§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many claimants have an appointee to act on the claimant's behalf in respect of benefit claims and payments; and in how many cases the appointee is(a) a family member or friend, (b) a member of staff of a public body, (c) an independent care home owner or manager and (d) another person acting in their professional capacity. [182728]
§ Maria EagleThe information is not available in the format requested as details on appointees are not collected centrally.
At the end of February 2004 there were 174,700 pensions credit claims where there was an appointee and 118,200 in respect of income support claims.
§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many representations have been received about appointeeship in connection with the proposed mental capacity legislation; and from whom. [182729]
§ Maria EagleThe Department received correspondence from the Making Decisions Alliance after the pre-legislative scrutiny of the Draft Mental Incapacity Bill.
In addition, a number of organisations, including the Making Decisions Alliance, referred to the Department's appointee procedures when giving evidence to the Joint Committee on the Draft Mental Incapacity Bill.
§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what changes are planned on the information for(a) staff undertaking assessments of capacity and (b) appointees following the implementation of the mental capacity legislation; [182730]
(2) whether there will be a requirement for staff of his Department undertaking assessments of claimant's capacity to manage his or her affairs to have regard to the Code of Practice under the mental capacity legislation. [182731]
§ Maria Eagle>We are currently looking at the potential impact of this Bill on our appointee arrangements. We will finalise the review in the event that the Bill receives Royal Assent and the Code of Practice is completed.