HC Deb 14 January 2004 vol 416 cc793-4W
Mr. Willetts

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if the Department will reinstate in its website's section on benefit expenditure tables, tables 1 and 2, showing detailed benefit spending from 1993–94 onwards. [147014]

Mr. Pond

The information requested has been posted on the Department's website, updated to include pre-Budget report 2003 expenditure forecasts.

Mr. Jenkins

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people drew their benefits at(a) Belgrave branch post office, (b) Dosthill branch post office, (c) Kerria road branch post office, (d) Hockley branch post office, (e) Kettlebrook branch post office, (f) Silver Link branch post office, (g) Two Gates branch post office and (h) Wilnecote branch post office in Tamworth in the last (i) week, (ii) month and (iii) year for which figures are available. [147035]

Mr. Pond

The information is not available in the format requested.

Statistics are not held on payment data on an individual Post Office basis.

Mr. Flight

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the reasons for differences between the figures in table 5 of his Department's Benefit Expenditure Tables and the estimates for social security benefit expenditure provided in table B13 of the pre-Budget report. [147415]

Mr. Pond

Table 5 of the DWP Benefit Expenditure Tables and the estimates for social security benefit expenditure provided in table B13 of the pre-Budget report do not have the same coverage of Government Spending. DWP Benefit Expenditure Tables cover those benefits for which DWP has policy responsibility, only covering Great Britain (except for Over 75 TV Licences). The pre-Budget report figures represent a broader measure of social security benefit expenditure, covering all of the United Kingdom.

Further details of the differences can be found in the notes accompanying the expenditure tables on the Department's website.