Child Maintenance: Bexley
Mr Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many non-resident parents resident in Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency have been subject to enforcement action for non-payment of child maintenance in each of the last five years. [75721]
Maria Miller: The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is responsible for the child maintenance system. I have asked the Child Maintenance Commissioner to write to my hon. Friend with the information requested and I have seen the response.
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Child Maintenance Commissioner.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many non-resident parents resident in Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency have been subject to enforcement action for non-payment of child maintenance in each of the last five years. [75721]
Where a non-resident parent fails to pay maintenance, there are a number of enforcement actions available. Money can be taken directly from a non-resident parent's earnings if the non-resident parent is employed, money can be taken directly from a non-resident parent's bank or building society account, or action can be taken through the courts.
The most serious forms of enforcement are commitment to prison or disqualification from driving. The decision whether to implement, and the length of the order, is at the discretion of a Magistrates' Court (or Sheriff in Scotland) where they are satisfied that a non-resident parent has “wilfully refused or culpably neglected” to pay child maintenance—but this is not a criminal sanction.
It is not possible provide the number of enforcement actions specifically for non-resident parents who have failed to pay maintenance for children residing in Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency.
The total volume of enforcement actions carried out by the Child Support Agency is shown on page 23 of the June 2011 Quarterly Summary of Statistics (QSS), available at:
http://www.childmaintenance.org/en/publications/stats0611.html
and in the House of Commons library. This shows that in the twelve months to March 2011 63,060 new deduction from earnings orders were sent to employers to take money from a non-resident parent's earnings or pension, over 18,000 liability orders were granted, over 11,000 cases were referred to bailiffs and 1,050 non-resident parents received immediate or suspended committal sentences.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
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Organised Crime: Departmental Co-ordination
Meg Hillier: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Prime Minister's oral statement of 11 August 2011, Official Report, column 1055, on public disorder, what meetings he and his Ministers have had with Home Office Ministers to assist in compiling the report to the House on gang culture. [77833]
Chris Grayling: The following information shows DWP ministerial meetings with Home Office Ministers in compiling the report on gang culture.
| Minister | Meeting with Home Office Minister | Date |
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr Duncan Smith), has also had a number of telephone conversations with the Secretary of State for the Home Department, my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May).
Officials from the Department for Work and Pensions were in frequent and regular contact with Home Office officials throughout this period to contribute recommendations to draft sections of the report and to organise conferences. Senior officials attended the regular meetings chaired by the Permanent Secretary of the Home Office.
Pensions: Public Sector
Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many public sector employees in each pay quartile he expects to cease making contributions to their pension following planned increases in contribution rates. [77694]
Danny Alexander [ holding answer 31 October 2011]: I have been asked to reply.
The spending review 2010 announced progressive increases to the level of employee contributions equivalent to an average of 3.2 percentage points, to be phased in over three years from April 2012.
As set out in my written ministerial statement of 19 July 2011, Official Report, columns 92-94WS, there will be no increase in employee contributions for those earning less that £15,000 and no more than a 1.5 percentage point increase in total by 2014-15 for those earning up to £21,000.
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The Government's assumption is that in total 1% of the pay-bill will opt out in the unfunded schemes as a result of the contribution increases. This has been scrutinized by the Office for Budget Responsibility. No assumption has been made about the distribution of opt-outs by pay quartile.
Remploy
Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many Remploy factories Ministers in his Department have visited in the last six months; and what representations they have received from Remploy employees on future business liability. [77553]
Maria Miller: I have visited both the Newcastle and Leven Remploy factories in the last six months. Also, as part of the Sayce consultation the Department held a series of six events where Remploy employees had an opportunity to directly contribute to the consultation in addition to written and online submissions. I attended the consultation event in Reading where I met and discussed the Sayce recommendations with employees. I have also held two briefing meetings for MPs.
No direct representations have been received from Remploy employees on the future of the business, although we have consulted on the recommendations of the Sayce report and have received almost 1,400 responses, including responses from Remploy employees. We will take time to analyse the consultation responses in detail and carefully consider the implications for future policy. We will publish a summary of responses received and a statement on future policy as soon as practicably possible.
Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what funding he provided to Remploy to improve its technology for the manufacture of life jackets in the last three years. [77554]
Maria Miller: In the three years to March 2011 the capital expenditure for the textile business was £125,000. I am unable to specify what funding has been provided for Remploy to improve its technology for the manufacture of life jackets in the last three years.
The Department agrees the overall funding and performance targets each year with Remploy. The day- to-day running of the company and achievements of targets is the responsibility of the Remploy board and executive team.
Social Rented Housing: Employment
Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of families living in social housing had no one in the household in employment in the latest period for which figures are available. [76352]
Steve Webb: We have restricted this analysis to working age households because the high proportion of pensioner households not in employment would otherwise risk distorting the overall answer.
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| Proportion of working age households in the social rented sector by employment status | |
| Employment status within household | Percentage |
| Notes: 1. The FRS is a nationally representative sample of approximately 25,000 UK private households. Data for 2009-10, the latest year available, were collected between April 2009 and March 2010. 2. The figures from the Family Resources Survey are based on a sample of households which have been adjusted for non-response using multi-purpose grossing factors which align the Family Resources Survey to Government office region population by age and sex. Estimates are subject to sampling error and remaining non-response error. 3. The ‘social rented sector' is defined as all cases where the local authority is the landlord, and all housing associations including New Town Development Corporations and the Scottish Special Housing Association, except where accommodation is part of the job. 4. A Household is defined as a single person or group of people living at the same address as their only or main residence, who either share one meal a day together or share the living accommodation (ie a living room). A household will consist of one of more benefit units (ie two single adults in a two-bed household would count as two benefit units, but only one household). 5. A benefit unit is defined as a single adult or a married or cohabiting couple and dependent children; from January 2006 same-sex partners (civil partners and cohabitees) are included in the same benefit unit. 6. For married or cohabiting couples, if either individual is classified as a pensioner, then the benefit unit is classified as a pensioner benefit unit and therefore excluded from this analysis. 7. Working age households are defined as households having at least one (possibly more) working age benefit units. 8. The employment status of adults has been defined using the Adult Employment Status—based on the ILO definition. Source: Family Resources Survey 2009/10 | |
Third Sector
Mr Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much direct funding his Department has allocated to each civil society organisation in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13, (d) 2013-14 and (e) 2014-15; and if he will make a statement. [74812]
Chris Grayling: The Department has allocated direct funding to civil society organisations as follows:
| DWP's payments to civil society organisations | |||||
| £ million | |||||
| Description | 2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 |
|
Payments made to credit unions (2012-13 onwards yet to be decided) |
|||||
As Pensions Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Thornbury and Yate (Steve Webb), advised the House on 24 October 2011, Official Report, columns 7-8, the Department is looking into how it can best continue to support credit unions to modernise and expand in the future, including funding for future years of the spending review.
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The Department contracts for many services and programmes and we do not keep records by type of organisation. Therefore, determining which of those are civil society organisations and how much we pay to each of them could be done only at disproportionate cost.
Work Capability Assessment
Dame Anne Begg: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) work capability assessments, (b) work capability assessments for new employment and support allowance claimants and (c) work capability assessments for reassessed incapacity benefit claimants were carried out in each month since February 2011. [77270]
Chris Grayling: The information requested is as follows.
(a) The Department regularly publishes official statistics on the number of work capability assessments (WCAs) completed for claimants in receipt of employment and support allowance (ESA). The latest report was published in October 2011 and can be found on the internet at the following link:
http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/workingage/index.php?page=esa_wca
This publication does not include information on incapacity benefit (IB) reassessment (see section c for more detail). Therefore, statistics on the overall number of WCAs completed in each month since February are currently unavailable.
(b) Tables 2 and 2a in the publication show monthly statistics on completed initial and repeat assessments for ESA claims from October 2008 up to May 2011 (the latest data available).
The following table shows completed assessments since February 2011. This is a summary of Tables 2 and 2a in the publication. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100 and as a result may not sum to row totals.
| Completed assessments by month of assessment | |||
| Initial assessments | Repeat assessments | Total | |
| Notes: 1. Information relating to periods beyond May 2011 will be published on a quarterly basis as usual. 2. The data presented in the table come from benefit claims data held by the Department for Work and Pensions and functional assessment data from Atos Healthcare. 3. These figures do not include IB reassessment claims. 4. A small number of clerical assessments, where the result cannot be determined from DWP benefits data, are excluded from these figures. | |||
(c) The reassessment of existing incapacity benefits customers using the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) was rolled out nationally from February 2011.
Letters are being issued as planned to 11,000 claimants per week informing them that their reassessment is about to commence. To manage the process smoothly, volumes were gradually ramped up from the end of February, and the numbers reached 11,000 per week in May. As at the end of September 2011, approximately 128,000 WCAs have been completed for IB Reassessment claimants. After the WCA, the decision on entitlement to benefit is taken by a DWP Decision Maker.
No official statistics are available on WCAs completed for IB Reassessment claimants so the information on the number of WCAs completed above is from the Department's management information system. It relates
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to those assessments where Atos have made a recommendation based on either a face-to-face assessment or cleared by scrutiny of the customer's medical questionnaire. It does not include those customers whose WCA recommendations were returned to Jobcentre Plus because they had not complied with the process.
As it was never the intention to publish this management information, it has not been subject to the same rigorous quality assurance processes that are used for official statistics and as a result it should be used with a degree of caution. In addition, a monthly breakdown of the management information is not reliable because the data are captured by week. This means that for those weeks that cross over a month end the data cannot be attributed to any particular calendar month.
Due to the overall length of the incapacity benefits reassessment process, information on the entire process including the final outcomes and subsequent destinations of claimants being reassessed is not yet available. Individual level data are being collected, but it will take time to complete because of the overall length of the reassessment process. The Department plans to publish data on the outcomes of the reassessment process but only once it has been quality assured and is considered robust.
Dame Anne Begg: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether those awaiting the result of an appeal against a negative work capability assessment decision will be entitled to receive the assessment rate of employment and support allowance while they wait in (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14 and (c) future years. [77271]
Chris Grayling: We constantly review the benefit system to ensure that it is as efficient as possible. We are in the process of considering appeals—as a consequence of the provisions in the Welfare Reform Bill, including universal credit and the requirement to undertake a reconsideration before appealing. However, no decisions have yet been made.
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many work capability assessments for claimants in receipt of employment and support allowance were completed in each week from the beginning of February 2011 to date. [77142]
Chris Grayling: The Department regularly publishes official statistics on the number of work capability assessments (WCAs) completed for claimants in receipt of employment and support allowance (ESA). The latest report was published in October 2011 and can be found on the internet at the following link:
http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/workingage/index.php?page=esa_wca
Tables 2 and 2a in the above publication show monthly statistics on completed initial and repeat assessments for ESA claims from October 2008 up to May 2011 (the latest data available).
The following table shows completed assessments since February 2011. This is a summary of Tables 2 and 2a in the publication. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred and as a result may not sum to row totals.
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| Completed assessments by month of assessment | |||
| Initial assessments | Repeat assessments | Total | |
| Notes: 1. The data presented above come from benefit claims data held by the Department for Work and Pensions and functional assessment data from Atos Healthcare. 2. These figures do not include IB reassessment claims. 3. A small number of clerical assessments, where the result cannot be determined from DWP benefits data, are excluded from these figures. | |||
Information relating to periods beyond May 2011 will be published on a quarterly basis as usual .
Work Programme
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how long he plans to prevent Work programme providers from making public their performance data; [77964]
(2) if he will lift the contractual ban on publication by Work programme providers of their performance data; [77965]
(3) what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the Cabinet Office's data transparency initiative on the publication of Work programme performance data. [77967]
Chris Grayling:
There are no plans to allow Work programme providers to share their performance data ahead of the publication of official Work programme statistics, nor do we intend to change the contract clause that prevents providers from publishing their
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performance data. This is essential to ensure that the publication of official information is properly managed in line with the UK Statistics Authority legislation. Early publication of providers' own performance data could undermine the principle of making the information available to all at the same time through the official publication process and also impact on the accuracy of the data.
The Work programme only started in June 2011, it lasts two years for each individual and, as providers only receive job outcome payments once a participant has been in employment and off benefit for up to 26 weeks, it will be 2012 before performance data start to be recorded. The intention is therefore to publish official statistics on referrals to the Work programme from spring 2012 and on job outcomes from autumn 2012.
In line with the Government's transparency agenda, we have published providers' minimum service offers to all customers to ensure that customers are aware what they can expect, and that providers live up to what they have told us they will deliver.
Health
Departmental Assets
Mr Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assets with a value of £250,000 or more his Department has bought since May 2010; for what purpose; and if he will make a statement. [77415]
Mr Simon Burns: The information requested is shown in the following table.
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Lost Property
Mr Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department has lost any (a) computers, (b) mobile phones, (c) BlackBerrys and (d) other IT equipment since May 2010; and if he will make a statement. [77414]
Mr Simon Burns: The Department has experienced losses or thefts in all the above categories since May 2010. No distinction is made between items lost or stolen.
Telephone Services
Stephen Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department has allocated to each telephone helpline funded by his Department in 2011-12; what the purpose is of each such helpline; and how many calls each helpline received in the last 12 months. [77151]
Mr Simon Burns: The Department's Communication Directorate either runs or promotes the phone lines listed in the following chart. Information on the number of calls is not available in the requested format and to produce them would incur disproportionate cost. The chart shows call figures for the last complete year of operation.
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| (1) All figures are rounded to the nearest £10,000. (2) Estimated budget (the budget for the call centre is part of a wider contract). Notes: 1. As it is not always possible to anticipate the demand for the services provided by the above call centres, final spend is often lower than the budget allowed. 2. The budget allowed may include some non-phone line costs such as staff training, data management and fulfilment. 3. The budget allowed will also include some non-voice help offered by the call centre such as text phone use, web chat, social network response handling and email handling. 4. The chart is based on call centres rather than individual phone lines. Most call centres run multiple phone numbers to allow for campaign measurement. | |||
The Department does not collect information on the telephone numbers used by national health service organisations. Information about telephone services for these bodies is not held centrally and cannot be provided except at disproportionate cost.
The Department also supports a range of voluntary, charitable and other organisations to provide services relating to health and healthy living. Some of these organisations may include telephone help lines as part of their services. It is not possible, without incurring disproportionate cost, to identify individual projects with telephone services and their budgets.
Patient Lists
Mr Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate has been made of the levels of list inflation in (a) North London, (b) Devon and (c) the South West. [77249]
Mr Simon Burns: Latest available estimates of list inflation held by the Department are contained in the following table at primary care trust (PCT) level only. It is the responsibility of PCTs and local general practitioner practices to ensure they maintain accurate patient registration details.
| Patient list inflation | |||||||||
| PCT code | PCT name | Exeter as at March 2010 | ONS estimate 2008 | Actual difference between Exeter and ONS | Cross border inflows | Cross border outflows | Difference between inflow and outflow | Numbers of ghost patients to be accounted for | |
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| Source: Data taken from Office for National Statistics (ONS) resident and Exeter 2010.Registered extracted populations | |||||||||
Learning Disability
Mr Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people of working age with a learning disability in each local authority area who are known to social services are in (a) paid full-time, (b) paid part-time, (c) unpaid full-time and (d) unpaid part-time work. [77546]
Paul Burstow: Data on the number of working age adults with a learning disability known to councils with adult social services responsibilities in employment is collected and published by the NHS Information Centre for health and social care via the National Adult Social Care Intelligence Service online analytical processing tool.
Information for those working in unpaid employment split into part-time or full-time unpaid work is not collected centrally. The number of working age adults with a learning disability working in only unpaid work and those working in both paid and unpaid work have been provided in the following table.
| Number of working age adults with a learning disability known to councils with adult social service responsibilities (1) by employment status, during 2009-10 (2) —England | ||||
| Rounded numbers | ||||
| CASSR name | Working as a paid employee or self-employed (30 or more hours per week) | Working as a paid employee or self-employed (less than 30 hours per week) (3) | Working as a paid employee or self-employed and in unpaid voluntary work (4) | In unpaid voluntary work only |
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| (1) The information provided is derived from data collected annually on social services Adult Social Care-Combined Activity Return (ASC-CAR) from councils with adult social services responsibilities (CASSRs). (2) The information provided is the employment status of the service user at the time of their latest assessment or review and covers the period 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010. (3) This column includes clients who work regularly as a paid employee or are self-employed but who work less than weekly. (4) Clients counted in this column should also appear in one of the first two columns, according to the number of hours they work per week. (5) Data are not available. Source: ASC-CAR Table L1 | ||||
Learning Disability: Finance
Mr Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been spent on adult learning disability services in each local authority area since 2000. [77545]
Paul Burstow: Data on local authority expenditure on state funded care are collected and published by the NHS Information Centre for health and social care via the National Adult Social Care Intelligence Service online analytical processing tool.
A table has been placed in the Library that shows the gross current expenditure by councils with adult social services responsibilities on adults aged 18 to 64 with learning disabilities as their primary client group between 2000-01 and 2009-10.
Learning Disability: Social Services
Mr Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of people with a learning disability who are partially purchasing their own care packages. [77481]
Paul Burstow: Data on the number of people with a learning disability who are partially purchasing their own care packages are not collected centrally.
However, the number who meet the entire cost of their own services where the assessment and care management is done at the expense of the Council with Adult Social Services Responsibilities (CASSR) and the number of adults receiving services that are funded fully or in part by CASSRs is collected and published by the NHS Information Centre for health and social care via the National Adult Social Care Intelligence Service online analytical processing tool.
The following table shows the number of adults with a learning disability who are receiving services funded fully or in part by CASSRs during 2009-10, by age group.
| Rounded numbers | |||
| England | All ages | Adults aged 18-64 | Adults aged 65 and over |
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| (1 )Data not available. Notes: 1. The information provided is derived from data collected annually on the social services Referrals, Assessment and Packages of Care (RAP) Return from Councils with Adult Social Services Responsibilities (CASSRs). 2. The information provided includes all clients whose Primary Client Type is “Learning Disabilities”. In some councils each client has an overarching client classification, but may receive a different classification for a specific assessment, in these circumstances the overarching client type is used for the data collection. Data are not collected centrally for secondary classifications, thus clients with learning disabilities as a secondary classification will not be included in these figures. Source: RAP P1 | |||