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17 Mar 2010 : Column 868W—continued
The headcount for temporary staff for 2007-08 is not available centrally as DWP did not capture management information as standard across the various suppliers for the periods in question.
Departmental Theft
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps her Department is taking to deter theft from within the Department. [322658]
Jonathan Shaw: The Department takes extensive measures to protect our assets and to deter theft.
The physical security of all our premises complies with central Government security standards. The measures we use to prevent unauthorised access and to protect our assets include entry controls, pass systems, security guarding, CCTV and intruder detection systems.
All employees are required, as part of their conditions of employment, to safeguard the Department's assets, and to take care to ensure that no loss or damage occurs. Suspected thefts will, where appropriate, be referred to the police, and the Department will strongly support any ensuing police action.
All employees have been required to undertake security awareness training in the past year, which covers the protection of the Department's assets. We have issued reminders to employees to protect valuable assets and the information on them, when off the Department's premises.
We require all portable IT equipment, such as laptops and memory sticks, to be encrypted. The same applies to BlackBerry phones. This means that these items will not work if stolen.
Departmental Travel
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if she will publish the travel guidance issued to staff of her Department's agencies and non-departmental public bodies. [314929]
Jonathan Shaw: The DWP has a detailed travel policy which seeks to promote consistent and best value use of transport options by its staff. It is made available to all staff through its intranet site.
This policy is currently under review, however the full text of existing policy has been placed in the Library along with details relating to the Department's agencies and non-departmental public bodies.
The following non-departmental public bodies follow the Department for Work and Pensions travel guidance:
Disability Living Allowance Advisory Board
Equality 2025
Industrial Injuries Advisory Council
Pensions Ombudsman
Pensions Protection Fund Ombudsman
Social Security Advisory Committee.
Disability Living Allowance: Tribunals
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many appeal tribunals related to disability living allowance took place in each of the last five years. [322343]
Bridget Prentice: I have been asked to reply.
The number of tribunal appeals relating to disability living allowance for each of the last five years is shown in the following table.
| Financial year | Cases disposed of at a hearing |
Employment: Disabled
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many disabled people living in the City of York have moved into work in each of the last three years. [321689]
Jonathan Shaw: The information requested is not available.
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many disabled people living in Milton Keynes have moved into work in each of the last three years. [321870]
Jonathan Shaw: The information requested is not available.
Government Car and Despatch Agency
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much her Department paid to the Government Car and Despatch Agency in each of the last five years; how much it has spent on such payments in 2009-10; and what proportion of such payments was made in respect of the Government Car Service. [316427]
Jonathan Shaw: The Department's expenditure with the Government Car and Despatch Agency is detailed in the following table.
| £ | |
The Department does not hold this information for 2004-05. The data for 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 relate to the use of ministerial cars and the car for the
permanent secretary only. The expenditure for 2008-09 and for the first nine months of 2009-10 includes all departmental expenditure with the Government Car and Despatch Agency. The proportional split of expenditure the Government Car Service could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Housing Benefit
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what expenditure her Department has incurred on the local housing allowance scheme since it was introduced. [316798]
Helen Goodman: The available information is in the table.
| Local housing allowance expenditure | |
| In cash terms (£ million) | |
| Source: Local authority subsidy claims. | |
In 2004-05 nine Pathfinder local authorities piloted the local housing allowance. In 2005 the pilot was extended to 18 local authorities.
From April 2008 the local housing allowance was used by all 408 local authorities for new claims from renters in the deregulated private sector, replacing the Local Reference Rent scheme.
The Department also provided around £9 million of funding to the Pathfinder local authorities, and £59 million to fund the administrative costs of national implementation.
Housing Benefit: Scotland
Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in (a) Fife and (b) Scotland receive local housing allowance. [322401]
Helen Goodman: The available information is in the table.
| Housing benefit recipients-local housing allowance tenants: Great Britain November 2009 | |
| Number | |
| Notes: 1. Recipients are as at second Thursday of the month. 2. Local housing allowance tenants may include a small number of non-LHA cases making a new claim since 7 April 2008. This will include recipients in caravan accommodation. 3. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 4. The data refer to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple. 5. SHBE is a monthly electronic scan of claimant level data direct from local authority computer systems. It replaces quarterly aggregate clerical returns. The data are available monthly from November 2008 and November 2009 and are the most recent available. 6. Housing benefit figures exclude any extended payment cases. An extended payment is a payment that may be received for a further four weeks when they start working full-time, work more hours or earn more money. 7. Data from SHBE incorporate the local authority changes from 1 April 2009. Source: Single Housing Benefit Extract (SHBE) | |
Housing Benefit: Young People
Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people under the age of 19 years who are not in employment, education or training are living in supported housing schemes; what assessment she has made of the effects of housing benefit levels on the prospects of such people obtaining employment; and if she will make a statement. [320878]
Helen Goodman: The information requested is not available. Figures on the total number of young people under the age of 19 years who are not in employment, education and training and living in supported housing schemes are not collected centrally.
The Government are committed to ensuring that there are suitable employment and training opportunities for all and that the system of working age benefits provides effective support for people to return to work. Young people are a specific priority. In December 2009 we published 'Investing in Potential', our cross-Government strategy for increasing the proportion of 16 to 24-year-olds in education, employment or training.
Housing benefit is an income-related benefit designed to help people who rent their home and have difficulty in meeting reasonable housing costs. There is no age restriction and it can be paid to people whether or not they are working or training. Full-time students in non-advanced and further education who are aged less than 21 may also get housing benefit. We have recently launched the Working Benefits campaign to help advisers explain to their clients the in-work support that this benefit can offer and make it clear that help with housing costs is still available to people in work or training on a low income.
On 15 December 2009 we launched the consultation document 'Supporting People into Work: The next stage of Housing Benefit Reform' which examines how housing benefit might play a part in encouraging people to work. It contained proposals that will improve incentives for people to get a job, building on an on-going programme of IT projects and financial help designed to smooth the transition for our customers as they move into work.
Many single young people aged under 25 will have the amount of their rent which is eligible for help with housing benefit restricted to the amount they would pay on a shared room basis, regardless of the property they rent. This reflects the fact that this group commonly have earnings prospects well below those of older people and addresses any possible disincentive to work that may arise from meeting high rent levels a person could not afford while in work.
However the housing benefit rules recognise the additional costs that might arise from the provision of supported housing. For this group no account is taken of a person's age in working out what help is available and help for those living in the social and voluntary sectors is usually based on the contractual rent.
Occupational Pensions: Regulation
John Penrose: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for what reason the cost to businesses of external advice to comply with the provisions of the Pensions Act 2008 was not included in her Department's estimate of the cost to the private sector. [318523]
Angela Eagle: The Workplace Pension Reform Regulations Impact Assessment, published January 2010, makes clear we have not calculated the costs to employers of seeking external advice, as the regulations do not require employers to seek such advice on how to implement or comply with the reforms.
The Government are working closely with both the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority and the Pensions Regulator and already have plans in place to provide employers with information and support both before and during the implementation of the reform. The Pension Regulator's communication and education campaign is being designed to help employers and the intermediaries employers rely on for help, to understand what must be done to meet the new employer duties.
Employers who still choose to seek advice from external bodies on top of the information provided by the Department and the Pensions Regulator must anticipate a benefit from this advice that outweighs the cost.
Pension Credit: Glasgow
John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people are in receipt of pension credits in Glasgow East constituency; and what the average weekly payment was in the latest period for which figures are available. [321880]
Angela Eagle: The information is as follows:
| Recipients of pension credit in the Glasgow, East constituency , August 2009 | |
| Number/£ | |
| Notes: 1. Case load figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Household recipients are those people who claim pension credit either for themselves or on behalf of themselves and a partner. Beneficiaries are the number of claimants in addition to the number of partners for whom they are claiming. 3. Pension credit is claimed on a household basis. The average weekly award of pension credit is in relation to the household. 4. Parliamentary constituencies and local authorities are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant ONS postcode directory. Source: DWP Information Directorate Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent. data. | |
Pension Credit: Milton Keynes
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Milton Keynes receive (a) basic state pension and (b) pension credit; and what the average weekly amount of pension credit received is. [321869]
Angela Eagle: The information requested is in the following table.
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