If he will make a statement on the results of the pensioners benefit take-up pilot in Torbay. [53469]

The Department has been running nine pilot schemes, of which Torbay is one, since April this year to find the best way to provide more automatic help to the poorest pensioners. The pilots are only just being completed. We have commissioned an independent evaluation of them, which is being carried out, and the results are expected early next year.

I am afraid that we need to see the results before we can make any judgment. I hope that the Minister will agree that the Torbay citizens advice bureau, Torbay council, the Benefits Agency staff in Torquay and organisations such as Age Concern and Brixham Does Care should be congratulated on the part that they have played in trying to find the trigger points where pensioners come into contact with the Benefits Agency. Will he give me an assurance that, if the results show the pilot to have been a success, it will continue in my Constituency and, more importantly, will be extended to benefit pensioners throughout the country?

As the hon. Gentleman knows, I have visited those involved in the take-up pilot in Torbay, and I am more than happy to pay tribute to everyone involved—those in the voluntary sector, the local authority staff and our own staff—for their efforts. The whole point of the pilot exercises is to find the best way of identifying those pensioners who are entitled to income support but are not receiving it, and enabling them to make a claim. That is the basis on which we want to implement the increased benefit from next April.