| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
8 Mar 2010 : Column 75W—continued
Pension Credit: Hampstead
Glenda Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners applied for pension tax credit in Hampstead and Highgate constituency up to 2008; and how many such applications have been refused. [304129]
Angela Eagle: Information about the total number of claims including unsuccessful claims is not available. The information that is available is shown in the following table:
| Successful applications to pension credit in Hampstead and Highgate parliamentary constituency | |
| Number of successful new claims ( T housand) | |
| Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Totals may not sum due to rounding, and exclude some short-term flows not captured by the relevant scans. 2. The successful new claims is the total number of awards of benefit that commenced within the quarter. Source: DWP Information Directorate Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study. | |
Pension Service: Torbay
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if she will make it her policy to ensure that her Department continues to offer face-to-face Pension Service advice surgeries in Torquay and Paignton. [320589]
Angela Eagle: PDCS Local Service provides a face to face service for vulnerable pension age and disabled customers who are unable to access services through the normal channels such as by telephone or post. Local Service operates in the community across all of England, Scotland and Wales, and provides home visits to customers for information and advice, and help with applications to benefits and other complementary services.
Local Service works closely with partners, such as local authorities and voluntary sector organisations to improve customer service delivery within local communities, through the creation of designated alternative offices, under the Social Security (Claims and Payments and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2003, and appointment based information points in community locations.
Age Concern in Torquay is a designated alternative office. In addition to the advice and information service offered to pensioners by Age Concern they are also able to accept claims from people aged 60 or over for social security benefits, or from a person under age 60 for disability and carers benefits.
With the opening of a 'Community One Stop hub' in Paignton in the autumn, which will offer joined up services from a number of stakeholders, Local Service will work with partners to offer this as an alternative appointment venue for vulnerable customers.
By working in partnership in the community Local Service will continue to provide face to face services to vulnerable customers in the community of Torbay.
Personal Accounts Delivery Authority: Tata Consultancy Services
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many bidders other than Tata Consultancy Services there were for the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority contract for scheme administration services; and how much her Department will pay to Tata Consultancy Services under the contract. [320942]
Angela Eagle:
Following publication of the contract notice in the Official Journal of the European Union in
January 2009, the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority (PADA) received 56 expressions of interest.
Following receipt of pre-qualification questionnaires, four organisations were invited to participate in competitive dialogue. As the competitive dialogue progressed, three of these bidders decided to withdraw. This left Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., which had progressively demonstrated during the competition that it was a strong bidder. This was confirmed by its final bid, which after a rigorous evaluation was found to fully meet PADA's delivery requirements at a good price for NEST's future members.
Any payments due under the contract will be met by PADA, until the organisation is wound up on 5 July 2010. Payments will then be made by the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST). NEST will be self-financing in the long-term. This means that ultimately, all of the costs of establishing and operating NEST, including all payments due under this contract, will be met by NEST's members.
Social Security Advisory Committee: Finance
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much the Social Security Advisory Committee spent on (a) remuneration for (i) the Chairman and (ii) Committee members, (b) travel expenses, (c) subsistence, (d) accommodation and (e) hospitality in (A) 2005-06, (B) 2006-07, (C) 2007-08 and (D) 2008-09; and how much she expects to be spent by the Committee for such purposes in 2009-10. [302791]
Jim Knight [holding answer 30 November 20 09 ]: Information is not available in the format requested. Such information(1) as is available is in the table.
| £ | |||||
| SSAC expenditure | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 estimate |
| (1) All figures except hospitality rounded to the nearest £100. (2) Cost of members' fees cannot be disaggregated from other elements of SSAC's running costs. (3) Includes the chairman's, members' and staff travel costs. (4 )Includes the chairman's, members' and staff subsistence and accommodation costs. (5) Includes subsistence costs for the chairman, members' and staff. | |||||
Social Security Benefits: Angus
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Angus constituency are in receipt of (a) attendance allowance, (b) incapacity benefit and (c) jobseeker's allowance; and what the average weekly amount received is in each case. [318799]
Jonathan Shaw: Attendance allowance provides an important non-contributory, non-income-related and tax free cash contribution towards the extra costs of severely disabled people. The Government are committed to providing real help to disabled people, particularly through the early stages of economic recovery. This is why the Chancellor announced in the December 2009 pre-Budget report that attendance allowance would be increased by 1.5 per cent.-bringing forward help when it is most needed. Without this commitment, the recent negative growth in the retail prices index would have meant that this benefit would not have increased in 2010.
From 27 October 2008 we replaced incapacity benefits for new customers with the employment and support allowance and a revised medical assessment which focuses on what people can do, rather than what they cannot.
The information requested is in the table.
| Number of cases in payment and average weekly payment of attendance allowance, incapacity benefit/severe disablement allowance and jobseeker's allowance in the Angus constituency in August 2009 | ||
| Number of cases in payment | Average weekly amount paid (£) | |
| Notes: 1. Benefit recipients are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Average weekly amounts are rounded to the nearest penny. 3. Benefit recipients receiving more than one of these benefits will be counted under each benefit. 4. Attendance allowance totals exclude people with entitlement where the payment has been suspended, for example if they are in hospital. 5. These data do not include claimants of employment and support allowance introduced from October 2008 6. All data refer to benefit recipients and therefore will exclude credits only cases. Source: Department for Work and Pensions Information Directorate: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study. | ||
Social Security Benefits: Dundee
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Dundee East constituency are in receipt of (a) incapacity benefit and (b) jobseeker's allowance; and what the average weekly payment to such people is in each case. [319601]
Jonathan Shaw: From 27 October 2008 we replaced incapacity benefits for new customers with the employment and support allowance and a revised medical assessment which focuses on what people can do, as well as what they cannot.
The information requested is in the following table:
| Number of cases in payment and average weekly payment of incapacity benefit/severe disablement allowance and jobseeker's allowance in the Dundee, East constituency in August 2009 | ||
| Benefit | Number of cases in payment | Average weekly amount paid (£) |
| Notes: 1. Number of cases in payment rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Average weekly amount paid is rounded to the nearest penny. 3. Claimants receiving more than one of these benefits are counted under each benefit. 4. The data do not include claimants of employment and support allowance introduced from October 2008. 5. All data refer to benefit recipients and will therefore exclude credits only and nil payment cases. Source: Department for Work and Pensions Information Directorate: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study. | ||
Social Security Benefits: Fraud
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Yorkshire East of 10 November 2009, Official Report, columns 303-04W, on social security benefits: fraud, when she expects her Department to publish the results of its voice risk analysis pilot schemes; and when she expects to decide whether to roll-out such schemes nationally. [319460]
Helen Goodman: Department analysts are currently evaluating the Voice Risk Analysis pilot results. Work is expected to be completed in the next few months. Next steps will be considered once the evaluation has been completed.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in respect of how many people allegations of benefit fraud were investigated in (a) Scotland, (b) the Highlands and (c) England and Wales in each of the last three years; how many such people were subsequently (i) cautioned and (ii) prosecuted and convicted of such offences in each such year; and how many of those convicted in each such year received a (A) custodial sentence, (B) community sentence and (C) discharge. [320126]
Helen Goodman: The available information is in the tables:
| Number of investigations | |||
| National | Scotland | England and Wales | |
| Notes: 1. The number of people investigated and cautioned was collected on a national basis only for 2006-07 and 2007-08 and cannot therefore be provided for Scotland, the Highlands, England and Wales. 2. The information requested is available for 2008-09. However, figures for the Highlands cannot be separated out and are included within those for Scotland. Source: Fraud and Error by Sector (FIBS) and Fraud Referral and Intervention Management system (FRAIMS). | |||
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |