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5 Jan 2010 : Column 120W—continued
Means-Tested Benefits
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate she has made of the number and proportion of (a) pensioners and (b) working age adults (i) with and (ii) without children who have received (A) means-tested benefits and (B) more than 50 per cent. of their income from means-tested benefits in (1) 1979, (2) 1983, (3) 1987, (4) 1992, (5) 1997, (6) 2001, (7) 2005 and (8) the latest year for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement. [306667]
Angela Eagle: The available information is in the following tables.
| Number of pensioner benefit units in receipt of any income related benefits | Percentage of pensioner benefit units in receipt of any income related benefits | Number of pensioner benefit units with more than 50 per cent. of their income from income related benefits | Percentage of pensioner benefit units with more than 50 per cent. of their income from income related benefits | |
| Number of working age benefit units (with children) in receipt of any income related benefits | Percentage of working age benefit units (with children) in receipt of any income related benefits | Number of working age benefit units (with children) with more than 50 per cent. of their income from income related benefits | Percentage of working age benefit units (with children) with more than 50 per cent. of their income from income related benefits | |
| Number of working age benefit units (without children) in receipt of any income related benefits | Percentage of working age benefit units (without children) in receipt of any income related benefits | Number of working age benefit units (witho ut children) with more than 50 per cent. of their income from income related benefits | Percentage of working age benefit units (without children) with more than 50 per cent. of their income from income related benefits | |
| Notes: 1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100,000. Percentages have been rounded to the nearest per cent. 2. A benefit unit is defined as a single adult or a couple living as married and any dependent children. 3. Income-related benefits include: Back-to-work bonus, extended payment of council tax benefit, extended payment of housing benefit, income support, pension credit, housing benefit, council tax benefit, rates rebate, disability working allowance, social fund grant for funeral expenses, social fund grant for maternity expenses, jobseeker's allowance (income-based), community care grants, return to work credit, child maintenance bonus. tax credits are excluded. 4. The Family Resources Survey is a nationally representative sample of approximately 26,000 households. Since 2002-03 the FRS has covered the United Kingdom; prior to 2002-03 the FRS covered Great Britain. 5. Part of the fall in the number and percentage of working age benefit units with children in receipt of at least one income-related benefit between 1997-98 and 2001-02 may be explained by the replacement of family credit with tax credits in 1999. Tax credits are excluded from the definition of income-related benefits in these tables. 6. The Family Resources Survey is known to under-record benefit receipt so the estimates presented should be treated with caution. Source: The Family Resources Survey | ||||
Members: Correspondence
Mr. Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when she expects to reply to the letter of 3 November 2009 from the hon. Member for Walsall, North concerning a constituent. [304960]
Jonathan Shaw [holding answer 8 December 2009]: A reply was sent to my hon. Friend on 16 December 2009.
New Deal for Lone Parents
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of participants in the New Deal for Lone Parents have (a) undertaken a work trial and (b) undertaken a work trial for six weeks. [304378]
Jim Knight: The information requested is not available.
New Deal Schemes: Wales
Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people have entered employment as a result of participating in the New Deal in (a) Newport East constituency and (b) Wales in each year since its introduction. [303475]
Jim Knight: The available information can be found in the following tables:
| Ne w d eal: Jobs gained, Newport, East parliamentary constituency | |
| Number (thousand) | |
| New deal: Jobs gained, Wales | |
| Number (thousand) | |
| Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. The latest new deal figures will be affected by the introduction of the new jobseekers regime and flexible new deal (gradual implementation started from April 2009). More information is available on the employment programme statistics landing page. 3. The year means the calendar year the job was gained. 4. Some additional disclosure control has also been applied. 5. Totals may not sum due to rounding. 6. The latest data available are to May 2009. 7. The total number of jobs gained refers to the sum of all jobs (spells) obtained through new deal for young people, new deal for 25-plus, new deal for lone parents, new deal for disabled people, new deal for 50-plus and new deal for partners. 8. Spells are not available for new deal 50-plus and new deal for partners so individual level data are used instead. 9. Participants may have had more than one spell on new deal. Source: Department for Work and Pensions, Information Directorate. | |
Pensioners: Poverty
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners in (a) Chesterfield constituency, (b) Derbyshire and (c) England her Department estimated to be in absolute poverty at the latest date for which information is available. [307166]
Angela Eagle [holding answer 15 December 2009]: Estimates of poverty, published in the Households Below Average Income series, only allow a breakdown of the overall number of people in poverty at Government office region level. Therefore, information for the Chesterfield constituency and Derbyshire region are not available.
The Government use a basket of three key thresholds of income, after housing costs, to measure pensioner poverty. Absolute poverty is referred to as 60 per cent. of 1998-99 median income uprated in line with prices.
The latest information for the East Midlands Government office region is based on the three year average from 2005 to 2008, and shows that 100,000 pensioners (11 per cent. of pensioners in the region) have incomes falling below the absolute poverty threshold. The latest information for England shows that 800,000 pensioners (9 per cent. of pensioners) have incomes falling below the absolute poverty threshold.
Notes:
1. These statistics are based on Households Below Average Income (HBAI) data, sourced from the Family Resources Survey (FRS). The reference period for FRS figures is single financial years. Three sample years have been combined for regional statistics as single year estimates are subject to volatility.
2. Small changes in estimates from year to year, particularly at the bottom of the income distribution, may not be significant in view of data uncertainties.
3. Numbers of pensioners have been rounded to the nearest 100,000, while proportions of pensioners in low-income households have been rounded to the nearest percentage point.
Pensions
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if she will estimate the total savings to her Department against expenditure on (a) pension credit, (b) housing benefit and (c) council tax benefit consequent on a 2.5 per cent. increase in 2010-11 in (i) additional pension, (ii) increments to basic pension, (iii) increments to additional pension, (iv) increments to graduated retirement benefit, (v) increments to the inheritable lump sum, (vi) contracted-out deduction from additional pension in respect of pre-April 1988 contracted-out earnings, (vii) contracted-out deduction from additional pension in respect of contracted-out earnings from April 1988 to 1997, (viii) graduated retirement benefit, (ix) increase of long-term incapacity for age, (x) basic pension addition at the age of 80 years, (xi) increase of long-term incapacity for age and (xii) invalidity allowance (transitional) for state pension recipients. [308335]
Angela Eagle: The information requested is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Personal Accounts
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from what budgets funding for the proposed personal accounts will be drawn. [307344]
Angela Eagle: The cost of establishing the personal accounts scheme is currently being met via a loan from the Department for Work and Pensions. The loan will be repaid by the trustee corporation through charges levied on scheme members.
Poverty
John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what definitions of poverty are used in her Department; and if she will make a statement. [307092]
Helen Goodman: It is generally accepted that low income is central to any poverty measurement. Definitions of low income households are set out in the annual National Statistics publication 'Households Below Average Income'. This reports numbers of individuals in households below or persistently below 50 per cent., 60 per cent. and 70 per cent. of median household income both before and after deducting housing costs.
The public service agreement (PSA) 17, 'Tackle poverty and promote greater independence and wellbeing in later life', sets out indicators of pensioner poverty for which the Department for Work and Pensions is responsible alongside a range of other non-poverty indicators which are shared between the Department for Work and Pensions and other Government Departments. As no single measure captures all aspects of poverty, the PSA includes a range of indicators related to low income for pensioners. These are relative low income (below 50 and 60 per cent. contemporary median household income), and absolute low income (below 60 per cent. of 1998-99 median income uprated in line with prices). Further information is given in the Government's PSA Delivery Agreement 17, which is available in the Library.
The joint PSA 9 between the Treasury, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Children, Schools and Families to halve the number of children in poverty by 2010-11, on the way to eradicating child poverty by 2020, sets out indicators of child poverty. These are relative low income (below 60 per cent. of contemporary median household income), absolute low income (below 60 per cent. of 1998-99 median income uprated in line with prices), and combined low income and material deprivation (based on below 70 per cent. of contemporary median household income). The Child Poverty Bill includes targets on these three measures and, in addition, a target will also be set using a persistent poverty measure (below 60 per cent. of median income in three or four out of the last four years). The indicators of child poverty reflect the fact that income is a key aspect of child poverty. The combined low income and material deprivation indicator provides a wider measure of families' living standards. The latest version of the Child Poverty Bill (10 December 2009) is available from the Public Bill Office. Further information is given in the conclusions document of the Department's 'Measuring Child Poverty' consultation, which is available in the Library.
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