§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the annual income from(a) fees, (b) charges and (c) fines; what was the total number of staff employed (i) part time and (ii) full time; and what was the contribution his Department has made in the last three years in respect of (1) the Contributions Agency and (2) the Occupational Pensions Board. [2745]
§ Mr. HealdThe information is not available in the format requested. Figures are not available for fines due to the following reasons:
Contributions Agency
Any fines for non-compliance with national insurance regulations are imposed by the courts and no income is received by the agency or Department.
646WOccupational Pensions Board
Any fines would be imposed by the courts but no court action has been taken by the OPB in the period concerned.
The available information is set out in the tables:
Annual income from fees and charges £ 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 Contributions agency (CA) 346,202 575,024 693,146 Occupational pensions board1, 2(OPB) 2,746,131 1,393,487 1,608,639 1 The current Pensions Levy on Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes was introduced with effect from January 1991 to meet some of the costs arising from three separate bodies, the Pensions Ombudsman, the Pensions Registry and the Occupational Pensions Advisory Service which is funded through a grant made by OPB. Only the last two of these form part of the running costs of the OPB. The total sum raised cannot be disaggregated to provide only the part used to fund the OPB. 2 Amounts of Pensions Levy collected is normally paid according to a three-yearly cycle under which only a third of scheme pay in any one year. Special introductory arrangements covering the payments due between 1 January 1991 and 31 March 1995 required all schemes to pay the levy in 1992–93 and resulted in higher than usual revenue for that year.
Staff employed 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 CA Full time 7,668 8,566 9,077 Part time1 1,277 1,608 1,487 OPB Full time 121 121 135 Part time 9 11 13 1 Part time is in actual staff numbers rather than full time staff equivalent. Please note that staff figures are taken as at 1 April for each financial year.
Contribution towards annual running costs1 £ million 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 CA 149.258 205.325 254.340 OPB 2.373 2.625 3.061 1 The figures represent expenditure outturn.