Work and Pensions

written question – answered on 17 September 2007.

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  • Child Support Agency

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what (a) documents and (b) procedures govern the relationship between the Department and the Child Support Agency.

  • Child Support Agency: Complaints

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps are available for hon. Members to take when dissatisfied with the response by the Child Support Agency to their representations.

  • Child Support Agency: Costs

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the net cost of the Child Support Agency in each year since 1993-94, including administrative costs and the effect...

  • Child Support Agency: Debt Collection

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what powers the Child Support Agency has to recover arrears which are more than six years old; and if he will make a statement.

  • Child Support Agency: Expenditure

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what estimate he has made of the cost in (a) cash and (b) real terms of running the Child Support Agency and its successor for each...

  • Child Support Agency: Lone Parents

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of Child Support Agency applications are for cases where only one parent is named on the birth certificate; and if he will make...

  • Child Support Agency: Manpower

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff were allocated a Child Support Agency enforcement worker in each quarter from 1997 to June 2007; and if he will make a statement.

  • Child Support Agency: Payments

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many cases resulted in the Child Support Agency (CSA) in each of the last three years; how many such payments the CSA made in each year;...

  • Child Support Agency: Standards

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many unprocessed Child Support Agency cases there were in (a) Eastbourne and (b) East Sussex in each of the last 12 months.

  • Children: Maintenance

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what restrictions there are on the Child Support Agency accessing HM Revenue and Customs information about non-resident parents' (a) income,...

  • Children: Maintenance

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many non-resident parents being pursued by the Child Support Agency (a) have moved abroad and (b) are untraceable; and if he will make a...

  • Children: Maintenance

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the Child Support Agency compliance rates are in cases where the parent with care is on benefits with (a) a complete clawback of...

  • Children: Maintenance

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much income support was recovered by the Child Support Agency in each year from 1993-94 to 2007-08; and if he will make a statement.

  • Children: Maintenance

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the proportion of parents with care who received any form of regular child maintenance from the non-resident...

  • Children: Maintenance

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in how many and what percentage of cases that were dealt with by the Child Support Agency in the last 12 months it was impossible to establish...

  • Children: Maintenance (2 annotations)

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the proportion of non-resident parents whose child maintenance payments will rise by more than (a) 10 per cent.,...

  • Children: Maintenance

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the current rate of deduction for child maintenance is for non-resident parents on benefits by the Child Support Agency; when the rate was...

  • Children: Poverty

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the Government's targets were for lifting children out of poverty in each year since 1997; and whether each target was met.

  • Council Tax Benefits

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) people, (b) senior citizens and (c) families (i) were entitled to and (ii) received council tax benefit in each borough in the...

  • Council Tax Benefits

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households are in receipt of council tax benefit, broken down by region; and what estimate he has made of the number of households...

  • Council Tax Benefits: Ethnic Groups

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of black and minority ethnic households that are (a) eligible for and (b) in receipt of council tax...

  • Council Tax Benefits: Forms

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the (a) minimum and (b) maximum number is of pages of the council tax benefit form a person is required to complete to claim the benefit.

  • Council Tax Benefits: Low Incomes

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will bring forward proposals to change the council tax benefit system to redistribute unclaimed benefit to the poorest households.

  • Council Tax Benefits: Scotland

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was provided to the Scottish Executive for the payment of council tax benefit in each of the last five years.

  • Departments: Accountancy

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on how many occasions the Department had its accounts qualified by auditors in the last 10 years.

  • Departments: Air Conditioning

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was spent by his Department and its agencies on the hire of mobile air conditioning units in each of the last five years.

  • Departments: Aviation

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was spent by his Department on (a) first class and (b) business class flights in the last 12 months.

  • Departments: Crime

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which criminal offences have been introduced by his Department in primary legislation since October 2006.

  • Departments: Delivery Services

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what volume of correspondence his Department sent (a) by Royal Mail and (b) by other commercial delivery services in each of the last five...

  • Departments: Departmental Records

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 16 July 2007, Official Report, column 84W, on Departments: Departmental Records, what estimate he has made of the...

  • Departments: Departmental Records

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 16 July 2007, Official Report, column 84W, on Departments: Departmental Records, what mechanisms are in place to...

  • Departments: Incapacity Benefit

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many employees of his Department in receipt of statutory sick pay moved on to incapacity benefit in each year since 1997, broken down by...

  • Departments: Manpower

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many press officers are employed by his Department.

  • Departments: New Deal Schemes

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many individuals recruited by his Department from new deal programmes since the inception of the scheme left within (a) six and (b)...

  • Departments: Pensions

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what percentage of staff in his Department are making additional voluntary contributions to their pensions; and what steps he has...

  • Departments: Press

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was spent by his Department on newspapers and magazines in the last 12 months.

  • Departments: Railways

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was spent by his Department on first class train tickets in the last 12 months.

  • Departments: Sick Leave

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average duration was of an absence from work through sickness in his Department in each year since 1997.

  • Departments: Sick Pay

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what total amount of statutory sick pay was received by employees of his Department in each year since 1997; (2) how many and what...

  • Departments: Tribunals

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was spent by his Department on industrial tribunals in the last 12 months.

  • Departments: Westmorland

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will consider locating or relocating additional departmental jobs to Westmorland and Lonsdale.

  • Disability Aids: Departmental Cooperation

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to improve the delineation of responsibility between the Social Fund and other public agencies in connection with the...

  • Disability Living Allowance (1 annotation)

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many claims for disability living allowance there were between April 2006 and January 2007.

  • Disability Living Allowance

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many claims for disability living allowance were made in each year since 1997; what proportion were approved; and if he will make a statement.

  • Disability Living Allowance

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in what circumstances an individual's eligibility for disability living allowance is reassessed; and if he will make a statement.

  • Disability Living Allowance

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the earnings disregard for disability living allowance was in April of each year since 1997.

  • Disability Living Allowance: Appeals

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many disability living allowance claimants appealed against decisions made on their claims between April 2006 and January 2007.

  • Employment

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to list the groups in the working age population which he thinks should not be expected to work.

  • Employment Schemes (4 annotations)

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he plans to make of the analysis of the barriers to work set out in the National Audit Office report Helping People from...

  • Employment Services

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has for pilot studies of private and voluntary sector involvement in the provision of employment support; what the timetable is...

  • Employment: Disabled

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress has been made in piloting the redesigned personal capability assessment; and what evaluations he has made of the results of the...

  • Employment: Pensioners (1 annotation)

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the proportion of individuals in employment over state pension age who want to work; and what research he has (a)...

  • Employment: Retail Trade

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which retailers have been chosen (a) in Scotland and (b) throughout the UK to supply the incentive vouchers used by engagement consultants...

  • Government Departments: New Deal Schemes

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether his Department keeps a record of the recruitment of individuals from New Deal programmes by other Government departments.

  • Housing Benefit

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on what year rental valuations are based for the purpose of calculating housing benefits.

  • Housing Benefit: Islington

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average level of housing benefit paid to (a) local authority tenants, (b) housing association tenants and (c) private sector...

  • Incapacity Benefit

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many officials an incapacity benefit claimant has to deal with on average before he or she can claim the benefit; and if he will make a...

  • Incapacity Benefits: Mortgages

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what support is available to assist (a) able-bodied and (b) disabled people who stop work at short notice due to incapacity in paying the...

  • Jobcentre Plus: Closures

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many Jobcentre Plus offices closed in each year since 2001, broken down by Parliamentary constituency.

  • Jobcentre Plus: Closures

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether there are plans to close Jobcentre Plus offices in Scotland.

  • Jobcentre Plus: Manpower

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people were employed by (a) the Employment Service and (b) Jobcentre Plus in each year since 2002, broken down by region.

  • Jobcentre Plus: Standards

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what representations he has received on the (a) accessibility and (b) efficiency of Jobcentre Plus services since the move to centralised...

  • Jobcentre Plus: Unemployment Benefits

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what advice on benefit entitlement is available at Jobcentre Plus offices; and how that advice may be accessed.

  • Jobcentres: Scotland

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which Scottish Jobcentre Plus offices with (a) full-time and (b) part-time opening hours were closed in each of the last five years.

  • Jobseeker's Allowance

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many jobseeker's allowance claims were repeat claims (a) in the last year for which figures are available and (b) in each of the...

  • Jobseeker's Allowance: Basic Skills (1 annotation)

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what percentage of jobseeker's allowance claimants identified with basic skills needs by JobCentre Plus screening acquired a basic skills...

  • Jobseeker's Allowance: West Midlands

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people claimed jobseeker's allowance in (a) the Black Country district and (b) the Marches district in each month between June 2006...

  • Labour Market

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the (a) 20 parliamentary constituencies and (b) 20 local authorities were with the highest number of job vacancies in the latest period...

  • Labour Migration

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what representations he has (a) made to and (b) received from the Migration Advisory Committee since its inception; how many times (i) he and...

  • Local Employment Partnerships (3 annotations)

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how environmental sustainability will be taken into account in developing the 30 local employment partnerships announced on 18 July 2007,...

  • Local Employment Partnerships (4 annotations)

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his oral statement of 18 July 2007, Official Report, column 280, what his definition is of high-quality wrap-around childcare.

  • Low Incomes

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people lived in households earning (a) less than 30 per cent., (b) less than 40 per cent., (c) less than 50 per cent., and (d)...

  • Members: Correspondence

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when a reply will be sent to the constituent of the hon. Member for the Isle of Wight whose reference is CSA 321031224246/NR 185956A.

  • Migrant Workers: Labour Market

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what research he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the impact of migration on the labour market; and what assessment he has made of...

  • Minimum Wage

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many hours a week (a) a lone parent with one child and (b) a couple with two children earning the minimum wage would have to work to...

  • National Insurance

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many national insurance numbers there are in the national insurance database; (2) how many people are registered in the national...

  • National Insurance

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many duplicate national insurance numbers there are in the national insurance database.

  • National Insurance Credits

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his written ministerial statement of 23 July 2007, Official Report, columns 47-48WS, on national insurance credits, what his...

  • National Insurance: Fraud

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many cases have been reported of (a) an individual using more than one national insurance number and (b) a national insurance number...

  • National Insurance: Romania

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many national insurance numbers have been issued to (a) Romanian and (b) Bulgarian citizens since 1 January.

  • New Deal for Young People

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many participants on the New Deal for Young People were taking part in the scheme for the second or subsequent time in each month since 1998.

  • New Deal for Young People: Standards

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the interim results of the outcome-related funding pilots currently running in the New Deal for Young People...

  • New Deal Schemes

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of people leaving (a) the new deal scheme, (b) the new deal for lone parents scheme and (c) the new deal 25 plus scheme...

  • New Deal Schemes: Standards

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether his Department has compared the relative performances in returning numbers of people to work of the New Deal self-employment programme...

  • New Deal Schemes: Training

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people participated in new deal training in each of the last 36 months.

  • New Deal Schemes: York

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in City of York constituency have found work through each of the Government's new deal programmes since their introduction.

  • Occupational Pensions

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many adults were members of occupational pension schemes in each year from 1997 to 2007.

  • Pathways to Work: Interviews

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of work-focused interviews in the Pathways to Work programme have been given by (a) private sector providers and (b)...

  • Pathways to Work: Psychiatry

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the demand for (a) cognitive behavioural therapists and (b) other appropriate therapists in the implementation...

  • Pension Centres

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the overall cost is of the 24 new pension centres.

  • Pension Centres

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people are employed in the 24 new regional pension centres.

  • Pension Credit

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department plans to take further to encourage eligible pensioners to claim the pension credit to which they are entitled.

  • Pensioners: Council Tax Benefits

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will bring forward proposals to raise the council tax benefit savings limit for pensioners.

  • Pensioners: Income

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average income of adults over the age of 65 was in each region in each year since 1997 in real terms.

  • Pensions Regulator

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the powers of the Pensions Regulator; and if he will make a statement.

  • Pensions Regulator

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) financial support direction and (b) contribution notices the Pensions Regulator has imposed.

  • Pensions: Council Tax

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what account he takes of changes in the level of council tax in setting pension rates.

  • Pensions: Lil-Lets UK Ltd

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what representations he has received on the pensions funds situation of Lil-Lets UK Ltd, following the closure of the production facilities by...

  • Pensions: York

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average value of benefits in kind provided by the state was to (a) single pensioners and (b) pensioner couples in York in 1996-97...

  • Personal Income

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the percentage change in net income of each income decile has been in the UK since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

  • Sick Leave

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the (a) national average rate of absence from work, (b) public sector average rate of absence from work through sickness and (c)...

  • Sick Leave

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the proportion of long-term sick leave which is due to arthritis and other musculoskeletal problems.

  • Sick Pay: General Practitioners

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress has been made in the provision of employment advisers in GP surgeries to advise on sick notes for statutory sick pay; and what...

  • Social Fund

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking in liaison with the Social Fund Commissioner to improve the accuracy of decision-making with regard to the Social Fund.

  • Social Security Benefits

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the amount of customer error underpayments was for (a) pension credit, (b) jobseeker's allowance and (c) income support due to...

  • Social Security Benefits

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the amount of customer error and fraud overpayments were for (a) pension credit, (b) jobseeker's allowance and (c) income support due...

  • Social Security Benefits

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people received (a) housing benefit, (b) incapacity benefit, (c) jobseeker's allowance, (d) carer's allowance and (e) disability...

  • Social Security Benefits

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many of those in receipt of (a) income support, (b) incapacity benefit and (c) jobseeker's allowance in each year since 1997 had been on...

  • Social Security Benefits

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of disabled people receiving (a) disability living allowance, (b) severe disablement allowance, (c)...

  • Social Security Benefits

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people of working age were (a) claiming out-of-work benefits, (b) claiming unemployment benefit, (c) lone parents claiming income...

  • Social Security Benefits: EC Nationals

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will break down by nationality the number of national insurance numbers issued to EU citizens since 1st January 2004.

  • Social Security Benefits: Fraud

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was lost due to (a) benefit fraud and (b) error in the granting of benefits in each year since 1997.

  • Social Security Benefits: Fraud

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of fraudulent claims for (a) pension credit, (b) winter fuel payment, (c)...

  • Social Security Benefits: Fraud

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the initiatives taken by the Government since 1997 to tackle benefit fraud; and what the (a) cost of the initiative, (b)...

  • Social Security Benefits: Fraud

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people who were investigated for benefit fraud were subsequently (a) cautioned and (b) prosecuted and convicted in each year since...

  • Social Security Benefits: Fraud

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the total value of benefit fraud was in respect of cases investigated resulting in (a) cautions and (b) prosecutions in each year since...

  • Social Security Benefits: Fraud

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many cases of (a) housing benefit and (b) council tax benefit fraud were detected in each year since 1997; and how many successful...

  • Social Security Benefits: ICT

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what changes (a) have been made and (b) are planned to IT systems in order to enable the delivery of the employment and support allowance.

  • Social Security Benefits: Lone Parents

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many single (a) women and (b) men with children had their benefits withdrawn in each of the last five years.

  • State Retirement Pensions: Overseas Residence

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many UK state pensions were paid to people residing in each country outside the European Economic Area with which the UK does not have a...

  • Unemployment Benefits

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what research his Department has undertaken into the merits of time-limited unemployment benefits.

  • Unemployment Benefits: East Sussex

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was spent on benefits for unemployed people in (a) Eastbourne and (b) East Sussex in (i) April 1997 and (ii) in the most recent...

  • Unemployment Benefits: York

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of the cost of benefits paid to people who were unemployed and seeking work in the City of York in (a) 1996 and (b)...

  • Unemployment: Social Rented Housing

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what research he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the incidence of unemployment and economic inactivity in social housing tenants.

  • Vacancies: York

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many unfilled job vacancies there were at York Jobcentre at (a) 1 January and (b) 1 July in each year since 2000.