§ John ThursoTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners in Scotland were in receipt of(a) housing benefit and (b) council tax benefit in (i) 2000–01 and (ii) 2001–02. [174022]
1465W
§ Mr. PondThe available information is in the table.
Housing benefit and council tax benefit recipients aged 60 and over in Scotland
As at May Housing benefit Council tax benefit 2000 203,000 275,000 2001 203,000 281,000 Notes: 1. The figures are based on a 1 per cent. sample and are therefore subject to a degree of sampling variation. 2. The data refers to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple. 3. The figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand. 4. Council tax benefit totals exclude any Second Adult Rebate cases. 5. Housing benefit figures exclude any Extended Payment cases. 6. "Aged 60 and over" refers to cases where the claimant and/or partner are aged 60 or over. Source: Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information System, Annual 1 per cent. sample, taken in May 2000 and 2001.
§ Mr. JenkinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many(a) state pensioners and (b) non-pensioner benefit recipients within the Tamworth constituency receive (i) pensions and (ii) other benefits (A) through an order book, (B) through a Post Office Card Account and (C) paid directly into a bank or building society account. [160057]
§ Mr. PondInformation in the following table gives the number of customers in the Tamworth constituency, by benefit, broken down by their method of payment (order book, Post Office Card Account or direct payment) as at 23 January 2004. Child benefit and war pensions information is not included as these are the responsibility of the Inland Revenue and Ministry of Defence respectively.
Payment by order
book
Payment by Post
Office
card
account
Payment direct into
a bank or
building
society
account
(a) State pensioners (women over 60 and men over 65) State pension (retirement pension) 5,235 250 6,720 Other benefits1 2,835 (1) 1,850 (b) Non-pensioner benefit recipients Total of benefits 3,700 455 5,415 1Other benefits are attendance allowance, disability living allowance, incapacity benefit, carers' allowance, industrial injuries, pensions credit, severe disablement allowance and widows benefit. Notes:
The following special points should be noted:
1. For confidentiality reasons, all figures are rounded to the nearest 50.
2. Figures relate to payload and not caseload therefore if a claimant is receiving more than one benefit e.g. pension credit (PC) and state pension (SP) but only receives one combined payment through the PC system they will only be shown as having a pension credit account and not a state pension account.
3. Payments made into some bank/building society accounts will still allow customers to access their cash at Post Office branches if the account provider has an arrangement with Post Office Limited.
1466W4. Benefits are bereavement benefit, disability living allowance, incapacity benefit, carers' allowance, industrial injuries, income support, jobseekers allowance, pension credit, severe disablement allowance and widows' benefit.
Source:
DWP Information Centre, Information & Analysis Directorate (100 per cent. data).
§ Martin LintonTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners in Battersea are receiving at least one benefit that can be collected at the post office. [168855]
§ Mr. PondBased on information available at 21 February 2004, the number of pensioners in Battersea receiving at least one benefit that can be collected at the post office is 5,555.
This figure includes payments made into post office card accounts. It also includes girocheques, which are encashable at either a post office or through a bank or building society account.
There are no data available on the number of benefit payments collected at post offices through the wider range of banking services now available.
This figure does not include child benefit or war pensions accounts, as these are the responsibility of Inland Revenue and the Ministry of Defence respectively.
§ Mrs. HumbleTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the measures introduced to improve the working conditions of disabled workers it Blackpool, North and Fleetwood over the last seven years. [175892]
§ Maria EagleWe have a number of measures in place nationally to help improve conditions for disabled people at work, as well as measures to improve their access to services generally. None of these are specific to Blackpool, North and Fleetwood, but all are available to disabled people who live and work there.
From 1996, the employment provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act required most employers of 20 or more staff not to discriminate against, and to make reasonable adjustments for, disabled job applicants or employees; in December 1998, we reduced this threshold to 15 employees. From October this year, the small employer exemption will be removed and most currently excluded occupations, such as police officers, fire-fighters, and partners in business partnerships will be brought within the scope of the Disability Discrimination Act employment provisions.
Jobcentre Plus runs a number of specialist programmes providing help for disabled people, including New Deal for Disabled People, WORKSTEP, Access to Work, the Job Introduction Scheme, and Work Preparation. All these programmes provide practical advice and support to disabled people and their employers to help overcome work related obstacles resulting from disability. Since 1997–98 there have been year on year increases in both numbers helped and programme spend.
To help people access appropriate help, Jobcentre Plus has established a network of disability service teams. The teams are made up of disability employment 1467W advisers, access to work advisers and occupational psychologists; their services are accessed through local Jobcentres.
Since April 2003, disabled people in work have been receiving financial support through the working tax credit. This is available if a person it working an average of at least 16 hours per week (self employed or for an employer); and have a disability which puts them at a disadvantage in getting a job. 70,000 families (including over 32,000 adults without children) are benefiting from the disability element within the working tax credit, compared to 38,000 who benefited from the old disabled person's tax credit.
§ Mr. WillettsTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners in the Havant constituency have migrated from over the counter benefit payments to automated credit transfer in each of the last 12 months. [167330]
§ Mr. PondThe number of pensioner accounts (men over 65 women over 60) in the parliamentary constituency of Havant that have migrated from over the counter benefit payments to Direct Payment in the past 12 months is in the table.
Figures refer to accounts migrating. An individual pensioner paid two benefits separately will be counted as two pensioner accounts.
Statistics are taken from individual scans of benefit databases at a point in time each month. New accounts opened and closed in between scans are not included in the figures. Similarly, if a person changes their method of payment and then reverts back to the old method of payment this change will not be included.
Time period Number of accounts migrating
24 January 2004 to 21 February 2004 285 27 December 2003 to 24 January 2004 305 29 November 2003 to 27 December 2003 35 1 November 2003 to 29 November 2003 170 4 October 2003 to 1 November 2003 225 6 September 2003 to 4 October 2003 20 9 August 2003 to 6 September 2003 120 12 July 2003 to 9 August 2003 70 14 June 2003 to 12 July 2003 20 17 May 2003 to 14 Jun 2003 65 19 April 2003 to 17 May 2003 45 22 March 2003 to 19 April 2003 5 22 February 2003 to 22 March 2003 30 25 January 2003 to 22 February 2003 40 28 December 2002 to 25 January 2003 5