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Departmental Billing

John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of invoices from suppliers her Department paid within 10 days of receipt in December 2009. [311265]

Jim Knight: The Department for Work and Pensions paid 97 per cent. of all valid invoices within 10 days of receipt in December 2009.

Departmental Food

Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate she has made of the quantity of food waste generated by her Department in each year for which figures are available. [310814]

Jonathan Shaw: The quantity of food waste generated by the Department in each year for which figures are available is:

Financial year	Food waste (kgs)
2008-09	39,755
2009-10	51,489

The figures cover waste from the preparation of food, waste from service counters and customer plate waste. There has been an increase in counter sales for 2009-10 of 6 per cent. compared with the same period in 2008-09. This may account for the food waste increase in 2009-10.

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Departmental Legislation

Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what criminal offences have been (a) created and (b) abolished by secondary legislation sponsored by her Department since 1 May 2008. [307791]

Jim Knight: Since 1 May 2008, the following criminal offences have been created by secondary legislation sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions:

Regulation 9 of the Child Support Information Regulations 2008 exercises the power in section 14A(3A) of the Child Support Act 1991 (inserted by section 36 of the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008) imposing a duty on persons liable to make payments of child support maintenance to notify a change of address. Any failure to comply with that duty is an offence under section 14A(3A) of the 1991 Act.

Regulation 25AC of the Child Support (Collection and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 designates certain regulations. Those regulations, inserted by the Child Support Collection and Enforcement (Deduction Orders) Amendment Regulations 2009, contain duties upon certain persons and a failure to comply with those duties is an offence. The duties are:

(i) notifications required to be given to the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission ("the Commission") by deposit-takers on which a regular deduction order has been served (regulation 25 E (1) to (5));

(ii) compliance with a regular deduction order which has been varied and served on a deposit-taker (regulation 25 I (4));

(iii) a requirement on deposit-takers on which a lump sum deduction order has been served to provide information (regulation 25 O (1) to (5));

(iv) a duty to comply with a lump sum deduction order as varied (regulation 25 R (3));

(v) a requirement on a deposit-taker on which a deduction order is directed to pay amounts deducted under the order to the Commission (regulation 25 AA (1)).

Since 1 May 2008, no criminal offences have been abolished by secondary legislation sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions.

Disability Living Allowance

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in each of the smallest geographical units for which figures are available claimed the higher rate care component of disability living allowance on the ground of terminal illness in 2008-09. [310725]

Jonathan Shaw: The information is in the table.

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Disability living allowance-cases recorded with a higher rate care component paid on the grounds of terminal illness by Government Office Region in the 4 quarters to May 2009
Government Office Region	August 2008	November 2008	February 2009	May 2009
North East	2,700	2,600	2,400	2,400
North West	6,700	6,600	6,100	6,400
Yorkshire and the Humber	3,700	3,500	3,700	4,000
East Midlands	3,000	2,900	2,900	3,300
West Midlands	3,900	3,400	3,500	3,400
East of England	3,400	3,200	3,200	3,100
London	4,400	3,900	3,500	3,600
South East	4,100	4,100	4,100	4,200
South West	3,100	2,500	2,500	2,800
Wales	2,500	2,200	2,400	2,300
Scotland	3,900	3,300	3,500	3,600
Notes: 1. The preferred statistics on benefits are now derived from 100 per cent. data sources. However, the 5 per cent. sample data still provide some detail not yet available from the 100 per cent. data sources, in particular, more complete information on the disabling condition of disability living allowance claimants. DWP recommends that, where the detail is only available on the 5 per cent. sample data, or disabling condition for disability living allowance is required, the proportions derived should be scaled up to the 100 per cent. total for the benefit. 2. Figures have been rated to agree with Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study totals and are rounded to the nearest hundred. 3. Figures 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. Source: DWP Information Directorate 5 per cent sample.

Electronic Government: Advertising

Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the budget is for the Direct.gov television advertising campaign launched on 4 January 2010; and which celebrities were employed to feature in the campaign. [315699]

Jim Knight: Directgov has the potential to enable Government to make substantial savings in shifting from traditional to digital channels. For those savings to be realised, it is vital that the public are aware of and trust Directgov as the Government's official website. The aim of the campaign is to increase awareness so that Directgov is the first site people think of for Government information, and one which they both trust and recommend to others. Early results have shown the campaign has been a success with a record number of 614,000 visits on the first day of the campaign which was then followed by another 663,000 the next Monday. During the period of the campaign to date, year-on-year visits to the Directgov homepage have risen by 104 per cent.

The cost of production and airtime purchased to date combined is £2.05 million.

The artists featured in the Directgov advertisement are Nick Moran, Honor Blackman, Janet Street Porter, Christopher Biggins, Kelly Brook and Graham McPherson (popularly known as 'Suggs'). Helen Mirren provided the voiceover.

Negotiations on the involvement of these artists in the project were conducted by the COI and all of the above agreed to participate in the advert for a fraction of their normal commercial rate.

Electronic Government: Publicity

Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much her Department paid to each (a) actor, (b) musician and (c) other performer used to support the directgov advertisement, Go DirectGov. [310351]

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Jim Knight: We are unable to provide information for individual actors, musicians or other performers. This information is market-sensitive and revealing it would weaken the potential for future earnings of those who appeared in the adverts.

Negotiations on the involvement of these artists in the project were conducted by the COI and all of the above agreed to participate in the advert for a fraction of their normal commercial rate.

Directgov has the potential to enable Government to make substantial savings in shifting from traditional to digital channels. For those savings to be realised, it is vital that the public are aware of and trust Directgov as the Government's official website. The aim of the advertisements is to increase awareness so that Directgov is the first site people think of for Government information, and one which they both trust and recommend to others.

Employers' Liability

Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent discussions her Department has had with the Association of British Insurers on the employers' liability insurance tracing scheme. [316772]

Jonathan Shaw: The Government want to see more done to ensure that individuals who are unable to trace insurers are given support. To this end the Government have had some very helpful discussions with a range of stakeholders, including the Association of British Insurers, on the possibility of setting up a database of employers' liability insurance.

We have today published a consultation document 'Accessing Compensation-Supporting people who need to trace Employers' Liability Insurance'. The consultation covers the best way of setting up and administering an Employers' Liability Tracing Office, including a compulsory electronic database for keeping records of future employers' liability policies that can be searched by claimants and their representatives. We are also consulting on establishing an Employers' Liability Insurance Bureau, a fund of last resort for those unable to trace an insurance policy.

We will seek to work with the Association of British Insurers and others to drive forward the establishment of the tracing office. We envisage such a system would eventually provide a complete record of all employers' liability policies issued and should be easily accessible to those who need to trace such policies.

Employment and Support Allowance

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether she has set any targets for the assessment of individuals for the employment support allowance. [312482]

Jonathan Shaw: There are no targets for the number of individuals assessed as eligible for employment and support allowance.

Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what administrative processes are in place to inform claimants of employment and support allowance of the outcome of their benefit claims; and what processes are in place to ensure that claimants are informed of an unsuccessful claim before existing benefit payments are (a) stopped and (b) reduced. [316097]

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Jonathan Shaw [holding answer 3 February 2010]: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Darra Singh. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.

Letter from Darra Singh:

The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking what administrative processes are in place to inform claimants of Employment and Support Allowance of the outcome of their benefit claims; and what processes are in place to ensure that claimants are informed of an unsuccessful claim before existing benefit payments are (a) stopped and (b) reduced. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.

If a customer claims Employment and Support Allowance and is entitled to this benefit, an award notice is issued to the customer by post. If a customer is not entitled to Employment and Support Allowance a decision notice is issued to the customer. The notice includes reasons for the disallowance and details of their right to a reconsideration of the decision and, where appropriate, to an appeal. Where a customer is receiving Employment and Support Allowance and their entitlement ends or reduces, for example on a change of circumstances, the customer is notified of the decision and any appeal rights which may apply. Customers are normally notified in advance of any reduction in benefit entitlement but this is not always possible, particularly if the change takes effect from a past date.

In most cases the process is automated with the vast majority of notifications generated by IT systems and delivered by post. However, where we know the customer has a mental health condition, arrangements are in place to visit them before any decision on their case is made.

I hope this information is helpful.

Employment Schemes: Graduates

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what forecast she has made of the take-up by graduates of the Graduate Guarantee in the next 12 months; and how many (a) internships and (b) training places she expects to be made available under the scheme in the next 12 months. [315670]

Jim Knight: In November 2009 the Prime Minister announced that the Government will guarantee access to an internship, training or help to become self-employed to all new graduates reaching six months of unemployment.

The Graduate Guarantee is based on:

The 20,000 graduate internships available through the Graduate Talent Pool (open to all graduates, from now);

The training options available through the Six Month Offer and Young Person's Guarantee;

Help to become self employed through Higher Education Funding Council for England's Economic Challenge Investment Fund and Flying Start; and

The business start-up support offered through the self employment option of the Six Month Offer.

We have not made forecasts of the take-up of each of these offers by graduates but we have guaranteed a place for every graduate who wants one.

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