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1 Jun 2009 : Column 102W—continued
Post Office Card Account
Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether holders of a Post Office Card Account will have access to the Link automated teller machine network under the terms of the new contract for that service. [276052]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Under the terms of the new contract, from April 2010 Post Office card account holders will have access to automated teller machines (ATMs) within the Post Office network located throughout the United Kingdom, but this will not include ATMs operated through the LINK network.
Remploy: Pay
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 26 March 2009, Official Report, columns 621-2W, on Remploy: pay, how much was paid in bonuses to (a) managers and (b) directors and executives working in (i) Employment Business and (ii) Employment Services. [270816]
Jonathan Shaw: The available information is in the following tables.
| Remploy bonuses | ||||||
| £ | ||||||
| 2000-01 | 2001-02 | |||||
| Business | Managers | Directors | Total | Managers | Directors | Total |
| 2002-03 | 2003-04 | |||||
| Business | Managers | Directors | Total | Managers | Directors | Total |
| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | |||||
| Business | Managers | Directors | Total | Managers | Directors | Total |
| 2006-07 | 2007-08 | |||||
| Business | Managers | Directors | Total | Managers | Directors | Total |
| Source: Remploy | ||||||
Social Security Benefits: Interviews
Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether Jobcentre Plus plans to employ medical professionals to interview incapacity benefit claimants who would be transferred to the jobseeker’s allowance scheme under the proposals of the Welfare Reform Bill. [274424]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 11 May 2009]: We have announced that we plan to migrate existing recipients of incapacity benefits to employment and support allowance. Recipients will have to undertake a work capability assessment in order to determine their eligibility for employment and support allowance. Health care professionals defined in legislation as:
a registered medical practitioner;
a registered nurse; or
an occupational therapist or physiotherapist registered with a regulatory body established by an Order in Council under section 60 of the Health Act 1999 (and);
are employed by our contractors to undertake these assessments. This measure is not provided for by the Welfare Reform Bill currently before Parliament, but by the Welfare Reform Act 2007.
Social Security Benefits: Lone Parents
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent assessment he has made of the effect on single parent households of housing and council tax benefit rules that result in a reduction of benefit when (a) eligibility for tax credits is established and (b) a student maintenance grant is payable; and if he will make a statement. [275516]
Mr. McNulty: In assessing entitlement to housing benefit and council tax benefit, regard is had to all forms of income. This includes taking into account in full any working tax credit and child tax credit in payment.
Where an additional element of working tax credit is paid in respect of a person working more than 30 hours a week, a disregard of an equal amount is applied to their earnings. In addition, an earnings disregard can be applied to certain groups of people where the claimant or his partner is working for 16 hours or more. This is £25 for single parents.
A deduction equal to the full value of relevant child care charges, or the maximum deduction if lower, can also be made. The maximum weekly deductions are £175 for one child and £300 for two or more children.
Where a single parent student is eligible for a maintenance grant, these grants can be used by the student for any purpose, including daily living expenses. Where a student does not have a student loan and is not treated as having one, a standard amount towards the costs of books and equipment is deducted from the student’s annual grant income. From the start of the 2008-09 academic year, this amount is £380 for books and equipment and £295 for travel. Any part of the grant paid for child care is disregarded. Additionally, if a student was to receive grants paid specifically for any non-maintenance elements, such as books and travel costs, these are also completely disregarded.
We are satisfied that the above arrangements are working as intended and currently have no plans to change them. However, as with all aspects of the benefits system, they are subject to regular review.
Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many complaints have been received by his Department on medical assessment interviews included in work capability assessments, in relation to (a) claimants' experiences of (i) the attitude of the doctor in conducting the interview and (ii) performing tasks at the request of the doctor as part of a physical examination and (b) the accuracy of the records made by the doctor of the (A) responses given by claimants during interview and (B) assessment as a whole. [271105]
Jonathan Shaw: Since the start of the employment support allowance up to 23 April, the most recent date for which information is available, the following information is available from work capability assessments:
33 complaints related to the attitude of the doctor conducting the interview; and
27 complaints related to performing tasks at the request of the doctor as part of a physical examination.
Accuracy of the records made by the doctor
62 complaints related to the accuracy of the recording of responses given by claimants during interview; and
27 complaints related to the assessment as a whole.
State Retirement Pensions
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) if he will estimate the number of pensioners who would no longer be eligible for pension credit if the basic state pension were increased in line with earnings in each of the next five years; [272659]
(2) if he will estimate the number of pensioners who would no longer be classified as being in poverty if the basic state pension were increased in line with earnings in each of the next five years. [272660]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Poverty is a complex and multidimensional issue and, as such, there are many possible measures of poverty.
It is generally accepted that low income is central to any poverty measurement. Any current projection of the number of pensioners in low income would be subject to uncertainties around future income growth, changes in the income distribution and individual changes in behaviour in response to policy changes.
While the Department does not publish projections on pensioner poverty, use of the static benefit model provides a broad indication of potential change going forward.
Analysis shows no discernible change to the number of pensioners below 60 per cent. of median household income and also no discernible change to those eligible for pension credit if the basic state pension were increased in line with earnings in each of the next five years.
We have committed to restoring the link with earnings in 2012 or by the end of the next Parliament at the latest. Earnings uprating is part of a coherent and affordable set of reforms which are intended to work in the long run as a complementary package which together mean that only around 40 per cent. of pensioner households will be entitled to one or more income related benefits by 2050 compared to around 75 per cent. in 2050 without reform.
Notes:
1. Analysis has been conducted using the Department's Policy Simulation Model.
2. In the financial years up to and including 2014-15 Treasury Economic assumptions consistent with Budget 2009 have been used to model prices and earnings uprating.
3. The model used is a static model. Estimates are therefore not a forecast of expected poverty, but a broad indication of the likely impact on poverty and pension credit caseload brought on purely from changing from price to earnings uprating, all else remaining constant.
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