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19 May 2009 : Column 1302W—continued
Departmental Internet
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department has spent on maintaining its website in the last 12 months. [272488]
Jonathan Shaw: Maintenance of DWP websites including
is mostly carried out by the Department's own in-house digital media team. It is not possible for us to quantify
internal staff costs because, in most cases, staff are engaged in more than one role. In addition, we are unable to establish accurately our infrastructure costs because they form part of a wider departmental IT contract.
DWP have worked with the Central Office of Information to develop a standardised method for quantifying website costs across Government. This will be implemented from March 2009.
Departmental Reviews
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) review and (b) taskforce projects his Department has commissioned in each of the last five years; what the purpose of each such project is; when each such project (i) began and (ii) was completed; what the cost of each such project was; and if he will make a statement. [275977]
Jonathan Shaw: The information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Employment Schemes
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what estimate he has made of the number of people likely to take up the additional support provided through (a) incentives to employees to recruit and train unemployed people, (b) training places, (c) work-focused volunteering and (d) help to establish a business under the six month offer to the unemployed; [271686]
(2) what level of take up of the six month offer he anticipates in respect of (a) employment subsidy vouchers, (b) train to gain funding, (c) training places, (d) volunteering and (e) help for the self-employed under the six month offer. [271714]
Mr. McNulty: We have anticipated and funded the six month offer for the provision of 500,000 opportunities for jobseekers who have been claiming jobseeker’s allowance for 26 weeks or more for two years from April 2009 to March 2011.
The offers are voluntary and are therefore demand led. The overall package is designed to be flexible and respond to customer needs. It is also possible that for any individual customer, a mix of offers may be appropriate.
The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills expects to provide 75,000 new work focused training opportunities over two years. The volunteering offer expects to provide 40,000 opportunities over this same period.
Incapacity Benefit
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many incapacity benefit claimants attended an appointment for a personal capability assessment in each of the last three years; and what percentage this figure represents of those incapacity benefit claimants asked to attend for such an assessment in each such year. [275431]
Jonathan Shaw [holding answer 14 May 2009]: The available information is in the table.
| Number and percentage of incapacity benefit claimants that attended an appointment for a personal capability assessment in each of the last three years | ||
| April to March each year | Number | Percentage |
| Source: Medical Services | ||
Jobseeker’s Allowance
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of group review interviews for existing Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants conducted in place of one-to-one review interviews in each month since January 2008. [271694]
Mr. McNulty: The information requested is not available.
National Insurance Contributions
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the change in revenue for the Exchequer if employee and employer national insurance contributions were charged on aggregate income from all employments; and if he will make a statement. [269040]
Mr. Timms: I have been asked to reply.
Aggregating the earnings of people doing more than one job with separate employers would be administratively complex for employers. Information on the number of people with more than one employee job who would pay more national insurance contributions (NICs), and the average increase they would pay, under a cumulative annual basis of assessment for employee’s NICs is shown in “Income tax and national insurance alignment: an evidence-based assessment” published in October 2007. It is available at:
Estimates for employers NICs are not available.
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 27 April 2009, Official Report, column 1057W, on national insurance contributions, if he will estimate how many (a) men and (b) women over state pension age would be eligible to purchase up to six additional years of national insurance contributions if eligibility applied (i) only to those with 20 or more qualifying years, (ii) only to those with 15 or more qualifying years and (iii) only to those with 10 or more qualifying years. [272192]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 30 April 2009]: The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
New Deal Schemes
Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many individuals in each region have been on the new deal for young people more than once since its inception; [268841]
(2) how many individuals in each region have been on the new deal 25 plus more than once since its inception; [268842]
(3) how many individuals in each region have been on the new deal for lone parents more than once since its inception; [268846]
(4) how many 18 to 24 year olds in each region have been on the new deal for lone parents more than once since its inception. [268847]
Mr. McNulty: New Deal repeaters are more likely to enter employment from their second spell on the programme than their first. Each period on New Deal moves participants closer to the labour market. The information is in the following table.
| Number of individuals in each region who have been on New Deal for Young People(NDYP), New Deal 25+ (ND25+) and New Deal for Lone Parents (NDLP) more than once since each programme's inception (November 2008) | ||||
| NDYP | ND25+ | NDLP (all) | NDLP (aged 18-24) | |
| Note: Age group on entry into New Deal based on age at the time of initial interview Source: Department for Work and Pensions, Information Directorate definitions and conventions: figures are rounded to the nearest 10 | ||||
Parliamentary Questions: Government Responses
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he plans to answer question 265969 on 0845 telephone numbers, tabled by the hon. Member for South West Bedfordshire on 19 March 2009. [274414]
Jonathan Shaw [holding answer 11 May 2009]: I replied to the hon. Member's question on 11 May 2009, Official Report, column 568W.
Pension Credit
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people of working age have been claiming pension credit (a) in each month of the last two years and (b) in each year since pension credit was introduced. [271689]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Government are committed to tackling age discrimination and working through the Age Positive Initiative to continue to encourage employers to adopt flexible approaches to work and employment that will allow more choices and opportunity for older people to remain in, or re-enter the labour market.
From April 2009, financial incentives of up to £2,500 will be available to employers that recruit and train people who have been unemployed for six months or longer.
The qualifying age for pension credit is linked to the state pension age for women, which means that men aged 60 to 64 can claim pension credit without having reached their state pension age. The state pension age for women, and therefore the qualifying age for pension credit, is due to increase gradually from 60 to 65 between 2010 and 2020. The information requested is in the tables. The new claims data in tables 1 and 2 do not capture those claims where the partner is below state pension age, they count only those claims where the claimant is below state pension age.
| Table 1: Number of new pension credit claims from men aged 60 to 64 in each month September 2006 to August 2008 | |
| Number of claims | |
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