| Previous Section | Back to Table of Contents | Lords Hansard Home Page |
Northern Ireland Office: Judicial Reviews
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many judicial reviews have been brought against the Northern Ireland Office in each of the past five years. [HL5654]
29 Oct 2007 : Column WA158
Lord Rooker: In each of the past five years the following numbers of judicial reviews have been brought against the Northern Ireland Office:
These figures do not include agencies or NDPBs.
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
Lord Jenkin of Roding asked Her Majesty's Government:
How the figures in paragraph D11.9 on page 243 of the Pre-Budget Report and Comprehensive Spending Review for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority are reconciled with the new cost estimates for future decommissioning work published in the authority's latest annual report and accounts for 2006-07. [HL5530]
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office & Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (Lord Jones of Birmingham): The Pre-Budget Report and Comprehensive Spending Review included the level of funding for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) for the period April 2008 to March 2011. This funding, combined with commercial income over the same period, will be used to finance the NDA’s work.
The NDA will determine how this funding will be applied to its strategic objectives through a prioritisation process.
The amounts on decommissioning and clean up will reduce the future cost estimates published in the annual report and accounts. The NDA will seek, through efficiency savings, to reduce the nuclear liability. In 2005-06 and 2006-07 the net efficiency after payment of the contractors fees were £124 million and £208 million respectively.
Official Visits
Lord Marlesford asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many state visits to the United Kingdom have taken place since January 1997; and, for each visit, what was (a) the name of the visiting head of state; (b) the country they represented; and (c) the dates of the visit; and, in each case, whether and, if so, in what format, the visiting head of state had the opportunity of addressing Parliament.[HL5643]
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Malloch-Brown): There have been 17 state visits since 1997. The information is provided in the table below:
29 Oct 2007 : Column WA159
Passports
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many passports were issued from their embassy in Dublin in each of the past five years. [HL5652]
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Malloch-Brown): The number of British passports issued by our embassy in Dublin in each of the past five financial years is as follows:
| Financial Year | Total |
Pensions
Lord Skelmersdale asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, as reported, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions told the Pensions Action Group that it was “straight daylight robbery” that 125,000 people had lost their pensions; and, if so, why he made this statement. [HL5698]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Lord McKenzie of Luton): My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has previously made his position clear on this subject and I refer the noble Lord to the Secretary of State's comments on 3 July 2007 (Official Report, col. 901).
Pensions: Means Testing
Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts asked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the present cost of paying the means- tested extra pension only to those pensioners who currently receive it; and [HL5737]
What would be the estimated increase in cost if all those eligible for the means-tested extra pension were to be paid it; and [HL5738]
29 Oct 2007 : Column WA161
What is the estimated net additional cost, after tax reclaims, of replacing the current means-tested extra pension with a pension to all those currently in receipt of it with a pension of (a) £20 per week, and (b) £30 per week; and [HL5739]
What is the estimated net additional cost, after tax reclaims, of replacing the current means tested extra pension with a pension to all those eligible to receive it with a pension of (a) £20 per week, and (b) £30 per week. [HL5740]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Lord McKenzie of Luton): The most recent data available on those eligible to pension credit but not receiving it are for 2005-06. Therefore, all answers relate to 2005-06 data.
Expenditure on pension credit in 2005-06 was £6,426 million.
It is estimated that the extra cost of pension credit, should all those who were eligible claim it, would be between £1,620 million and £2,510 million during 2005-06.
The estimated net saving from replacing pension credit for those currently in receipt with a £20 per week pension is £3,610 million.
The estimated net saving from replacing pension credit for those currently in receipt with a £30 per week pension is £2,200 million.
The estimated net saving from replacing pension credit for all those eligible to receive it with a £20 per week pension is between £1,890 million and £2,450 million.
The estimated net cost of replacing pension credit for those eligible to receive it with a £30 per week pension is between a saving of £600 million and a cost of £370 million.
- 3. Further information on pension credit expenditure is available in the DWP website at http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd4/expenditure.asp
- 6. The estimate of the total amount of benefit left unclaimed is presented as a range within which it can be assumed the true value lies. This range accounts for possible biases inherent in estimates from data that are less than perfect. The range also accounts for the effects of sampling variation (otherwise known as sampling error).
- 7. Latest estimates of the amounts left unclaimed and the take-up rate of the main income-related benefits: income support, pension credit, housing benefit, council tax benefit and jobseeker’s allowance (income-based) can be found in the DWP publication series entitled: Income Related Benefits Estimates of Take-Up. Copies of the annual reports are held in the Library.
- 8. Estimates of additional costs have been rounded to the nearest 10 million. Expenditure figures have been rounded to the nearest million.
- 9. The figures quoted do not account for the extra administrative costs that would be incurred if all those eligible for pension credit were paid it or the savings in administrative costs if pensioners were paid a flat rate.
29 Oct 2007 : Column WA162
| Next Section | Back to Table of Contents | Lords Hansard Home Page |