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15 Mar 2010 : Column 604W—continued
Social Security Benefits: Disabled
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what criteria recipients of (a) disability living allowance and (b) attendance allowance under special rules are required to meet; [322178]
(2) whether recipients of (a) disability living allowance and (b) attendance allowance under special rules are required to qualify for support through the social care system in order to be eligible to claim each benefit. [322163]
Jonathan Shaw: The Special Rules provision applies to individuals who are in the last stages of a progressive disease and who are expected to die within six months. The individual's GP or other health care professional submits a medical report to the Department confirming the diagnosis. Those who meet this criterion do not need to serve the normal qualifying periods for attendance allowance and disability living allowance before receiving benefit assistance. There is no requirement to qualify for support though the social care system in order to be eligible to claim these benefits.
Social Security Benefits: Parents
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much funding her Department has allocated to increase access to (a) benefits and (b) back-to-work schemes for low-paid and unemployed adults with children in 2009-10. [320795]
Helen Goodman: The Budget 2008 introduced the Child Poverty pilots, which are jointly funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, and the Department for Work and Pensions. For 2009-10, the Department for Work and Pensions contribution is £9.7 million.
One of the objectives of the pilots is to look at new and innovative ways to support parents into and to remain in work, as well as helping those out of work. The pilots include outreach work for Jobcentre Plus around Children's Centres and schools, as well as providing help back into work for those with younger children.
These are in addition to mandatory and voluntary programmes such as jobseeker's allowance, Flexible New Deal and the New Deals for Lone Parents and Partners, active labour market interventions such as Lone Parent Obligations and Progression to Work and infrastructure measures such as child care investment. Financial support may also be available including working tax credit aimed at ensuring that work pays and In Work Credit to help make the transition into work.
From October 2010 the Department for Work and Pensions will be implementing an enhanced Better off in Work Credit so that everyone who has been unemployed for 26 weeks or more will receive an income of at least £40 a week more on moving into work. The credit is expected to be available nationally from January 2011.
Social Security Benefits: Young People
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many 18 to 25-year-olds are claiming jobseeker's allowance or other benefits. [321787]
Helen Goodman: As at August 2009, there were 988,780 young people aged 18 to 25 claiming DWP-administered benefits in Great Britain, of which 491,060 were claiming jobseeker's allowance.
Unemployment Benefits
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent assessment she has made of the effect on benefit claimants of the period between which they move into work and have their benefit stopped and their first payment from their employer; what steps she is planning to take to help deal with this issue for benefit claimants; and whether she has considered allowing providers more flexibility to cover this gap using their service fee. [315695]
Jim Knight: We keep the transition of claimants from benefits to employment under regular review and have put in place a number of schemes that give people extra financial support on returning to work. For example, we introduced the job grant to specifically help customers who move into work manage until they receive their wages. It provides eligible customers a non-taxable payment of £100 for single people and couples without children, and £250 for lone parents and couples with children. In addition, housing costs are paid for four weeks after returning to work to customers who have been on income support or jobseeker's allowance for 26 weeks or more. As benefits are generally paid two weeks in arrears, this goes some way to filling any gap before payment of first wages.
For all customers leaving jobseeker's allowance for work, Jobcentre Plus staff can help them make claims to working tax credit using a special fast track procedure, which means that in many cases tax credit is paid in advance of first wages. As a last resort, in cases of very urgent financial need, customers can apply for interest-free crisis loans from the social fund.
Flexible New Deal providers already have the flexibility to use their service fee to provide help and support tailored to the needs of each jobseeker's allowance customer, to enable them to move into and stay in work.
Unemployment Benefits: Medical Examinations
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many and what proportion of people claiming (a) incapacity benefit and (b) employment and support allowance attended a medical assessment in the latest period for which figures are available; [317621]
(2) how many and what proportion of people who made a successful claim for (a) incapacity benefit and (b) employment and support allowance attended a medical assessment in each year since 1997. [317622]
Jonathan Shaw: Incapacity benefit and employment and support allowance customers are not medically assessed by the Department, they are assessed to determine their functional capability. All claims must be assessed in order to qualify for continued entitlement. Information on the number of initial awards following these assessments is not available. The available information for incapacity benefit is provided in the following table:
| Incapacity benefit scrutiny and completed examinations, Great Britain | |
| Number | |
| Notes: 1. Management Information held by the Department does not separately identify Personal Capability Assessments in respect of initial claims to benefit, as all referrals were in respect of customers in receipt of incapacity benefit. 2. Excludes Work Focused Health Related Assessments. 3. Data relate to the number of completed medical examinations and paper scrutiny clearances completed by Atos Healthcare. Source: DWP medical services contract management information. | |
For employment and support allowance claims we have data on claims from the introduction of employment and support allowance on 27 October 2008 to May 2009. The main data relating to Work Capability Assessment claims are published at:
A copy of this report has also been placed in the Library.
Winter Fuel Payments: British Nationals Abroad
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many winter fuel payments were made to persons living outside the UK in 1996-97; and what estimate she has made of the number of winter fuel payments made to persons living in (a) Spain, (b) Italy, (c) Greece, (d) Portugal and (e) other countries outside the UK in the last financial year. [320314]
Angela Eagle: Winter fuel payments were first introduced in winter 1997-98 and paid to eligible people living in the United Kingdom (UK).
Since 2002 winter fuel payments have been made to eligible former UK residents living elsewhere in the European Economic Area or Switzerland provided they qualified for a winter fuel payment before leaving the UK. Under European Union law some benefits acquired in one member state must be paid to people who live outside that state but within the European Economic Area. Winter fuel payments are one of these benefits and the UK is bound by European Union law.
Information for winter 2008-09 (the last year for which information is available) is in the following table.
| Winter fuel payments (WFPs) paid to people living in the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland outside UK | |
| WFPs by country | 2008-09 |
| Note: The figures are for automated payments which account for the great majority of payments made. | |
Home Department
Alcoholic Drinks: Young People
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many retailers have been convicted of an offence of persistent sale of alcohol to a person under 18 years in each year since 2006. [315154]
Alan Johnson: The number of defendants found guilty at all courts of an offence of persistent sale of alcohol to a person less than 18 years, England and Wales can be viewed in the following table. Data are only available for 2008, when the offence came into force. Court proceedings data for 2009 are due to be published in autumn 2010.
Crime
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) with reference to the answer of 26 June 2009, Official Report, columns 1204-5W, on crime, how many incidents related to public safety/welfare were recorded in each category in 2008-09; [313815]
(2) how many incidents with the qualifier hate/discrimination were recorded in each category in 2008-09; [313816]
(3) how many incidents relating to administration were recorded in each category in 2008-09; [313817]
(4) how many incidents with the qualifier (a) alcohol, (b) critical incident, (c) domestic abuse, (d) drugs, (e) firearms, (f) weapons, (g) youth-related aged under 10 and (h) youth-related aged 10 to 17 were recorded in 2008-09. [313818]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 2010]: The number of incidents recorded by police forces in each category classified as public safety/welfare as defined within the National Incident Category List (NICL) for 2008-9 is attached in Table A. The data are normally for management information only and are not subject to the detailed checks that apply to National Statistics publications. They are provisional and may be subject to change. The data represent calls for service as recorded by police forces under the relevant categories and may be subject to local variation in reporting and classifying.
A reliable figure for incidents with the qualifier hate/discrimination for England and Wales is not available. More than 10 per cent. of police forces were not able to return qualifier data for 2008-09(1). The data are normally for management information only.
The administration data categories are for local management purposes only and were not required from police forces for the Annual Data Return in 2009. The Home Office continues to review the data required from police forces and to balance user needs against burdens on police forces.
A reliable England and Wales figure for incidents with the qualifiers requested is not available. More than 10 per cent. of police forces were not able to return qualifier data for 2008-09(1). The data are normally for management information only.
(1) It was only mandatory for police forces to return data until June 2009.
| Table A: Number of incidents in each category classified as public safety/welfare as defined within the National Incident Category List (NICL) in 2008- 0 9 | |
| Category | Total |
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