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2 Jun 2009 : Column 388W—continued
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of people aged over 25 years have been referred from jobseeker's allowance to a training allowance (a) during the first month of their claim, (b) between one and three months of their claim, (c) between three and six months into their claim, (d) between six and 12 months of their claim and (e) between 12 and 18 months of their claim, excluding those claiming a training allowance as part of a New Deal programme, in the last 12 months. [266134]
Mr. McNulty: The information is not collated centrally.
Social Rented Housing
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will review the rules governing the payment of housing benefit to landlords to allow greater flexibility. [262550]
Kitty Ussher: Local housing allowance was rolled out nationally in April 2008 for customers in the deregulated private rented sector who make a new claim for housing benefit, and for existing customers who move address. It is a way of calculating the rent element of housing benefit based on the area in which a customer lives and their household size. Local housing allowance is paid to the tenant rather than the landlord in most circumstances.
We believe that local housing allowance is a much fairer, simpler and more transparent way of calculating housing benefit. One of the key features of local housing allowance is that where possible the benefit will be paid
to the customer, so that they can take more personal responsibility for their housing, helping to prepare for when they move into work.
We accept that it is not possible in every case to make the payment to the tenant and, once the local authority has determined a maximum rent in accordance with the relevant regulations, payments are therefore made to the landlord in the following circumstances:
when the tenant is unlikely to pay (for example, where the local authority knows from past experience that the tenant is likely to abscond with the rent payment); or
when the tenant is likely to have difficulty in managing their rent payments; for example, due to an alcohol/gambling/drug dependency or because of a serious medical condition such as Alzheimer’s disease; or
when the tenant is in arrears of eight weeks or more.
Local authorities may make payments to the landlord where they consider that the claimant is likely to have difficulty in paying their rent and it is in the interest of the claimant to do so. We therefore encourage landlords not to wait for the eight-week period to be reached but to contact the local authority as soon as a payment is missed so that they can begin gathering the evidence required to make a decision on direct payment.
We are satisfied that these safeguards will ensure that vulnerable customers do not fall into unmanageable difficulties and that their rental payments will be met.
Local housing allowance was introduced in nine pathfinder authorities in 2003-04 and was subject to extensive and independent evaluation. A further nine authorities implemented the scheme in 2005 to test operational readiness.
Despite landlords’ initial fears, there is overwhelming evidence that customers have responded extremely well to the responsibility of managing their rent payments. Evidence from the evaluation has shown that customers regard paying the rent as a matter of prime importance and that most would prioritise this above all other payments. 84 per cent. of tenants are successfully managing their own housing benefit. Of the remaining 16 per cent. only a third are having their housing benefit paid to the landlord because they have fallen into arrears of eight weeks or more. Two-thirds are having their benefit paid to the landlords because the local authority, working together with landlords, has identified that they might not be able manage their rent payments. The local housing allowance evaluation reports are available on the DWP website at:
We are closely monitoring how the local housing allowance scheme is working in practice and will undertake a review during the first two years of operation following national rollout.
Social Security Benefits: Payments
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of claimants of each type of benefit who will apply for bridging payments under the provisions of the Social Security (Claims and Payments) (Amendment (No.2)) Regulations 2008 and the Social Security (Transitional Payments) Regulations 2008 in each of the next two years. [272664]
Mr. McNulty: We have not made an estimate of the number of customers who may apply for a loan. We have made provision for all customers whose benefit payments will change from being made weekly to fortnightly in arrears to be offered a loan equivalent to 100 per cent. of their weekly benefit.
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the average weekly income of claimants of each type of benefit who will move to fortnightly benefit payments in arrears under the provisions of the Social Security (Claims and Payments) (Amendment (No.2)) Regulations 2008 and the Social Security (Transitional Payments) Regulations 2008. [272666]
Mr. McNulty: We have not made an estimate of average weekly income, because it can vary depending on an individual's circumstances—for example, customers may receive other sources of income such as child tax credits, earnings from part-time employment or occupational pensions, and so on.
Vocational Training
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what facilities Jobcentre Plus offers for access to and registration for skills accounts in each pilot area. [266119]
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 facilities Jobcentre Plus offers for access to and registration for skills accounts in each pilot area. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Jobcentre Plus offers access to skills accounts in Integrated Employment and Skills pilot areas, by referring customers to Learning and Skills Council contracted Nextstep services, or by signposting them to the Careers Advice telephone service. These services offer advice and information on skills accounts and facilitate registration where appropriate.
Workers' Memorial Day
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department has (a) spent on and (b) allocated to its consultation on official recognition of Workers' Memorial Day. [277052]
Jonathan Shaw: The costs of the consultation exercise will be met from existing resource. The costs cannot be separately identified because the staff working on the consultation are simultaneously working on other projects as well.
Health
Alzheimer’s Disease
Mr. Pelling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the rate of incidence of Alzheimer's disease in (a) England, (b) London and (c) the London Borough of Croydon in each of the last 10 years. [276874]
Phil Hope: The Department does not have data on the incidence of Alzheimer's disease. However the national Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) records the number of people recorded on practice disease registers with a diagnosis of dementia. Alzheimer's disease accounts for 50 to 75 per cent. of cases of dementia so the prevalence of patients with dementia gives an indication of the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease. This prevalence figure is available only for the two latest releases of QOF, covering 2006-07 and 2007-08 (financial years). However, these numbers are likely to be an underestimate of the true position. The Dementia UK report, published in 2007 by the Alzheimer's Society estimated that two-thirds of the people with dementia never receive a formal diagnosis.
Figures are supplied for the health areas, which best fit the areas requested.
These QOF figures are given in the following table:
| Prevalence of dementia | ||
| Percentage | ||
| 2007-08 | 2006-07 | |
Cancer: Health Services
Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding his Department has provided to external organisations to raise awareness of and provide patient support for those diagnosed with (a) breast cancer, (b) leukaemia, (c) cervical cancer and (d) prostate cancer in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [277299]
Ann Keen: In the last 12 months, approximately £1.98 million has been awarded to organisations to raise awareness of and provide patient support for people diagnosed with cancer. This is broken down as follows:
As part of the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative's promoting earlier presentation work stream, the Department of Health and the Football Foundation are joint funding the Ahead of the Game programme. Ahead of the Game is a one-year pilot programme, which will use the appeal of football to raise awareness of lung, bowel and prostate cancers in men aged 55 and over. The Department has awarded £86,000 for this work between 2008 and 2010.
£76,500 was awarded to MKC Trust over a three-year period from 2009-2012, to raise awareness of breast cancer among south Asian communities, and provide support to south Asian women with breast cancer and their families.
In addition, over £1.8 million has been awarded over the last 12 months to organisations supporting cancer patients in general, for the period 2009-12.
Funding awarded more than 12 months ago also continues to be used to raise awareness of cancer and provide support for patients. For example, we continue to support the Healthy Communities Collaborative which is raising awareness of bowel, breast and lung cancers in spearhead communities.
Dementia
Mr. Swire:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department has taken to develop a national public awareness campaign on dementia since
the publication of the National Dementia Strategy in February 2009. [277331]
Phil Hope: The Department has already begun to raise public awareness of dementia by funding the Alzheimer's Society Worried about Your Memory campaign in 2008. Leaflets, booklets and posters on dementia have been made available in all general practitioner surgeries in England. The campaign aims to prompt and help people to consider if their forgetfulness, or that of a friend or relative, is due to just poor memory or the beginning of a medical problem and to encourage them to seek medical advice.
In addition, over the course of the five-year implementation of the strategy there will be both national and local awareness campaigns designed to improve public and professional awareness, and change existing attitudes towards dementia.
Dementia: Drugs
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to publish the outcomes of the review of the use of antipsychotic medicines in dementia; and what the reasons are for the time taken to publish those outcomes. [277197]
Phil Hope: The outcomes of the review of the use of antipsychotic medicines in dementia will be completed shortly. It was not possible to complete the review within the original timescale because of the amount of resource needed for the National Dementia Strategy itself.
Departmental Security
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many breaches of security have been reported at the (a) Medicines Healthcare Products and Regulatory Agency and (b) NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency in the last five years; and what procedures each agency follows when a breach of security involves the disclosure of personal data. [276955]
Mr. Bradshaw: There have been no breaches of security reported at Medicines Healthcare products and Regulatory Agency in the last five years.
There have been no breaches of security reported at NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency in the last five years.
As part of the Cabinet Office Information Governance Assurance Programme, staff are required to declare breaches of data security to the Senior Information Risk Owner, who in turn is required to declare these to the Information Commissioner's office. Both agencies also make a statement on Information Governance in their annual reports.
Diabetes: North East
John Cummings: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost to the NHS of the treatment of diabetes in the North East Strategic Health Authority in each of the last three years. [276996]
Ann Keen: The following table shows the expenditure on diabetes for the North East Strategic Health Authority for the last three years in which data are available.
| Expenditure on own population (£000) | |
| Note: Figures do not include prevention or general medical services expenditure. Source: Department of Health Programme Budgeting | |
Domestic Accidents: Children
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children were admitted to hospital as a result of an accident in the home in each month of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [276654]
Ann Keen: This information is not collected centrally.
Economic and Monetary Union
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what activities have been undertaken by his Department’s Euro Minister in that capacity. [277171]
Dawn Primarolo: Euro Ministers are responsible for preparations for joining the single currency in their respective Departments and attend Euro Ministers Steering Group meetings in this capacity. Meetings are held only when necessary to discuss practical preparations to ensure a smooth changeover. Ministers do have other responsibilities around European Union business.
Epilepsy
Mr. Truswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will undertake a review of NHS services for people with epilepsy. [276907]
Ann Keen: On 19 May 2009, we met with the All Party Parliamentary Group for Epilepsy. At this meeting, we announced that the Department will be working with stakeholders specifically to look at the commissioning of local services to meet the needs of people living with epilepsy.
John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department has taken in response to the report of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Epilepsy of June 2007; and if he will make a statement. [277384]
Ann Keen: Detailed information on the work the Department has already taken in response to the 2007 report by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Epilepsy were given when we met with the APPG for Epilepsy on 19 May 2009. At this meeting we also announced that the Department will be specifically looking into the commissioning arrangements for local services to meet the health and social care needs of those living with this condition.
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