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20 Jan 2010 : Column 357W—continued
Pensions: Financial Assistance Scheme
Mr. Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when she expects to bring into force the Financial Assistance Scheme (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulation 2010; and what estimate she has made of the losses incurred as a result of the failure of occupational pension schemes operating under the existing regulations. [311275]
Angela Eagle: We hope to bring the Regulation into force by spring 2010, subject to parliamentary approval.
FAS will provide help totalling £3.5 billion to around 150,000 people who would otherwise have lost out because their defined benefit pension schemes wound up under-funded.
Mr. Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the oral answer of 12 December 2007, Official Report, column 299, whether the Government will guarantee to a minimum of 90 per cent. assistance from the Financial Assistance Scheme to those whose pension schemes failed between 1997 and 2005. [311279]
Angela Eagle: Since the Government legislated in June 2008 the Financial Assistance Scheme has provided a guaranteed 90 per cent. of the pension a member had accrued when their scheme started to wind up, revalued to their retirement date in line with FAS rules. This is subject to a cap, the value of which is protected. (The cap for anyone becoming entitled to assistance payments between 1 April 2009 and 31 May 2010 is £29,386.)
FAS will provide help totalling £3.5 billion to around 150,000 people who would otherwise have lost out because their defined benefit pension schemes wound up under-funded.
Unemployed: Health Services
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to her Department's White Paper on Building Britain's Recovery, what additional health support will be provided to existing claimants of jobseeker's allowance; who will provide that support; when that support will become available; and in respect of what health conditions she expects claimants to be eligible for that support. [311574]
Jonathan Shaw [holding answer 18 January 2010]: This Department's White paper 'Building Britain's Recovery: Achieving Full Employment' sets out our plans for a review of the support we offer to people with a health condition or disability regardless of which benefits they are claiming, including Jobseeker's Allowance customers who are managing health conditions or disabilities whilst actively looking for work.
We will build on the existing Jobseeker's Allowance regime, which already provides advisers with the flexibility to offer customers a tailor-made and personalised approach to look for work appropriate to a person's health condition, alongside our more specialist disability employment programmes.
We will be consulting with interested stakeholders and delivery partners over the coming weeks and will publish our proposals for future support for all customers with a health condition or disability, including when we expect these to be introduced, in the spring.
Winter Fuel Payments: Lewes
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners resident in Lewes constituency are in receipt of winter fuel allowance; and how much her Department has paid to such pensioners in winter fuel allowance in 2009-10 to date. [311172]
Angela Eagle: Information of Winter Fuel Payments for winter 2009-10 is not yet available.
For winter 2008-09, 25,290 people received a Winter Fuel Payment in Lewes constituency at a cost of £5.5 million. We expect to make a similar number of payments for winter 2009-10.
1. Payment figures are rounded to the nearest 10
2. Expenditure figures are rounded to the nearest £0.1 million
3. Parliamentary constituencies are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant ONS postcode directory.
Winter Fuel Payments: Salford
Hazel Blears: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many residents of Salford have received the winter fuel payment in this winter; and what the cost of such payments was in the latest year for which figures are available. [311668]
Angela Eagle: Information on the number of Winter Fuel Payments for winter 2009-10 is not yet available. For winter 2008-09 (the last year for which information is available), 12,400 payments were made in Salford at a cost of £3 million.
1. Payment figures are rounded to the nearest 10
2. Expenditure figures are rounded to the nearest £0.1 million
3. Parliamentary constituencies are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant ONS postcode directory.
Health
Accident and Emergency Departments: Greater Manchester
Mr. Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have attended the accident and emergency department of each hospital in Greater Manchester as a result of injuries sustained by slipping or falling due to adverse weather conditions on each day since 20 December 2009. [311303]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Latest provisional data on hospital admissions covers the period April to September 2009. Provisional health episode statistics data for the last three months; October to December 2009, will be available from the NHS information centre for health and social care from 9 April 2010.
Attendance Allowance: Stroud
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in Stroud constituency have claimed attendance allowance in each of the last five years. [310946]
Jonathan Shaw: I have been asked to reply.
The available information is in the following table.
| Attendance allowance cases in payment for the Stroud parliamentary constituency for each of the last five years, as at May of each year | |
| Total | |
| Notes: 1. Caseload totals show the number of people in receipt of an allowance and exclude people with entitlement where the payment has been suspended, for example, if they are in hospital. 2. Caseload figures are rounded to the nearest ten. Source: Department for Work and Pensions Information Directorate: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study. | |
Breast Cancer: Preston
Mr. Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what percentage of women resident in Preston with suspected breast cancer have seen a specialist within two weeks of referral in each year since 1997. [311069]
Ann Keen: The two week wait for breast cancer was introduced from April 1999 (HSC1998/242). From this date forward, all patients urgently referred for suspected breast cancer by their general practitioner could expect to be seen by a specialist within 14 days of referral.
Data for the period 1997-2002 is not available. However, the following table details the numbers of patients covered by the standard and the reported performance for the period July 2002 to December 2008 for providers in Preston:
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