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Services Personnel: Chemical Warfare Immunisation and Disability
Lord Ironside asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How many ex-service personnel and reservists known to be suffering from latent adverse effects of immunisation treatment against chemical warfare agents who have not been awarded disability pensions or grants have been awarded Disability Living Allowance and Disability Working Allowance.
Baroness Hollis of Heigham: The information is not available. No statistics are maintained on recipients of Disability Living Allowance or Disability Working Allowance which could provide the answer to this Question.
Lord Ironside asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How many ex-service personnel and reservists known to be suffering from the latent adverse effects of immunisation treatment against chemical warfare agents have been awarded disability pensions or grants.
Baroness Hollis of Heigham: No awards have been made under the War Pensions Scheme in respect of latent adverse reactions to either immunisation against biological warfare agents or prophylactic protection against chemical warfare agents. However, where any ex-serviceman or woman has any disablement, and where a claim for war pension is made in respect of that disablement within seven years of termination of service in the armed forces, the onus is on the Secretary of State to show, beyond reasonable doubt, that the disablement is not due to, or has not been aggravated by, service. Where she cannot do that, an award will normally be made.
Benefit Claims Backdating Limitation
Lord Evans of Parkside asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What would have been the annual savings to the Department of Social Security if the regulations limiting the back-dating of claims for benefits to one month had been in operation from 1 April 1992.
Baroness Hollis of Heigham: The information requested is not available.
Child Benefit Lone Parent Element
Lord Evans of Parkside asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How many individuals in the United Kingdom are in receipt of the lone parent element of child benefit; and how many there are in each parliamentary constituency.
Baroness Hollis of Heigham: There are an estimated 1,100,000 families in the United Kingdom currently receiving the lone parent element of child benefit. This information is not currently available at parliamentary constituency level.
Lord Evans of Parkside asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What would be the annual cost to the Department of Social Security if all lone parents with children under five years of age were allowed to retain the lone parent element of child benefit.
Baroness Hollis of Heigham: Existing recipients will continue to retain entitlement to the lone parent element of child benefit. The estimated additional annual cost of allowing all new lone parents with children under five to receive the lone parent rate of Child Benefit is set out in the table.
| Year | Savings |
| 1998-99 | £2m |
| 1999-00 | £8m |
| 2000-01 | £12m |
Note:
All numbers are rounded to the nearest £1 million.
Lord Evans of Parkside asked Her Majesty's Government:
Baroness Hollis of Heigham: The information requested is in the table. These calculations are based on a number of alternative lengths of working weeks, with one child aged under 11 and one aged 11-15.
No allowance has been made for childcare costs.
Source:
The figures have been derived using the 1997 version of the Tax Benefit Model (TBM). The TBM is designed to illustrate the financial circumstances of a selection of hypothetical local authority and private tenants at April 1997.
Notes:
1. In addition to the assumptions set out in the reply, the TBM also rests on a number of other more minor assumptions:
(i) No tax allowances apart from personal allowances are in operation;
(ii) There is no reduced tax liability for spells of unemployment or sickness earlier in the tax year;
(iii) National Insurance Contributions (NICs) are paid at the not contracted out rate.
2. Whether the family are local authority or private tenants makes no difference to the answer in this case.
3. Maximum Family Credit (FC) for this lone parent is £79.65, made up of the personal allowance (£47.65) and child allowances (£12.05 + £19.95). When the FC claimant works 30 hours a week or more, the maximum FC is increased by the 30 Hour Credit of £10.55, giving a maximum FC of £90.20. The maximum applies where net income (gross income less income tax and NICS) is lower than the FC threshold of £77.15.
Lord Evans of Parkside asked Her Majesty's Government:
Baroness Hollis of Heigham: The information requested is not available.
Direct comparisons between out of work income and in work income for those lone parents currently receiving income support are difficult. It is not straightforward to predict the earnings of those lone parents who move into work, since this would depend on the type of job they might get, and for how many hours.
Lord Mason of Barnsley asked the Chairman of Committees:
The Chairman of Committees (Lord Boston of Faversham): The Companion to the Standing Orders states that Lords are entitled to draw free of charge from the Printed Paper Office (a) current parliamentary papers and (b) other publications that "they clearly require in order to discharge their parliamentary duties" (page 58).
Parliamentary papers are those presented by Command, laid pursuant to Act, statutory instrument or measure, or printed to an order of either House, and other working papers of the House, including the Minutes of Proceedings and Lords and Commons Hansard.
Lords may also obtain free of charge non-parliamentary government papers or other publications (whether they are published by The Stationery Office or not), provided that they can show that they require them for the discharge of their parliamentary duties. Peers must pay the normal price for publications which they are not entitled to receive free of charge, which can, if published by The Stationery Office, be purchased from the Parliamentary Bookshop.
Lord Evans of Parkside asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Minister of State, Department for Education and Employment (Baroness Blackstone): Responsibility for the subject of this question has been
Letter to Lord Evans of Parkside from the Chief Executive of the Employment Service, Mr. Leigh Lewis, dated 22 December 1997.
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about the number of vacancies registered at Jobcentres in the United Kingdom for women under and over the age of 25 respectively. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.
I ought to say first that we do not keep statistics on the number of vacancies registered at Jobcentres in the format you have requested. Apart from the permitted exceptions under the Sex Discrimination Act 1976, jobseekers can apply, irrespective of their gender, for any of the job vacancies held at Jobcentres. Overall, since the beginning of April 1997, over 1.6 million vacancies have been registered with Jobcentres.
As far as age requirements are concerned, the Employment Service has a long established policy which is that Jobcentres should challenge age restrictions placed on job vacancies and seek to persuade employers to consider jobseekers on their merits regardless of age.
I am sorry I am unable to provide the specific information you required but I hope this clarifies the position.
How much family credit a lone parent with two school-age children and in receipt of lone parent element of child benefit would receive if he or she moved into full time employment at an hourly rate of (a) £3; (b) £2.75; (c) £2.50; (d) £2.25; and (e) £2.00.
Weekly Family Credit Entitlement (Hours worked)
Hourly rate 16 hrs 24 hrs 30 hrs 40 hrs
£3.00 £79.65 £79.65 £84.03 £67.35
£2.75 £79.65 £79.65 £88.76 £72.25
£2.50 £79.65 £79.65 £90.20 £77.73
£2.25 £79.65 £79.65 £90.20 £84.03
£2.00 £79.65 £79.65 £90.20 £90.20
What would be the annual cost to the Treasury if 100,000 individuals in receipt of the lone parent element of child benefit were to move into full time
12 Jan 1998 : Column WA147employment and each one received the free
services of a child minder for 20 hours per week at £2.75 per hour.
Which types of publications from the Daily List produced by The Stationery Officer peers are entitled to free of charge, including parliamentary papers; and at what cost level are peers likely to be charged for those publications which they are not entitled to receive free of charge.
How many vacancies registered at Jobcentres in the United Kingdom there are for (a) women over 25; and (b) women aged 25 and under, and how many there are in both categories by parliamentary constituency.
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