HC Deb 15 October 2001 vol 372 cc829-30W
36. Jeremy Corbyn

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his latest estimate is of the number of applications and approved applications for the Minimum Income Guarantee. [3611]

Mr. McCartney

Since the beginning of the MIG take up campaign in May 2000 and up to the end of August 2001, 240,186 additional claims for the Minimum Income Guarantee have been received and processed. As a result, 118,242 people are receiving an extra £20 a week on average. This demonstrates that our policies are successfully providing extra money to those among the elderly who need it most. As at May 2001 there were 1,716,600 people in Great Britain receiving MIG.

Jeremy Corbyn

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the total cost is to date of advertising the Minimum Income Guarantee for pensioners; how many applicants there have been; how many have been approved; and what estimate he has made of the total number of potential applicants. [6767]

Mr. McCartney

Up to September 2001, some 121,159 pensions have received an extra £20 per week on average as a result of the Minimum Income Guarantee take-up campaign. This demonstrates that our policies are successfully providing extra money to those among the elderly who need it most.

Since the start of the MIG take-up campaign and up to the end of September 2001, 240,186 claims have been received. The total cost of advertising the MIG to date is just over £4 million.

The latest available figures on the number of people entitled to the Minimum Income Guarantee who are not claiming pre-date the advertising campaign. These figures are included in the publication "Take-Up of Income Related Benefits: Statistics for 1999–2000", copies of which are available in the Library.

Jeremy Corbyn

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of the annual cost of administration of(a) the Minimum Income Guarantee, (b) State Pensions, (c) Child Benefit and (d) the Working Families Tax Credit. [6960]

Mr. McCartney

The Department now estimates and accounts for its expenditure in resource terms and by strategic objective. The cost of administering each of the Department's strategic objectives is reproduced in the 2001–02 Departmental Report at Table 4.

The Working Families Tax Credit is administered by Inland Revenue. The cost to Inland Revenue of managing and paying tax credits for the six months to 31 March 2000 is shown in Note 3 to the trust account on page 83 of Inland Revenue's annual report for the year ending 31 March 2000, a copy of which is available in the Library.