HC Deb 18 December 2000 vol 360 cc77-8W
38. Mr. Gordon Prentice

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the take-up of the Minimum Income Guarantee. [142148]

Mr. Rooker

I refer my hon. Friend to my earlier response to our hon. Friend the Member for Newport, West (Mr. Flynn),Official Report, column 8.

Caroline Flint

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what his estimate is of the(a) number and (b) proportion of senior citizens in the Don Valley constituency qualifying for the minimum income guarantee; and how many have (i) submitted, (ii) applied for and (iii) already received this benefit. [142053]

Mr. Rooker

There are 2,200 pensioners receiving the Minimum Income Guarantee in the Don Valley.

Information about how many senior citizens have submitted or applied for the Minimum Income Guarantee is not available.

Notes:

1. Figures are based on a 5 per cent. sample and are therefore subject to a degree of sampling error.

2. Pensioners are defined as where the claimant, and/or partner are aged 60 or over.

3. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.

Source:

Income Support Quarterly Statistical Enquiries, August 2000

Mr. Gordon Prentice

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will use television and radio advertisements to urge those entitled to the Minimum Income Guarantee to apply for it. [142581]

Mr. Rooker

The Minimum Income Guarantee take-up campaign included a national television advertising campaign.

Mr. Gordon Prentice

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the principal reasons for the failure of applications for the Minimum Income Guarantee from those prompted to apply by the take-up campaign. [142582]

Mr. Rooker

The main reasons to date why those that applied for the Minimum Income Guarantee were unsuccessful are too much income or too much capital. Changes in income and capital limits take effect in April 2001.

Mr. Alexander

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of advertising in increasing the level of uptake for the Minimum Income Guarantee(a) nationally and (b) in Scotland. [143168]

Mr. Rooker

The full effect of the Minimum Income Guarantee take-up will not be known until it comes to a conclusion. There are thousands more claims in the pipeline, and the effects of the last stage of the campaign will impact on claims processed up to January next year.