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24 Jun 2009 : Column 1026W—continued
Departmental Press: Subscriptions
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to which (a) magazines, (b) journals and (c) newspapers her Department subscribes; and what the total cost of such subscriptions has been in each of the last three years. [280762]
Jim Knight: Annex A (magazines and journals) and annex B (newspapers) listing magazines, journals and newspapers subscribed to by the Department for Work and Pensions has been placed in the Library.
Information on the cost of subscriptions in each of the last three years is set out in the following table.
| £ | ||
| Financial year | Newspaper/magazine spend | Periodical spend |
Departmental Telephone Services
John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what criteria her Department uses to monitor the performance of its callbacks to telephone benefit claimants; and what percentage of customers who request a callback were contacted in the latest period for which figures are available. [278377]
Jim Knight: I have asked the Jobcentre Plus Contact Centre Directorate Acting Operations Director, Stuart Griffiths, to provide the right hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Stuart Griffiths, dated 19 June 2009:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking what criteria the Department of Work and Pensions uses to monitor the performance of its callbacks to telephone benefit claimants; and what percentage of customers who request a callback are contacted. [PQ 278377]
I will respond on behalf of Jobcentre Plus (including Benefit and Fraud Directorate) and Pension, Disability and Carers Service.
Jobcentre Plus Contact Centre Directorate
The criteria Jobcentre Plus Contact Centre Directorate use to monitor the performance of pre-booked callbacks is that 90% of callbacks are completed within 36 hours. This includes customers who answer their callback, and also customers who we are unable to contact after two telephone calls. Therefore, we call back 100% of customers who request it. If we are unable to contact a customer due to their unavailability, a letter is sent informing them that Jobcentre Plus has tried to telephone them, and to call us again if they still wish to make a claim.
For 2008/09, 92.6% of callbacks were completed within 36 hours.
For April 2009, 97.6% of callbacks were completed within 36 hours.
Benefit and Fraud Directorate
Benefit and Fraud Directorate telephony teams aim to clear 80% of first time calls from customers, with approximately 20% referred for a potential callback. If a callback is required by the customer, this is emailed to benefit processing teams with an expectation that callbacks will be made within three hours of the initial customer contact. All customers requesting a callback will receive one.
Pension, Disability and Carers Service
The information requested is not available in the Pension, Disability and Carers Service.
I hope this reply is helpful.
Disability Discrimination Act 2005
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what mechanisms are in place to ensure that (a) her Department and (b) contractors comply with relevant provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 in processing benefit claims from those with a mental health condition; [277833]
(2) what mechanisms are in place to ensure that (a) her Department and (b) contractors comply with relevant provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 in respect of those with a mental health condition in (i) allocating and (ii) administering work experience and work trial placements. [279555]
Jonathan Shaw: All public authorities are subject to the Disability Equality Duty which requires them to pay due regard to promoting disability when carrying out all of their functions. Some public authorities are also required to publish a Disability Equality Scheme setting out how they will meet the Disability Equality Duty.
The Department published Single Equality Schemes, incorporating disability, race and gender, in 2008. These schemes include a three-year action plan setting out how the Department and its agencies intend to meet their three Public Sector Duties and how they will equality impact assess their policies and practices against them.
In respect of the Disability Equality Duty, they also set out how disabled people have been involved in producing the schemes and setting the direction of travel that would best achieve improvements in outcomes for disabled people. The scheme action plans are monitored and formal progress reports are published annually. All schemes and information can be found on the DWP website.
Where the Department is providing services to the public or delivering public functions, it is required by the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 to make reasonable adjustments to enable disabled people to have access to those services or functions.
There is mandatory training in place for all DWP staff to ensure they have the appropriate cultural and legislative knowledge to understand their responsibilities when developing policies or providing services for disabled customers, including those with a mental health condition.
The provisions in place that ensure a contractor complies with the relevant provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 are contained in our standard terms and conditions. Section 37 “Unlawful Discrimination” states “the Contractor shall not unlawfully discriminate within the meaning and scope of the Race Relations Act 1976, the Sex-Discrimination Act 1975 or the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 or analogous legislation which has been, or may be, enacted from time to time relating to discrimination in employment.”
Contract managers review compliance with disability discrimination legislation periodically as part of their supplier relationship management procedures.
Future Jobs Fund
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on the Future Jobs Fund. [282050]
Jim Knight: The future jobs fund is an important new initiative announced in the Budget 2009 worth £1 billion to create 150,000 new jobs both for young people and individuals living in unemployment hotspots. We are inviting bids from a wide range of organisations and partnerships including those from the sport and creative industries to create valuable jobs that bring real benefits to individuals and their communities.
The previous Secretary of State for Work and Pensions met with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to discuss ways to ensure the sport and culture industries are able to put together strong bids to the fund and deliver jobs in these industries as early as October 2009.
Building on this, officials from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Work and Pensions have been working closely together to ensure the sport and creative industries play a prominent role in the jobs created through the future jobs fund and we expect to receive a number of bids from organisations in these areas when we start assessing bids from July 2009 onwards.
It is important that we engage with individuals who are approaching long-term unemployment to help them move into fulfilling and valuable employment that will help Britain prepare for economic recovery. The future jobs fund will provide organisations with the funding to do this and make a real contribution to the lives of individuals and their communities.
Health and Safety Executive
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps she plans to take to establish the nuclear directorate within the Health and Safety Executive on a statutory basis. [279351]
Jonathan Shaw: My officials have been working closely with the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the Health and Safety Executive to develop proposals to give effect to the Government's decision to restructure the nuclear directorate through legislation. We expect to publish proposals for public consultation in the near future.
Motability
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many Motability cars were being used in England and Wales on the latest date for which figures are available; how much funding from the public purse was contributed towards the cost of adapted vehicles for the scheme in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement. [280711]
Jonathan Shaw: There are currently 431,241 Motability cars being used in England and Wales. Details of funding provided to Motability are in the following table.
| Funding provided to Motability | ||
| £000 | ||
| Specialised vehicles fund | Administration | |
| Notes: Motability administers the specialised vehicles fund on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions. The Fund provides financial assistance to those disabled drivers or passengers on the scheme who require extensive adaptations to their vehicles. The majority of these adaptations allow the disabled person to travel as a passenger, where necessary entering the vehicle and travelling while remaining seated in a wheelchair. Source: Motability. | ||
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate she has made of the savings which would accrue to her Department if cars used for the Motability scheme were changed every six years; and if she will make a statement. [280712]
Jonathan Shaw: Motability is an independent charity and is responsible for the administration of the Motability scheme. We have no reason to believe that this Department would accrue any savings if Motability changed their cars every six years.
New Deal Schemes
Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many persons registered for each category of the New Deal programme at Jobcentre Plus in the last six months. [281257]
Jim Knight [holding answer 19 June 2009]: Figures on new starters on the new deals are shown in the following table. The six-month period used here is up to and including February 2009.
| Starters (individuals) in last six months | |
| Definitions and conventions: Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Notes: 1. Latest data are to February 2009. 2. The total starters exclude those customers on new deal 50-plus as these figures have been withdrawn pending an investigation of the data source. 3. This information is published at: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/tabtools/tabtool_nd.asp Source: Department for Work and Pensions, Information Directorate. | |
New Deal Schemes: Hertfordshire
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in East Hertfordshire have participated in a new deal programme in each of the last three years. [280124]
Jim Knight: The following table sets out the number of people who started participation in a new deal programme in the East Hertfordshire district in the last three years.
| New deal starters | |
| Definitions and conventions: Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Time series—year of starting: The calendar year of starting new deal. Latest data are to February 2009. 1. The totals for each year exclude those customers on new deal 50-plus as these figures have been withdrawn pending an investigation of the data source 2. The measure used for new deal for partners is starters (individuals) as spells are not available for this new deal. 3. Since June 2008, new deal for disabled people has ceased to operate as a national programme Source: Department for Work and Pensions, Information Directorate. | |
Social Fund
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much funding the Government plans to allocate to the Social Fund in 2009-10; and if she will make a statement. [268701]
Jonathan Shaw: Additional funding for social fund loans was announced in the Chancellor’s Budget report on 22 April 2009, to ensure that support can continue to be provided during the economic downturn. As a result, the previous gross loans budget for Great Britain for 2009-10 was increased. The current discretionary social fund budgets for Great Britain are given in the table.
| Discretionary social fund budgets for Great Britain for 2009-10 | |
| £ million | |
The regulated social fund is demand led, so there are no fixed budgets. All the funds necessary to pay claimants entitled to an award will be made available.
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