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28 Jan 2010 : Column 1019W—continued
Crisis Loans
Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what restrictions on the granting of crisis loans were introduced in 2009-10; what assessment has been made of the effects of those restrictions; and whether further restrictions are being considered. [313745]
Helen Goodman: Measures introduced during 2009 to ensure that Crisis Loans are targeted at those most in need of support from the cash-limited social fund budget have been to:
Prohibit a second Crisis Loan for living expenses for the same period, (not applied if a disaster or emergency not of customer's own making has arisen since the first award).
Require customers to attend a face to face interview when making their third or subsequent application for a Crisis Loan for living expenses in a rolling 12 month period (excluding those awaiting a decision on their benefit claim). In exceptional circumstances Crisis Loan Decision Makers can waive the need for the customer to attend an interview.
Limit the number of Crisis Loans for living expenses a customer can receive to three in a rolling 12 month period (not applied if a disaster or emergency not of customer's own making has arisen). This measure has been tested in the South West and East Midlands. There are no plans to roll it out nationally.
Following the national introduction of the measure to interview customers on their third and subsequent application on 30 October 2009, a formal evaluation into the effectiveness of this measure will be undertaken shortly.
No further changes are planned for this financial year.
Maternity and Paternity Pay
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much her Department has spent on statutory (a) maternity and (b) paternity pay in each relevant year since 1997. [313569]
Helen Goodman [holding answer 26 January 2010]: The Department for Work and Pensions is responsible for Statutory Maternity Pay and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is responsible for Statutory Paternity Pay and Statutory Adoption Pay.
The available information on spending on Statutory Maternity Pay is in the following table. Information on a longer time series of spending figures can be found at the following web link:
| Department for Work and Pensions expenditure on statutory maternity pay | |
| Statutory maternity pay (outturn) (£ million) | |
| (1) Figures are estimated outturn for the years in question. The figures relate to Great Britain, and are for Government expenditure to balance employer recoveries from the national insurance fund. Source: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd4/Alltables_Budget2009_Values.xls | |
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills publishes its expenditure on Statutory Paternity Pay as part of its Annual Report which can be found here:
| Department for Business, Innovation and Skills expenditure on Statutory Paternity Pay | |
| Statutory paternity pay (£ million) | |
| Note: Figures also includes the Department's spend on Statutory Adoption Pay. Source: Department for Business Innovation and Skills Annual Reports | |
Pensions: Financial Assistance Scheme
Mr. Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if she will take steps to ensure that pensioners who have lost all or a greater part of their pension due to failed occupational pension schemes are fully compensated under the new Financial Assistance Scheme regulations, with particular reference to (a) indexation reflecting that provided by their original schemes and (b) backdating to cover normal retirement age. [313442]
Angela Eagle: On 17 December 2007, the Government announced a major extension to the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS). This provided for people to be paid 90 per cent. of their accrued pension, revalued to the date of entitlement, subject to a maximum limit, which is currently £29,386. Payments are made from the member's normal retirement age (subject to a lower age limit of 60 and an upper limit of 65).
Payments based on rights accrued since April 1997 are increased in line with inflation, subject to a 2.5 per cent. cap. This is the same as occupational pension schemes are required to provide by legislation and is also in line with what the Pension Protection Fund provides.
No payments are made for any period before 14 May 2004, when the Financial Assistance Scheme was announced.
The Government believe this is a generous and appropriate final settlement.
Post Office Card Account
Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of benefit payments of each type were paid into post office card accounts in (a) the UK, (b) England, (c) Wales, (d) Scotland, (e) each English region and (f) each parliamentary constituency in the latest period for which figures are available. [313571]
Helen Goodman [holding answer 26 January 2010]: The information has been placed in the Library.
Poverty: Children
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if she will estimate the number of children in relative poverty who will not be in relative poverty in January 2012. [311770]
Helen Goodman: Many of the policy initiatives announced since Budget 2007 have not yet shown up in the child poverty figures. Although we do not have an estimate for January 2012, measures announced since Budget 2007, including the pre-Budget report 2009, are estimated to reduce the number of children in poverty by around 550,000.
Winter Fuel Payments
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners (a) aged 80 years and over have claimed the £400 winter fuel payment and (b) aged 60 years and over have claimed the £250 winter fuel payment in (i) Jarrow constituency, (ii) South Tyneside, (iii) the North East and (iv) the United Kingdom in each winter since 2007-08. [313486]
Angela Eagle: The information requested on the number of claims is not available. Most customers do not need to claim the winter fuel payment as the majority of payments are sent out automatically by the Department.
The number of payments made for winters 2007-08 and 2008-09 (the last winter for which information is available) is in the following table:
| 2007-08 | 2008-09 | |||
| Number of customers aged: | Number of customers aged : | |||
| 60-79 years | 80 and over | 60-79 years | 80 and over | |
| (1 )Information regarding Northern Ireland is a matter for the Northern Ireland Office. Notes: 1. Households with those aged 60-79 received £250 and those aged 80 and over received £400. These payments were shared between qualifying individuals in each household. 2. Payment figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 3. Expenditure figures are rounded to the nearest £0.1 million. 4. Parliamentary constituencies are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant ONS postcode directory. | ||||
Winter Fuel Payments: Ashford Kent
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners resident in Ashford constituency are in receipt of the winter fuel allowance; and how much her Department paid to such pensioners in winter fuel allowance in 2009. [313520]
Angela Eagle: For winter 2008-09 (the last winter for which information is available), 24,310 people received a winter fuel payment in Ashford at a cost of £5.1 million.
Notes:
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.
Justice
Industrial Health and Safety
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will place in the Library a copy of the advice issued to departmental staff on stress recognition and management. [313982]
Mr. Wills: Advice and guidance on stress recognition and management is available to all staff on the Ministry of Justice intranets. I will make arrangements for the guidance material to be placed in the Library.
Bail and Accommodation Support Service
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many residents of ClearSprings properties have had their residency terminated following a breach of terms of residency in each month since June 2007; [308787]
(2) how many residents have been received into ClearSprings properties in each month since June 2007. [308788]
Maria Eagle: The number of residents, to 30 November 2009, who have breached their terms while accommodated by ClearSprings for the period of their bail or Home Detention Curfew (HDC) licence and the number accommodated is shown in the following table. Residents accommodated through this service are subject to a level of surveillance and reporting to a support officer which does not apply to others on bail and HDC living privately in the community.
| Number | ||
| Breached | Total accommodated | |
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