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Prisons: Wrexham

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) when the contract for construction of the new prison in Wrexham will be signed; [188334]

(2) when construction will (a) begin and (b) be completed on the new prison in Wrexham; [188355]

(3) when his Department plans to make a decision on who will run the new prison in Wrexham; [188357]

(4) what estimate he has made of spending on construction of the new prison in Wrexham in (a) 2013-14, (b) 2014-15, (c) 2015-16, (d) 2016-17 and (e) 2017-18; [188358]

(5) what estimate he has made of the total cost to the public purse of constructing the new prison in Wrexham; and what estimate he has made of the amount that will come from (a) his Department's budgets and (b) other Government budgets. [188370]

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Jeremy Wright: The Ministry of Justice plans to appoint a prime contractor to build the prison in spring 2014 with work on site beginning in summer 2014. The prison is expected to be fully operational by late 2017.

The new prison will cost around £250 million to construct and will be Ministry of Justice funded. However, the Ministry of Justice is still in the procurement phase and therefore estimates of spending in each of the financial years are commercially sensitive.

The Ministry of Justice is considering a full range of options relating to the operation of the new prison.

Young Offender Institutions

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork in young offender institutions; [186343]

(2) how many young people in custody are subject to Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork to minimise the risk of self-harm and suicide. [186321]

Jeremy Wright: The National Offender Management Service has undertaken a review of the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork process and its applicability for young people (aged under 18). The review will be completed by the end of March 2014.

Assessment, Care in Custody, and Teamwork (ACCT) is a prisoner-focused care planning system for prisoners who are identified as being at risk of self-harm and/or suicide. Young offender institutions that hold young people record and monitor the number of prisoners supported through an ACCT plan, locally. There is currently no ability to centrally report this information.

Work and Pensions

Advertising

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department spent on advertising in each newspaper in the latest year for which figures are available. [187888]

Mike Penning: The total spent on print advertising by the Department for Work & Pensions in 2012-13 was £2,540,520.

We are unable to provide information by individual title.

Like all Government Departments and public bodies, we have a duty to help the public understand and manage new legal changes and rights. We are delivering major reforms with levels of spend underlining our commitment to provide essential public information at the appropriate time. We are careful to ensure we deliver value for money, with these communications delivering significant benefits for individuals and wider society in understanding vital changes.

Asbestos: Children

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the Health and Safety Executive has specialist expertise on the risks of asbestos to children. [188132]

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Mike Penning: HSE specialists do have expertise in assessing the risks of asbestos to children. They work with the wider scientific community and collaborate with independent researchers.

HSE recently advised the Committee on Carcinogenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment about how the known risks for asbestos exposure in adults are likely to be modified for exposure in children.

Buildings

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on which buildings occupied by his Department's agencies and non-departmental public bodies will the lease be due for renewal in the next four years. [187983]

Mike Penning: The information is as follows:

Employment and Support Allowance

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to increase the number of decision assurance calls to employment and support allowance applicants; and what assessment he has made of their effect. [187832]

Esther McVey: My Department will run a pilot exercise in March to test possible improvements to the success rate of the decision assurance call. The pilot will aim to increase the success rates using text messages, with a text message being issued prior to the decision assurance call to give a stronger message to the claimant that it is important to take this call to prevent a gap or delay in payment. A follow up message will be issued after the second unsuccessful call to advise of the need to claim JSA immediately so that benefit payments can be made where employment and support allowance is to be disallowed. The results of the pilot will be monitored and evaluated to ensure that improvements can be successfully rolled out nationally. In addition, guidance improvements have been made to increase the success rate of calls.

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As part of the fourth independent review of the work capability assessment, Dr Paul Litchfield made a recommendation about the decision assurance call. We are considering this, along with Dr Litchfield's other recommendations, as part of the Government's response to Dr Litchfield's review, which will be published in the first quarter of 2014.

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will allow employment and support allowance decision makers greater access to evidence held in his Department than those managing other benefits. [187835]

Mike Penning: Decision makers are not restricted in their evidence-gathering role and can request other evidence which they consider may be relevant.

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to publish data on Atos quality and performance for employment and support allowance assessments. [187840]

Mike Penning: There are no plans to publish the results of the Department's routine monitoring of the delivery and quality of the services provided to it by Atos Healthcare.

Internet

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) pursuant to the answer of 6 February 2014, Official Report, column 378W, on internet, how many users of the Stat-Xplore website have provided feedback on the site; and if he will publish all such feedback received; [187791]

(2) pursuant to the answer of 6 February 2014, Official Report, column 378W, on internet, whether he plans to provide training to (a) hon. Members, (b) hon. Members’ staff and (c) the public in the use of the Stat-Xplore website; [187792]

(3) pursuant to the answer of 6 February 2014, Official Report, columns 376-8W, on internet, if he will undertake not to refer hon. Members to the Stat-Xplore website as a substitute for providing substantive answers to Parliamentary Questions about housing benefit and other data until such time as the usability as that site has been substantially improved. [188165]

Mike Penning: A total of 162 e-mails have been received from users of Stat-Xplore. There are no plans to publish individual feedback.

Training was provided to staff at the House Library prior to the launch of Stat-Xplore but I would be happy for my officials to provide training to both hon. Members and their staff in the use of Stat-Xplore and will instruct them to undertake this. In addition, plans are in place to train journalists in the use of the tool. As well as the provision of the on-line Help facility within Stat-Xplore, all registered users will be sent, via e-mail, a Stat-Xplore User Guide.

Stat-Xplore was designed to meet this Government's transparency commitments, and to allow much more granular interrogation of the Department's datasets than was previously possible, and is part of the Department's efficiency agenda, being designed to control the costs of parliamentary questions.

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However, key national-level statistics such as those for housing benefit are also available through routine statistical releases. More detailed tables, generally at regional or local authority level, are also available, through ready made tables within Stat-Xplore and also within a set of spreadsheet tables available on our website here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions/about/statistics

Please note that for very detailed statistical breakdowns, Stat-Xplore has been specifically developed as it allows users much more flexibility than is possible within spreadsheet-based tables.

Pension Credit

Alun Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will change the eligibility criteria for pensions credit for people who have come to the UK from abroad and reached the qualifying age but did not make national insurance contributions during their working life. [186797]

Steve Webb: Pension credit is an income-related benefit for the poorest pensioners living in Great Britain and is not based on contributions paid. There are no plans to change this. However, in order to qualify for pension credit a person must also have a right to reside in Great Britain, be habitually resident and physically present, and not be subject to provisions that mean they have no recourse to public funds whilst in Great Britain.