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5 Nov 2009 : Column 1107W—continued

Pensioners: Winter Fuel Payments

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate she has made of the average percentage of pensioners' energy bills likely to be met by the winter fuel payment in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland and (c) the Highlands in 2009-10. [296832]

5 Nov 2009 : Column 1108W

Angela Eagle: It is estimated that the average percentage of pensioners' energy bills likely to be met by the winter fuel payment in 2009-10 in (a) the UK and (a) Scotland, are as follows:

	UK		Scotland
	Age 60 to 79	Age 80 and over	Age 60 to 79	Age 80 and over
Winter Fuel Payment amounts (£)	250	400	250	400
Percentage of annual energy bill met by the Winter Fuel Payment	24	41	23	38
(c) The information requested is not available. Additional support is available through Cold Weather Payments for regions that suffer particularly cold weather. Notes: 1. The Family Spending Survey 2008 is used to determine household expenditure on fuel by age. 2. The difference in energy bills in Scotland and the UK, is calculated by looking at the percentage difference an average household spent on energy bills in 2007. 3. The fuel and light inflation rate, published by the ONS, is used to estimate the energy bills as at September 2009. 4. The Winter Fuel Payment figures include the additional payments for 2009-10.

Social Security Benefits: Disabled

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment she has made of the ease with which application forms for disability benefits can be completed by young people with disabilities; and if she will make a statement. [295676]

Jonathan Shaw: Most customers who wish to claim employment and support allowance (or incapacity benefit where there was entitlement before 27 October 2008) do so by making a phone call to a Jobcentre Plus contact centre. For customers who have difficulty making a claim by phone, a claim form can be completed instead. Face to face assistance with this is available at Jobcentre Plus offices.

When designing the employment and support allowance claim form, an external research company was commissioned to conduct research on potential customers, Jobcentre Plus advisers and intermediaries. Their findings informed the final design of the form.

In April 2007 the Department introduced a new format disability living allowance claim form for customers aged 16 to 65. Extensive consultation with customer representative groups and rigorous customer research took place during the design, development and testing of the form. The feedback did not indicate any specific concerns regarding the suitability of the form for young people (or any other age group). The new format reached the Plain English Campaign's accreditation standard and consequently attained the Crystal Mark. Subsequent improvements and refinements to the claim form have been based on feedback from customers and their representatives. The latest version was published in September 2008.

We have a regular cycle of review and a commitment to continuous improvement for claim forms.

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State Retirement Pensions: Overseas Residence

Mr. Dunne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many British expatriates in each overseas country received a UK state pension from 1997 to 2008. [297123]

Angela Eagle: The information has been placed in the Library.

Unemployed: Young People

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many young people between the ages of 18 and 24 years were unemployed in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland and (c) the Highlands in each of the last 24 months. [297390]

Angela E. Smith: I have been asked to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Jil Matheson, dated October 2009:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many young people aged between the ages of 18 and 24 years were unemployed in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland and (c) the Highlands in each of the last 24 months. (297390)

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles unemployment statistics for local areas from the Annual Population Survey and its predecessor the annual Labour Force Survey (LFS) following International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions.

Table 1 shows the number of persons aged between 18 and 24 years resident in the UK and Scotland who were unemployed for the 12 month periods ending June 2007 to the latest available period ending March 2009.

Estimates of unemployment for the requested age band are not available for the Highland local authority due to small sample sizes. As an alternative, in Table 2, we have provided the number of persons, aged between 18 and 24, claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) in the Highland local authority along with UK and Scotland, from the Jobcentre Plus administrative system. For comparison purposes, the data have been provided from January 2007 to the latest available period of September 2009.

The unemployment estimate given for the UK has been compiled from the APS to be consistent with the estimate for Scotland, and will therefore differ from the headline unemployment estimates published in the Labour Market Statistical Bulletin.

The estimates in Table 1 are for a subset of the population and are therefore subject to margins of uncertainty. A guide to the quality of the estimates is given in Table 1.

National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at:

http://www.nomisweb.co.uk

5 Nov 2009 : Column 1110W

Table 1: Number of unemployed persons aged between 18 and 24 years resident in the UK and Scotland
Thousand
12 months ending	United Kingdom	Scotland
June 2007	496	40
September 2007	488	40
December 2007	485	36
March 2008	487	37
June 2008	498	37
September 2008	515	39
December 2008	557	43
March 2009(1)	(*)590	**44
Note: Coefficients of Variation have been calculated for the latest period as an indication of the quality of the estimates. See Guide to Quality below. Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV-for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5 per cent. we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220. Key Coefficient of Variation (CV) (%) Statistical Robustness * 0 ≤ CV<5 Estimates are considered precise ** 5 ≤ CV <10 Estimates are considered reasonably precise *** 10 ≤ CV <20 Estimates are considered acceptable **** CV ≥ 20 Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes. Source: Annual Population Survey.

Table 2: Number of persons( 1) aged be t ween 18 and 24 years resident in Highland, Scotland and the UK claiming Jobseeker's Allowance
	Highland	Scotland	United Kingdom
January 2007	740	24,705	284,185
February 2007	780	25,715	294,445
March 2007	715	25,175	289,365
April 2007	620	23,525	273,300
May 2007	580	22,605	262,950
June 2007	545	21,935	251,630
July 2007	600	23,135	258,355
August 2007	570	23,400	264,020
September 2007	450	20,860	257,165
October 2007	465	19,380	242,990
November 2007	485	18,920	233,900
December 2007	525	19,245	235,210
January 2008	555	20,840	246,560
February 2008	635	22,455	260,585
March 2008	605	22,250	259,610
April 2008	510	21,520	253,030
May 2008	485	20,975	249,455
June 2008	505	21,640	249,605
July 2008	580	23,995	269,195
August 2008	570	25,765	292,715
September 2008	565	24,235	300,895
October 2008	625	24,475	302,300
November 2008	735	26,240	322,920
December 2008	795	28,140	348,015
January 2009	925	31,240	379,535
February 2009	1,115	36,335	443,200
March 2009	1,130	37,735	460,420
April 2009	1,000	37,130	460,590
May 2009	955	36,660	453,505
June 2009	945	37,650	448,735
July 2009	1,000	40,525	468,990
August 2009	975	41,765	489,630
September 2009	900	37,860	487,880
Notes: 1. Data rounded to nearest 5. 2. Age data are only available for computerised claims, which account for 99.7 per cent. of all claims. Source: Jobcentre Plus Administrative System.

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