impact on employment and off-flows lasts for only 70 weeks.
Statistics for Provider-led districts will be published in summer 2009.
Pension Credit
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he plans to change the upper capital limit for pension credit for those who qualify for only the savings credit element; and if he will make a statement. [272002]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 30 April 2009]: There is no upper capital limit in pension credit. Those customers in receipt of the guarantee element of pension credit have linked entitlement to full eligible housing benefit and council tax benefit. However customers who are only in receipt of the savings credit element of pension credit are still subject to the upper capital limit of £16,000 in housing benefit and council tax benefit.
In the 2009 Budget the Chancellor announced that the capital threshold for pension credit (and housing benefit and council tax benefit for those who have attained the qualifying age for pension credit) will be increased from £6,000 to £10,000, bringing it into line with the threshold for those living permanently in care homes. This will allow these customers to retain up to £10,000 of capital before it affects their benefit.
The change will take effect from November 2009 and will apply to all pension credit customers, that is, to people in receipt of guarantee credit only, savings credit only or both guarantee and savings credit, as well as all pension age housing benefit and council tax benefit customers.
The Government recognise the importance of supporting pensioners appropriately through the economic downturn. Increasing the capital threshold from £6,000 to £10,000 represents a generous increase in the thresholds and means that the proportion of pension credit recipients who will see their capital fully disregarded rises to 88 per cent. Half a million pensioners stand to gain from this change, with an average weekly gain across all benefits of £4.
Social Security Benefits
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of claims for (a) jobseeker’s allowance, (b) income support, (c) employment and support allowance, (d) pension credit and (e) carer’s allowance delayed as a result of the misplacing of paperwork by his Department and its agencies in each of the last three years. [271687]
Mr. McNulty: The information requested is not collected centrally.
Social Security Benefits: Disqualification
Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what mechanism there is for liaison between staff in Jobcentre Plus offices and local general practitioners on provisions in the Welfare Reform Bill relating to drug users. [272084]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 30 April 2009]: Under the provisions, problem drug users will be required to agree a rehabilitation plan with a specialist contracted programme provider. Any need to liaise with medical practitioners as a result of this will only be done with the consent of the individual concerned.
Television: Licensing
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners in Hendon constituency received free television licences in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09. [272301]
Andy Burnham: I have been asked to reply.
TV Licensing, which administers free television licences for people aged 75 or over as agents for the BBC, can provide breakdown only by postcode. However, according to the records of the Department for Work and Pensions the number of households with at least one person aged 75 or over claiming the winter fuel payment in the Hendon constituency in 2007-08 was 5,830. Figures for 2008-09 are still being compiled.
Vocational Training
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what information his Department provides on (a) training courses and (b) funding for such courses to (i) Jobcentre Plus and (ii) careers advisers. [266121]
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 right hon. Member with the information requested.
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking what information his Department provides on training courses and funding both to Jobcentre Plus advisers and careers advisers. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Jobcentre Plus Personal Advisers have access to a range of information on the training provision available locally and the eligibility conditions that apply. There are local partnerships agreements in place between each Jobcentre Plus District and the careers advisory services for young people to facilitate discussions on how best to support young people into appropriate employment, education and training.
Jobcentre Plus is working with the Learning and Skills Councils in England and trialling an integrated employment and skills system which improves the availability of information on learning opportunities to its advisers and those in other organisations. Early policy development discussions are being held with the devolved administrations with a view to trialling similar arrangements.
Welfare Tax Credits: Grandparents
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the cost of introducing a national insurance credit for grandparents of working age who provide 20 hours or more childcare per week. [251938]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 27 January 2009]: Reforms to make the state pension fairer and more widely available will be implemented in April 2010 including a reduction to 30 qualifying years required for entitlement to the full basic state pension and reforms to the system for crediting those with caring responsibilities to reflect the different ways in which people contribute to society. As a result of these changes around 75 per cent. of women reaching state pension age from April 2010 will be entitled to a full basic state pension compared to 50 per cent. without reform. By 2025 over 90 per cent. of both men and women reaching state pension age will be entitled to a full basic state pension.
Building on these reforms, the Government announced in the Budget 2009 that working age grandparents and other adult family members, who care for their grandchildren or other members of their family aged 12 or younger for 20 hours or more a week, will be able to gain national insurance credits toward the basic state pension from April 2011 at an estimated total cost of £35 million to 2050 (Net Present Value, 2009-10 price terms).
Notes:
1. The estimate is consistent with Treasury Economic assumptions from the Budget Report 2009, are in 2009-10 prices, have been rounded to the nearest £5 million.
2. Estimates of the cost of particular elements of coverage reform, such as the “grandparent’s credit”, depend on the order in which they are modelled. Following the approach used in the
Regulatory Impact Assessment accompanying the Pensions Bill, costs presented in this answer refer to the estimated expenditure on a “grandparent’s credit” on top of the reforms to coverage set out in the Pensions Acts 2007 and 2008.
3. Figures quoted relate only to benefit expenditure and do not take account of administration costs.
Source:
DWP estimates based on evidence from the Family Resources Survey, demographic projections, and administrative data.
Winter Fuel Payments
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of people in each (a) constituency and (b) weather station area who would be eligible for cold weather payments should temperatures fall below the trigger point. [249424]
Kitty Ussher: Estimates of the number of benefit units eligible for cold weather payments are not available by parliamentary constituency or local authority, but only by weather station. The available information is given in the following table:
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