Income Tax: Pensioners

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much revenue has accrued to the public purse via income tax from pensioners in (a) Scotland and (b) Kilmarnock and Loudon constituency in each of the last five years. [169308]

Mr Gauke: Estimates for the number of taxpayers of state pension age and their income tax liabilities for the years 2005-06 to 2010-11 are shown in the following tables.

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Individual Savings Accounts

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what estimate he has made of how many people have taken out stocks and shares ISAs in each of the last 14 years; [169304]

(2) what estimate he has made of how many people held stocks and shares ISAs on 31 December 2012. [169305]

Sajid Javid: The following table contains the number of individuals holding stocks and shares ISA accounts as of 5 April of each of the last 14 years where data are available.

The following table contains the number of individuals who made a subscription to a stocks and shares ISA account during each of the last 14 financial years where data are available.

Estimates of the number of individuals holding or subscribing to ISA accounts on 31 December 2012 are not available.

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Minimum Wage

Mr Lammy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what sum in wage arrears was identified as a result of complaints to HM Revenue and Customs on payment of wages below the national minimum wage in (a) the UK and (b) London in each year since 1998-99. [167505]

Mr Gauke: HMRC enforces national wage legislation on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills and has 10 teams in 17 locations across the UK carrying out enforcement activity. It investigates every complaint that is referred to it and also carry out targeted enforcement where it identifies a high risk of non-payment of NMW.

HMRC does not capture complaints or the outcomes of its investigations by reference to Government regions or country. Its management information relates to the work of teams who are multi-located. Additionally, because it resources to risk, work relating to a specific geographical area is not always done by the NMW team based in that area.

The data in the following table relate to arrears identified nationally as a result of complaints to HM Revenue and Customs. This excludes arrears identified through targeted enforcement work.

Mr Lammy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many and what proportion of employers paying below the minimum wage have been successfully prosecuted for breaches of national minimum wage legislation. [167506]

Mr Gauke: With the agreement of the Department for Business, HMRC started considering prosecution for minimum wage offences from May 2006. The following table contains details of the number of criminal prosecutions, since May 2006, by the Standard Industry Classification applicable to the employer and the financial year in which the prosecution took place.

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Mr Lammy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many prosecutions arising from non-compliance with national minimum wage legislation there were in (a) the UK and (b) London in each year since 1998-99. [167513]

Mr Gauke: With the agreement of the Department for Business, HMRC started considering prosecution for minimum wage offences from May 2006. The following table contains details of the number of prosecutions, since May 2006, by the Standard Industry Classification applicable to the employer and the financial year in which the prosecution took place.

Since May 2006 there has been one prosecution in London which was under this Government in 2012-13.

Mr Lammy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much HM Revenue and Customs and its predecessor allocated to (a) enforcement of and (b) monetary compliance with national minimum wage legislation (i) nationally and (ii) in London in each year since 1998-99. [167631]

Mr Gauke: HMRC does not separate the cost of enforcement and monetary compliance, nor can it readily separate the information for London from the national picture. The total amounts allocated over the past five years are shown in the following table:

Mr Lammy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many civil penalties of what total monetary value were imposed under national minimum wage legislation (a) nationally and (b) in London in (i) the (A) hospitality, (B) retail, (C) social care, (D) cleaning,

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(E) leisure, (F) hairdressing, (G) food processing, (H) agriculture, (I) textiles, (J) security and (K) construction sector and (i) each other sector in each year since 1998-99. [167632]

Mr Gauke: The Government take the enforcement of NMW very seriously and HMRC review every complaint that is referred to them, investigating the complaint and, in addition, carrying out targeted enforcement where they identify a high risk of non-payment of NMW. HMRC targets and fast tracks those complaints that involve the most vulnerable workers such as interns, apprentices and migrant workers, and those relating to the riskiest sectors such as cleaning, retail, hairdressing and social care, in order to ensure that workers receive the wages to which they are entitled.

HMRC records information by Standard Industry Codes, and does not have a breakdown for the other categories requested by the right hon. Member.

Consistent data are available from 2009 when a new enforcement regime was introduced which saw the introduction of automatic penalties for employers who are found to have underpaid their workers. The numbers of penalty charges made from that date are in the following table. The value of penalties charged has increased by 41% between 2012-13 and 2009-10.

Mr Lammy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of employers who have paid below the minimum wage in (a) the UK and (b) London have paid their employees (i) full back-pay and (ii) compensation for every year since the introduction of the national minimum wage. [168063]

Mr Gauke [holding answer 9 September 2013]: HM Revenue and Customs does not capture complaints at constituency level and, since April 2011, no longer captures complaints or the outcomes of its investigations by reference to Government regions or country. Its management information relates to the work of teams who are multi-located. Additionally, because it resources to risk, work relating to a specific geographical area is not always done by the NMW team geographically based in that area.

HMRC contacts every employer whom they find has paid workers below the national minimum wage to confirm that they have paid the identified arrears to the workers. In addition, where it has found arrears for five or fewer workers it will contact all the workers to confirm payment by the employer. In cases involving arrears for more than five workers it will contact a minimum sample of five workers to confirm payment by the employer.

Since 2009, the number and value of compensation payments nationally are shown in the following table:

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Andy Sawford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made of the level of the maximum fine for a company found not to be paying the minimum wage. [168975]

Jo Swinson: I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

We are carrying out an evaluation of the national minimum wage penalty regime, introduced in 2009. The regime was introduced as part of the changes made in the Employment 2008 Act. The review will conclude next year.

Andy Sawford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made on the resources his Department has available to enforce the minimum wage. [168976]

Jo Swinson: I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills who are responsible for the policy on the national minimum wage (NMW), including the policy on compliance and enforcement. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) enforces the NMW on behalf of the Department.

HMRC’s resources for enforcing the NMW are kept under review to enable us to respond to emerging pressures and priorities. For example, on 12 July 2013, we announced our intention to move to a more focused and targeted enforcement regime in the recruitment sector which will entail transferring some of the resource from the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate into HMRC’s national minimum wage enforcement team.

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what steps HM Revenue and Customs is taking to ensure national minimum wage compliance for (a) apprenticeships and (b) other high risk areas; [169150]

(2) what recent progress has been made by the 20 task force operations targeting national minimum wage rule breakers; [169151]

(3) what recent assessment he has made of whether the penalties for non-compliance with the national minimum wage provide a sufficient deterrent. [169152]

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Greg Clark: HMRC has commenced the fast-tracking of complaints from apprentices and interns as part of its targeted enforcement programme.

While the activity of HMRC's 22 task forces is focused on contributing to the HMRC's additional tax revenues target for the spending review period by targeting precise populations of rule breakers and deterring repeat offending, NMW contribute in task forces with other HMRC colleagues where there a perceived risk of underpayment of national minimum wage. NMW compliance officers have joined HMRC Taskforce colleagues working on:

Northern Ireland Hair and Beauty Taskforce

Midlands Rag Trade Taskforce

Midlands Restaurant Taskforce

North West/North Wales Holiday Industry.

The NMW Dynamic Response Team (DRT) continues to offer cross-Government compliance capability adopting a total enforcement approach to operational activity. DRT is a multi grade virtual team which offers a rapid response to emerging risks, high-profile casework and cross-Government compliance initiatives. 2013-14 has seen DRT officers working on diverse operational activity which includes:

Corby—with Employment Agency Standards colleagues undertaking a street sweep of employment agencies. Of 34 visited, 17 were found to be not complying with NMW legislation.

Glasgow—with Clydeside police and Scottish Power visiting car washes.

Blackpool—with Blackpool local authority enforcement staff visiting 59 cafes, restaurants and hot food bars. Almost half of the employers visited were found to present risks of non-compliance with NMW.

City of London—a late night operation with City of London police and Security Industry Authority targeting nightclubs.

BIS is carrying out an evaluation of the penalty regime that was introduced in 2009. The regime was introduced as part of the changes made in the Employment 2008 Act. The review will conclude next year.

Ministers' Private Offices

Michael Dugher: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many full-time equivalent staff of each civil service grade are currently employed in the private office of each Minister in his Department; and what the pay band of each such member of staff is. [168727]

Nicky Morgan: The number of full-time equivalent staff working in each of the private office of each Minister and the pay band in HM Treasury are as follows:

In total this is 32 staff in comparison to 38 members of staff in 2009.

This information is based on the latest data available for staffing numbers for core HM Treasury as at 31 July 2013.

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Northern Rock Asset Management

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received from Northern Rock Asset Management Action Group; and what assessment he has made of the issues raised by this group. [169188]

Sajid Javid: The Chancellor of the Exchequer has not received any representations from the Northern Rock Asset Management Action Group.

Open-cast Mining: Scotland

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has received representations from the Scottish Government regarding the financial implications for restoration works for former open-cast coal sites where restoration bonds prove inadequate. [169685]

Sajid Javid: The Government receive representations from a wide variety of stakeholders and organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.

As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such representations.

Paul Stephenson

Thomas Docherty: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions Mr Paul Stephenson has been registered as a visitor to his Department's main building since December 2012. [169403]

Sajid Javid: The information requested has been withheld under section 40 (2) of the Freedom of Information Act, as the information constitutes personal data relating to a third party that they would not expect to be made public.

Disclosure of this information is also likely to breach the first data protection principle in schedule 1 to the Data Protection Act, which relates to the fair and lawful processing of personal data.

PAYE

Stephen Timms: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his most recent estimate is of the date by which all employers will be submitting PAYE data in real time. [169306]

Mr Gauke: The vast majority of employer PAYE schemes are now reporting their PAYE information in real time.

A small number of schemes, such as care and support employers and employers who operate particular non-standard PAYE schemes will not start reporting PAYE Real Time Information until April 2014.

Public Relations

Michael Dugher: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department and its associated public bodies spent on (a) external public relations consultants

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and

(b)

public affairs consultants, in each of the past three years; and for what purposes such consultants were engaged. [168671]

Nicky Morgan: The information requested is not available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

However, as a general approach, the Treasury does not procure services from external public relations companies.

Publications

Michael Dugher: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list (a) the title and subject, (b) the total cost to his Department and (c) the commissioned author or organisation of each external report commissioned by his Department in each year since 2010. [168794]

Sajid Javid: Published commissions by HM Treasury are available on the Treasury website at

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?key words=&publication_filter_option=independent- reports&topics%5B%5D=all&departments%5B%5D=hm-treasury&world_locations%5B%5D=all

Research activities funded by HMRC are available on the HMRC website at

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/research/activities.htm

The total cost of reviews or research commissions is not centrally recorded.

Revenue and Customs

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff working for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) were engaged (a) through personal service companies and (b) off payroll in each year since 2010-11; and how many of those staff are still employed at HMRC. [168243]

Mr Gauke: The data required to answer this question in full can be assembled only at disproportionate cost. However, for the time spanning January 2012 to March 2013, a data set is available for off-payroll engagements costing more than £58,200 a year. A summary of the data has been published on pages 18-19 of HMRC's Annual Report and Accounts 2012-13 (to be found on the gov.uk website).

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the conviction rate by percentage has been in each year since 2009-10 for prosecutions brought following investigations by HM Revenue and Customs. [169662]

Mr Gauke: The conviction rates by percentage for each year since 2009-10 for prosecutions brought following investigations by HM Revenue and Customs were as follows,

8 Oct 2013 : Column 159W

The data collected for 2009-10 were collated by the Crown Prosecution Service in a different format to that for the following years. They include figures for drugs, firearms and other prohibitions and restrictions up to June 2009 when responsibility for these matters was assigned to the newly formed UK Border Agency.

Revenue and Customs: Rhyl

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 2 July 2013, Official Report, column 553W, on Revenue and Customs: Rhyl, whether a decision has been made on the closure or relocation of the Rhyl tax office. [169598]

Mr Gauke: No decision has been made regarding the closure of the Rhyl inquiry centre.

The decision on whether or not to close the enquiry centre network will be made early in 2014, after the results of a pilot being carried out between 3 June and 31 October 2013, in the north-east of England, have been fully evaluated.

Security

Michael Dugher: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many departmental identity cards or passes have been reported lost or stolen by staff in his Department since May 2010. [168618]

Sajid Javid: The number of identity passes reported lost or stolen by HM Treasury staff since May 2010 is 119 lost and nine stolen.

The number of passes lost or stolen has fallen year on year since 2010.

All passes are disabled as soon as they are reported as lost or stolen, and do not contain information that links them to their respective building or organisation.

Standards

Michael Dugher: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the reasons are for the time taken to publish his Department's Quarterly Data Summary for the second quarter of 2012-13 and the third quarter of 2012-13. [168829]

Sajid Javid: I refer the hon. Member to the answer the Minister of State for the Cabinet Office gave him today.

State Retirement Pensions

David T. C. Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate his Department has made of the annual cost of uprating, in line with inflation, the pensions of all UK pensioners living in non-EU countries. [169557]

Sajid Javid: The cost of paying UK pensions to those residing in a country with which the UK does not have a bilateral social security agreement covering the uprating of pensions is estimated to be around £700 million (per year) and rising. This figure is based on the current rate in the UK and covers all recipients residing outside the European Economic Area and Switzerland.

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Taxation: Bingo

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with the bingo industry on bingo duty. [169588]

Sajid Javid: Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.

The Treasury publishes a list of ministerial meetings with external organisations, available at:

http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/minister_hospitality.htm

Tobacco: Smuggling

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 17 June 2013, Official Report, column 457W, on tobacco: smuggling, what the revenue benefit to date is from reinvestment funding in activity by HM Revenue and Customs to tackle tobacco fraud; and what recent assessment he has made of HM Revenue and Custom’s ability to meet the £1.4 billion revenue benefit from this activity originally forecast over the 2010 spending review period. [168534]

Sajid Javid [holding answer 12 September 2013]: The Government are fully committed to tackling the illicit trade in tobacco products and ensuring that smuggling does not undermine the health and revenue benefits of real increases in tobacco duties.

HMRC continually adapts and develops its tobacco strategy to meet changing risks and threats. Through the 2010 spending review, HMRC has invested a further £25 million to strengthen the strategy and maintain downward pressure on the illicit market through to 2014-15.

In light of the above, the revenue benefit to July 2013 from 2010 reinvestment funding on tobacco totals £384 million. In total, over the SR 2010 period, the Government forecast a benefit of £36 for every £1 reinvested.

VAT

Ms Ritchie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether a post-implementation review has been conducted into the simplified VAT accounting scheme. [169596]

Mr Gauke: I can confirm that HMRC has conducted a post-implementation review of the simplified import VAT accounting (SIVA) scheme and that the main findings of the review were announced in the Joint Customs Consultative Committee (JCCC) Customs Information Paper (05) 62 dated November 2005.

Ms Ritchie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the criteria for a liquidity risk assessment are published with respect to the granting of approval by HM Revenue and Customs for a business to use the simplified import VAT accounting scheme. [169653]

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Mr Gauke: I can confirm that the criteria for a liquidity risk assessment in relation to the granting of an approval to use the simplified import VAT accounting (SIVA) scheme is in the public domain and is set out in paragraph 3.9 of HMRC Notice SIVA 1 (Simplified Import VAT Accounting).

VAT: Tourism

Mr Weir: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what assessment he has made of the effect on (a) employment, (b) revenue and (c) tax receipts of introducing a reduced rate of valued added tax applied to tourism-related goods and services; and if he will place copies of all documentation relating to such an assessment in the Library; [169432]

(2) what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on the effect on the visitor economy of the introduction of a reduced rate of valued added tax to be applied to tourism-related goods and services. [169437]

Mr Gauke: Based on ONS data from 2012, the revenue foregone by reducing VAT to 5% on all hospitality (which includes rooms, food and alcohol) would have an estimated cost of £11 billion to £12 billion a year to the Exchequer.

Ministers from the Treasury and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have discussed the Cut Tourism VAT campaign, and I have met and engaged in correspondence with the campaign, including in relation to their report analysing the impacts of a VAT cut for the sector. The analysis undertaken by the Cut Tourism VAT campaign assumes that the revenue shortfall associated with such a VAT cut should be met by increasing Government borrowing. This would undermine the Government's fiscal strategy, risking a loss of credibility that could have a far larger negative impact on the economy than the positive economic impact that might otherwise be expected as a result of a VAT cut.

I have written to the chairman of the Campaign for Reduced Tourism VAT explaining that while there is no prospect of a VAT cut for tourism, the Government are committed to a wide range of measures to support tourism that we believe are better targeted and more cost effective, including the GREAT campaign and initiatives designed to simplify the visa application process for Chinese tourists.

Leader of the House

Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill

Wayne David: To ask the Leader of the House pursuant to the contribution of the Deputy Leader of the House of 10 September 2013, Official Report, column 893, when the planned meeting with the Shadow Minister with responsibility for political and constitutional reform, the Electoral Commission and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations will take place. [169397]

Mr Lansley: In September I met the chief executive of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations and separately the Chair of the Electoral Commission to

8 Oct 2013 : Column 162W

discuss the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill.

During the conference recess I held similar informal discussions with the shadow Leader of the House of Commons. Details of my meetings and those of the Deputy Leader of the House of Commons with external organisations are published on a quarterly basis and can be accessed on GOV.UK at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/cabinet-office/series/ministers-transparency-publications

Information for the period April to June 2013 will be published shortly.

Cabinet Office

Absenteeism

Michael Dugher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the rates of staff (a) absence and (b) sickness absence in his Department in each of the past five years were; and what the departmental targets were in each case. [168730]

Mr Maude: Information about reported sickness absence in the Cabinet Office and its agencies is published on the Cabinet Office website at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-absence-data

Aggregated figures for the whole civil service are published at:

http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/about/improving/health-and-wellbeing/sickness-absence

The most recent published figures show that for the year to 31 March 2013 the Cabinet Office has one of the lowest departmental sickness rates at 2.7 average working days lost when compared to the current civil service average of 7.7. The Cabinet Office has not therefore set a target for sickness absence.

In line with previous Administrations, rates of reported absence for reasons other than sickness are not held centrally.

Accountancy

Michael Dugher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much his Department has spent on accountants in each year since 2010. [168586]

Mr Maude: There are a number of qualified and trainee accountants within the Department. Their costs are part of the overall budgets for the department.

Air Travel

Michael Dugher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many individual domestic air flights were undertaken within Great Britain by representatives of (a) his Department and (b) its associated public bodies in the most recent year for which figures are available; and what the cost to the public purse of each such flight was. [168765]

Mr Hurd: As was the case under the previous Administration, my Department does not hold a comprehensive list of domestic flights. Such flights will be funded when there is an appropriate business case for the travel.

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Average Earnings: Cleethorpes

Martin Vickers: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the average weekly gross earnings of the full-time employed (a) men and (b) women in Cleethorpes constituency were in each year since 2005-06. [169547]

Mr Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Peter Fullerton, dated September 2013:

In the absence of the Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the average weekly gross earnings of the full-time employed (a) men and (b) women in Cleethorpes constituency were in each year since 2005-06. (169547)

The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), carried out in April each year, is the most comprehensive source of earnings information in the United Kingdom. Weekly levels of earnings are estimated from ASHE, and are provided for employees on adult rates of pay, whose earnings for the survey pay period were not affected by absence.

The tables show estimates of median gross weekly earnings in Cleethorpes Constituency from 2005 to 2012, the latest period for which results are available. Figures are provided for full-time males, full-time females, and all full-time employees.

Buildings

Michael Dugher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what refurbishments to his Department's buildings have been carried out in the last 24 months; and at what cost. [168798]

Mr Hurd: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 13 June 2013, Official Report, column 397W, to the hon. Member for Glasgow East (Margaret Curran).

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Chequers

Michael Dugher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much the Prime Minister's Office paid to the Chequers Trust in grant-in-aid for 2012-13. [168878]

Mr Hurd: Details on how much was paid to the Chequers Trust in grant-in-aid for 2012-13 can be found in the Cabinet Office report and accounts at:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-data-sets-annual-report-and-accounts-2012-to-2013

Christmas Cards

Michael Dugher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much his private ministerial office spent on sending Christmas cards in 2012. [168675]

Mr Maude: None.

Electronic Government

Michael Dugher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much has been spent on establishing the www.gov.uk website since May 2010. [168875]

Mr Hurd: After the 2010 election we found there were hundreds of websites operating at the taxpayers' expense. This profusion of websites was confusing, making it harder for the public to find information quickly. But there were also sites promoting contradictory ideas. For example, one promoted chips and another healthy eating.

Our strategy has been to close these unnecessary and wasteful websites and migrate the content across to our new award-winning Gov.uk site.

The total cost of Gov.uk to the end of March 2013 is £16.2 million. This is more than offset by the £42 million saved by bringing across content from Directgov and BusinessLink.

Equal Pay

Michael Dugher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the pay gaps for (a) gender, (b) race and (c) disability among employees in 10 Downing Street were on the latest date for which figures are available. [168871]

Mr Maude: The Prime Minister's Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office.

In the Cabinet Office, at 31 August 2013, looking across those grades where there is representation, (a) the average pay differential for females compared to males is -0.7%. This compares with 2009 when pay was higher for males than females.

Figures for (b) race and (c) disability are not available.

Freedom of Information

Michael Dugher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) what the average time by his Department to consider the application of a possible public interest exemption in relation to a freedom of information (a) initial request and (b) internal review has been since May 2010; [168882]

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(2) how many requests for information made to his Department under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 are being considered on grounds of a possible public interest exemption more than (a) three months, (b) six months, (c) nine months and (d) 12 months after the initial request was made without a decision or refusal notice having been issued. [168881]

Mr Maude: The Cabinet Office holds the records of current and former Prime Ministers, the Cabinet and Cabinet Committees, as well as security, intelligence, defence and diplomatic records. This means that FOI requests made of the Department often require extensive consultation and deliberation as part of the public interest test. One public interest test being considered has taken longer than six but less than nine months. In 13 cases it has taken more than three months to complete the test. The requests that have taken longer than three months represent less than 1.5% of requests received. Six are on a single subject.

Details on average time taken is not held in the format requested.

Government Departments: ICT

Michael Dugher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much of the Government's IT budget has been spent with small and medium-sized enterprises in each of the last three years. [168843]

Mr Hurd: On coming to power in 2010, this Government found that public sector procurement was fragmented, bureaucratic, protracted and expensive for both bidders and procurers. This closed and transactional approach discouraged small and innovative suppliers from bidding, and did not always deliver value for money.

Figures published last month show the Government are on track to deliver their aspiration of awarding 25% of central Government business to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by 2015, directly and through the supply chain.

The Government are disaggregating future IT contracts and delivering more flexible, cheaper solutions. This opens up opportunities for SMEs and reduces the cost to taxpayers. Consequently, 83% of the 708 suppliers on the G-Cloud iii framework are SMEs, and SMEs have taken over 55% of G-Cloud sales to date.

Departments are responsible for their own IT spend and information on how much of this went to SMEs is not held centrally.

Government Departments: Procurement

Michael Dugher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the name is of each member of the Contracts Finder Working Group; and on what dates it has met since its establishment. [168849]

Mr Hurd: The Contracts Finder Working Group, established in 2011, carried out most of its work electronically, producing conclusions in 2012 which were used to inform policy. We have no plans to publish a list of members.

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Michael Dugher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the average time to elapse between the issue of a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union to the award of a Government contract has been since January 2012. [168851]

Mr Hurd: As a result of this Government's procurement reforms we have made the way we do business more competitive, more transparent, better value and far simpler than ever before.

Between April 2012 and April 2013, average procurement timescales in central Government for all but the most complex projects approximately halved from 208 to 102 working days. We believe that the average timescale prior to May 2010 was in the order of 200 days; however, accurate records were not kept.

Michael Dugher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) how many meetings of the Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Panel have been attended by a Minister from his Department; [168853]

(2) on which dates the SME Panel has met since May 2010. [168863]

Mr Hurd: The SME Panel, established in February 2011, has met on the following dates: 29 June 2011, 26 September 2011, 19 January 2012, 22 March 2012, 1 October 2012, 11 December 2012, 20 March 2013 and 3 September 2013.

Michael Dugher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office which Departments have been involved in product surgeries since May 2010. [168856]

Mr Hurd: On coming to power in 2010, this Government found that public sector procurement was fragmented, bureaucratic, protracted and expensive for both bidders and procurers. This closed and transactional approach discouraged small and innovative suppliers from bidding, and did not always deliver value for money.

The Cabinet Office introduced product surgeries to give procurers an opportunity to see what SMEs can offer before launching a procurement exercise. We now encourage Departments to consider running their own product surgeries as part of their pre-procurement engagement with the market. We do not collect information on the number of surgeries.

Michael Dugher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the name is of each business which has successfully bid for a Government contract through the Innovation Launch Pad. [168857]

Mr Hurd: The 2011 Innovation Launch Pad initiative gave innovative SMEs the chance to demonstrate to key decision makers in Government the value that SMEs could deliver. It was not a procurement exercise.

Michael Dugher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) whether he has made an assessment of the reason for the difference between the total Government expenditure on procurement channelled to small and medium-sized enterprises in 2011-12 and the sum forecast in his Department's report entitled Making Government business more accessible to SMEs—One Year On; [168858]

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(2) with reference to the answer of 23 May 2012, Official Report, column 755W, on procurement, whether he has made an assessment of the effect of the Ministry of Justice starting to include legal aid providers in its figures for procurement expenditure with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in April 2011 on Government statistics regarding public procurement and SMEs; [168909]

(3) what methodology his Department uses to calculate the Government's total indirect expenditure with small and medium-sized enterprises. [168848]

Mr Hurd: On coming to power in 2010, this Government found that public sector procurement was fragmented, bureaucratic, protracted and expensive for both bidders and procurers. This closed and transactional approach discouraged small and innovative suppliers from bidding, and did not always deliver value for money.

Figures on the proportion of business done with SMEs were not collected centrally prior to May 2010.

Figures for 2012-13 published last month show the Government are on track to deliver their aspiration of awarding 25% of central Government business to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), directly and through the supply chain, by 2015. Spend with SMEs increased in seven Departments, including MOJ, in 2011-12 and in 12 Departments in 2012-13. These data are available on GOV.UK:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/making-government-business-more-accessible-to-smes-2-years-on

The forecast made in our first progress report, “Making Government business more accessible to SMEs—One Year On”, was based on the best available data at the time. We were always clear that because data had not been collected before it was possible that our data would not be of the highest quality. We subsequently verified final figures for 2011-12 with Departments and published them in February 2013:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/departmental-sme-spend-for-2011-12-reveals-steady-increase

Since publishing that report we have implemented a more robust system for collecting SME spend data, and have since required figures to be validated by each Department's commercial director. Indirect spend with SMEs is derived from the results of a quarterly survey of 120 key suppliers to government, calculated as a percentage of Departments' total procurement spend.

Michael Dugher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) what the name is of each member of the New Suppliers Working Group; and on what dates the group has met since its establishment; [168864]

(2) what the name is of each member of the Consortia Working Group; and on what dates it has met since its establishment. [168850]

Mr Hurd: The New Suppliers Working Group met on the following dates: 7 September 2011, 10 November 2011 and 20 July 2012. As a result of these meetings, the SME friendliness tool was developed and launched.

The Consortia Working Group met on the following dates: 25 August 2011, 26 March 2012, 5 December 2012, 28 January 2013, 1 May 2013 and 19 June 2013.

We have no plans to publish the members of these groups.

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Michael Dugher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many large suppliers have posted subcontracting notices on the Contracts Finder site. [168869]

Mr Hurd: The information requested is available by searching Contracts Finder, at:

https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder

As of 11 September 2013, nine major suppliers had posted 128 subcontracting notices.

Mr McKenzie: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will make it his policy that businesses who use blacklisting should be prevented from bidding for Government contracts; and if he will make a statement. [169603]

Mr Hurd: Under EU procurement rules, public procurers may exclude a supplier from bidding when it has committed a criminal offence relating to its business or profession or has committed an act of grave professional misconduct in the course of its business or profession. This will be a decision for the individual contracting authority to decide.

The Government take very seriously any allegations of blacklisting of employees, which is an unacceptable and illegal practice. However, we have seen no evidence of this practice recurring since the introduction of the Blacklisting Regulations in 2010 made the use of blacklisting unlawful.

Ministerial Policy Advisers

Michael Dugher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether any special adviser has been disciplined for breaches of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers since May 2010. [168877]

Mr Maude: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 1 June 2009, Official Report, column 110W.

Ministers' Private Offices

Michael Dugher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many full-time equivalent staff of each Civil Service grade are currently employed in the private office of each Minister in his Department; and what the pay band of each such member of staff is. [168712]

Mr Maude: Last year the Government commissioned the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) to review accountability arrangements in overseas civil services. Its findings suggest that direct support for Ministers in the UK is severely underpowered by comparison with other similar Westminster-based systems. The report recognised the need to give Ministers more direct support so they can perform their roles more effectively. I am pleased that the report received strong support from across the political spectrum. The Institute for Government has also recommended that the direct support to Ministers be boosted.

Following these reports, the Government outlined their plans to enhance support for Ministers in its Civil Service Reform: One Year On plan. I plan to introduce an Extended Ministerial Office in the coming weeks which will naturally result in these figures changes.

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At present, there are four Cabinet Office Ministers who attend Cabinet. Across the private offices of the Cabinet Office Ministers (the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, Minister for Government Policy, Minister of State (Cities and Constitution), Minister for Civil Society, and the three Minsters without Portfolio), there are the following officials employed as at 31 August 2013:

Press: Subscriptions

Michael Dugher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office which newspapers, periodicals and trade profession publications his private ministerial office subscribes to on a (a) daily, (b) weekly, (c) monthly and (d) quarterly basis. [168693]

Mr Maude: My office takes the following newspapers on weekdays: Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Financial Times, Guardian, Independent, Mirror, Sun. We also receive a variety of other periodicals including The House, Civil Service World. Other papers are available elsewhere in the Department.

I suspect my predecessors subscribed to a similar selection of newspapers.

Public Sector: Internet

Mark Garnier: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what disclaimer requirements the Government mandate for intermediary websites facilitating access to free public services. [168407]

Mr Hurd: The Government does not issue any mandates for intermediary websites facilitating access to free public services.

Gov.uk is built in such a way that its content and services are highly prominent in search results, meaning that users are less likely to find and use intermediary websites.

Publications

Michael Dugher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) how much his Department has spent in each of the last three years on hard copy printing of documents for external audiences; [168622]

(2) if he will list (a) the title and subject, (b) the total cost to his Department and (c) the commissioned author or organisation of each external report commissioned by his Department in each year since 2010. [168780]

Mr Maude: The Cabinet Office publishes all its own reports (dating back to 2002) on the gov.uk website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications

Information on costs is not held in the format requested.

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This Government is committed to publishing digitally by default, to reduce the costs of publication, and to increase accessibility.

Satellite Broadcasting

Michael Dugher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what subscriptions his Department has for premium satellite television channels; and what the cost of each such subscription was in the most recent year for which figures are available. [168639]

Mr Maude: Last year my Department paid £2,502 for satellite television subscriptions. This is equivalent to the spend in 2009-10.

Standards

Michael Dugher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the reasons are for the time taken to publish his Department's Quarterly Data Summary for the second quarter of 2012-13 and the third quarter of 2012-13. [168815]

Mr Maude: The Quarter 2 and Quarter 3 Quarterly Data Summary (QDS) returns of all 17 Departments participating in the QDS process were delayed owing to the development of the Cabinet Office's Government Interrogating Spending Tool (GIST). The GIST was developed in response to recommendations made in Dr. Martin Read's independent report entitled ‘Practical Steps to Improve Management Information in Government'. Before the last general election no such comparable data were published at all that allows the public to access a breakdown of government expenditure through the Gov.UK website. It makes the process of accessing and analysing complex QDS and OSCAR data easier and quicker, and for these reasons was seen to justify a short delay in publishing QDS data.

Televisions

Michael Dugher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many flat screen televisions have been purchased by his Department in the last 24 months; and what the cost to the public purse was of such purchases. [168747]

Mr Hurd: Individual management units are able to purchase their own televisions and such expenditure is not identified separately on the Department's financial systems. As a result a comprehensive list of television purchases is not held centrally.

Temporary Employment

Michael Dugher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many staff of his Department are on temporary contracts. [168876]

Mr Maude: At 31 August 2013, 375 staff (18% of the work force) in my Department were employed on fixed term appointment contracts for periods of up to two years or short fixed term appointment contracts for periods of up to one year.

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Fixed term and short fixed term appointments, which include interns and apprentices, are made in accordance with the rules set out in the Civil Service Commissioners' Recruitment Code. These appointments provide the Cabinet Office with the flexibility to employ individuals with very specific skills to meet short-term needs such as a time-limited projects or other key work priorities, without the expense of taking on additional permanent staff.

Central Government spending on temporary staff has been reduced by stringent spending controls and has contributed to a saving over £1.6 billion in 2012-13 compared to the level of spending in 2009-10.

Trillium Group

Mr Sheerman: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much his Department has spent on contracts with Trillium Group in each year since 2008. [169249]

Mr Hurd: The Department has had no contract spend with Trillium Group since 2008.

Since 2011, details of contracts above the value of £10,000 have been published on the Contracts Finder website

http://www.contractsfinder.co.uk

In addition, this policy extends to Cabinet Office expenditure over £25,000, which is published at:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-spend-data

Work and Pensions

Air Travel

Michael Dugher: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many individual domestic air flights were undertaken within Great Britain by representatives of (a) his Department and (b) its associated public bodies in the most recent year for which figures are available; and what the cost to the public purse of each such flight was. [168778]

Esther McVey: In line with the Government's austerity agenda, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has taken vigorous actions to enhance its business travel policy. The DWP's business travel policy actively discourages travel, unless other alternatives have been examined and exhausted. Where travel is deemed appropriate it requires the use of the most cost-effective mode of transport.

Domestic air travel is only considered once all alternative modes of transport arrangements have been examined and exhausted.

It is not possible to distinguish between individual domestic flights and other types of flights without incurring disproportionate cost, both for the Department and its associated public bodies.

Annual Reports

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects to publish his Department's annual report and accounts for 2012-13. [169550]

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Esther McVey: The Department plans to lay and publish the Department's annual report and accounts for 2012-13 later in the year, in advance of the statutory deadline on the 31 January 2014.

Buildings

Mr Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what assessment he has made of the expenditure on office refurbishment by (a) his Department and (b) his Department's non-departmental public bodies in each year since 2010-11; [169455]

(2) what assessment he has made of the number of office relocations made by staff of (a) his Department and (b) his Department's non-departmental public bodies (i) within the original building and (ii) to other buildings in each year since 2009-10; what the cost of (A) removals and (B) refurbishments related to such moves has been; and on how many occasions offices refurbished by his Department in that period have been used by his Department's staff for less than four years before a further move. [169469]

Esther McVey: The Department provides services to over 20 million customers and delivers these services from around 900 buildings accommodating 100,000 staff. Since 1998 the Department's accommodation has been provided and managed by its service partner, Telereal Trillium.

We regret that, as a result of the information regarding churn moves being collated separately by varying facilities management contractors, a detailed breakdown of the information requested is not collated centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. What we can advise is that, in line with its current business plans, the Department is undergoing an estate rationalisation programme which by April 2013 had saved £51.8 million. To facilitate this, the Department has spent £11.2 million on building rationalisation and refurbishment activity, which is aligned to the Department's efficiency plans.

The Department's non-departmental public bodies which include: Health and Safety Executive; Independent Living Fund; National Employment Savings Trust; Pensions Ombudsman; Social Security Advisory Committee; The Pensions Advisory Service; The Pensions Regulator and Remploy have spent £6.1 million on removals and refurbishment since April 2010.

Carbon Emissions

David T. C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much has been spent by his Department on offsetting costs for energy-related carbon dioxide in the last year for which figures are available. [169511]

Esther McVey: The Department does not offset energy-related carbon dioxide, focusing instead on energy efficiency and carbon reduction.

Child Support Agency

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many formal complaints were made against the conduct of the Child Support Agency in each of the last 10 years. [169394]

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Steve Webb: The following table shows the total number of complaints received by the agency each year since 2003-04.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent assessment he has made of the quality of service provided by the Child Support Agency. [169395]

Steve Webb: The latest Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary of Statistics:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/232316/csa-qtr-summ-stats-jun13.pdf

show that the Child Support Agency has continued to improve, with the number of children benefiting, maintenance outcomes and the amount of maintenance collected all having increased, whilst the number of complaints received has decreased.

The child maintenance reforms we have introduced will continue to build on these improvements. The new 2012 scheme will provide a simpler calculation framework, improved IT system and improved client service.

Conditions of Employment

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the effect of zero hours contracts on the administration costs to his Department of processing claims for benefits where a threshold of hours must be reached for a claim to be made. [169594]

Esther McVey: The information requested is not available.

Disability Living Allowance

Mr Ward: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what IT problems have been experienced by his Department in the transfer of cases from disability living allowance to personal independent payments. [168439]

Esther McVey: The Department has not yet begun to transfer cases from disability living allowance (DLA) to personal independence payment (PIP). Following the successful implementation of PIP new claims in the North of England from 8 April, new claims were extended across Great Britain from 10 June. Some existing DLA recipients will be invited to claim PIP from October 2013 (where there is a change in their care or mobility needs, where fixed term awards are coming to an end or

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where a child reaches age 16). The reassessment of DLA claimants with a lifetime or indefinite DLA award will not start until October 2015.

Employment and Support Allowance

John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will take steps to ensure that people whose employment and support allowance is ceasing are clearly advised to claim jobseeker's allowance. [169007]

Esther McVey: Claimants are advised about claiming other benefits, including jobseeker's allowance, in a decision assurance phone call. This call is made at the point the decision maker is considering disallowing employment and support allowance following a work capability assessment.

If claimants want to claim jobseeker's allowance they are asked if they want to be transferred to a contact centre to make the claim. Information about claiming other benefits, including jobseeker's allowance, is also included in written notifications sent to claimants when employment and support allowance ceases.

Employment and Support Allowance: Kilmarnock

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many individuals resident in Kilmarnock and Loudoun constituency, who have been placed in the work-related activity group in each year since the inception of the scheme, have received a prognosis that they will be unlikely to be able to work in the longer term. [169360]

Esther McVey: There is no such prognosis as being unable to return to work in the longer-term. We do hold information on how many claimants have been allocated a prognosis of two years or more, but, the information requested by parliamentary constituency is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Housing

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what meetings (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department had with the UN Special Rapporteur on Housing, Raquel Rolnik, during her visit to the UK in September 2013. [169266]

Steve Webb: The UN Special Rapporteur did not approach the Department for meetings with either departmental Ministers or officials working on the removal of the spare room subsidy policy, despite this being the focus of her initial findings.

At the beginning of her visit Ms Rolnik met with officials from a number of Government Departments for a general introduction to a range of housing issues; this included a DWP official.

Towards the end of her visit Ms Rolnik had a debrief meeting with officials from DCLG and other Departments, including an official from DWP.

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Housing Benefit

Mike Crockart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether his Department plans to allow underspends in the (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15 discretionary housing payment budget to be carried over. [169126]

Steve Webb: Discretionary housing payment funding is intended to be used to support housing benefit claimants during the financial year for which it has been allocated. We do not intend to allow unspent funding to be carried over from this financial year into the budget for 2014-15.

We allowed carrying over of the DHP underspend from 2011-12 to 2012-13. This was because the transitional arrangements for the reforms to the local housing allowance that were introduced during 2011-12 meant that they only took full effect during 2012-13.

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people claimed the shared accommodation rate of housing benefit in each parliamentary constituency. [169545]

Steve Webb: The information requested for how many people claimed the shared accommodation rate of housing benefit in each parliamentary constituency can be found at:

https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk

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Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:

https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Stat-Xplore_User_Guide.htm

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average difference between local housing allowance awards and rent is for claimants receiving the (a) shared accommodation, (b) one bed, (c) two bed, (d) three bed and (f) four bed rate. [169546]

Steve Webb: The information requested can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Jobseeker's Allowance

Mr Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many sanctions against jobseeker's allowance claimants were successfully appealed in (a) Birkenhead constituency, (b) the metropolitan borough of Wirral, (c) the Liverpool city region and (d) the UK as a proportion of the total number of sanctions issued in each year since 2010-11. [169137]

Esther McVey: Statistics on how many sanctions against jobseeker's allowance claimants were successfully appealed in (a) Birkenhead constituency, (b) the metropolitan borough of Wirral, (c) the Liverpool city region and (d) Great Britain as a proportion of the total number of sanctions issued in each year since 2010-11 are given in the table:

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Mr Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the median duration of a jobseeker's allowance claim is by age group. [169611]

Esther McVey: Statistics on what the median duration of a jobseeker's allowance claim is by age group can be found at:

https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp

Guidance for users can be found at:

https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp

Jobseeker's Allowance: Domestic Violence

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on how many occasions the jobseeker's allowance domestic violence easement has been applied in each month since its introduction. [169649]

Esther McVey: DWP directly supports domestic violence victims in a number of ways. The jobseekers allowance domestic violence (JSA DV) easement helps victims of actual or threatened domestic violence by allowing a break from jobseeking activity to enable claimants to stabilise their lives and those of their families.

The following table sets out the number of times the jobseeker's allowance domestic violence easement has been applied in each month since its introduction. It only captures those people where DWP's administrative systems show that an easement has been approved for at least four weeks - the minimum period of time for which an easement can be approved. It does not include people where an application for an easement was made but was either not followed up or where no evidence was provided in support of the application.

The easement can apply for a period of up to 13 weeks, so an individual easement may span a period of several months. Where this is the case, the easement has only been counted in the month in which it was first applied.

The information in the table has been taken from the Department's Labour Market System (LMS) and has not been fully quality-assured. This type of internal management information does not form part of the regular official statistics outputs that are released by the Department in accordance with the UK Statistics Authority's Code of Practice.

The following table sets out the number of times the jobseeker's allowance domestic violence easement has been applied in each month:

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Jobseeker's Allowance: Nottinghamshire

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people between 16 and 25 years old in (a) Ashfield constituency and (b) Nottinghamshire had been claiming jobseeker's allowance for two years or more in each month since May 2010. [169054]

Esther McVey: Statistics on how many people aged under 25 years in (a) Ashfield constituency and (b) Nottinghamshire have been claiming jobseeker's allowance (JSA) for two years or more in each month since May 2010, from the JSA claimant count, can be found at:

https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp

Guidance for users can be found at:

https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp

Members: Correspondence

Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he plans to reply to the letter to him dated 1 August 2013 from the Rt hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regards to Ms S. A. Khanuy. [169480]

Esther McVey: Despite an extensive search, the Department has no trace of the letter.

National Insurance: Asylum

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the (a) average, (b) least and (c) greatest time is for an individual who is granted refugee status to be provided with a National Insurance number. [169633]

Esther McVey: The DWP, in partnership with the Home Office, provides a fast track national insurance number (NINo) service by which new asylum seekers who have been given leave to remain can securely and efficiently obtain a national insurance number (NINo) without having to attend an evidence of identity interview (EOI) in the DWP.

Through this fast track service, the identity of the applicant is verified by the Home Office during the asylum interview and only those applicants granted leave to remain are referred to the DWP for a NINo. Dependants and partners are required to obtain a NINo from the DWP using standard processes.

A NINo decision letter, addressed to the customer, is returned to the Home Office to be issued along with their immigration status decision.

The DWP aims the process and return to the Home Office all NINo allocation referrals within 48 hours of receipt.

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The DWP does not collect statistical information in relation to individual national insurance numbers allocated through this service; however the following table shows

8 Oct 2013 : Column 180W

the actual average clearance times (shown in days) for all NINo applications, by month, processed through the fast track service.

BIS is a departmental performance management, data capture and reporting tool. The data have not been fully quality-assured. This type of internal management information does not form part of the regular official statistics outputs that are released by the Department in accordance with the UK Statistics Authority's code of practice.