§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his answer of 20 April 2004, 445W ref 165353, and his letters to the hon. Member for Portsmouth, South undated and dated 29 March, refs PQ/03/98099 and PQ/03/97277, (1) if he will explain the differences between the figures given; [168643]
(2) when he will answer the question of 21 April from the hon. Member for Portsmouth, South, ref 168643, about figures provided by his Department. [185217]
§ Mr. PondI regret that discrepancies between the figures arose because of errors in the terminology used. A claimant can have several payment accounts, each for a separate benefit; therefore the total number of accounts in Portsmouth South will exceed the number of claimants. The answers to the earlier questions did not correctly distinguish between account numbers and claimant numbers.
The following information is the full set of correct figures relevant to the three earlier questions. This corrects the information given in written answers on 24 February 2004, Official Report, column 197W and column 202W, and on 20 April 2004, Official Report, columns 443–44W.
Retirement pension accounts in Portsmouth, South constituency As at December Payments direct into bank/building society accounts Payable order Payments through post office 2002 6,375 110 7,775 2003 6,945 90 6,825
Other benefit accounts held by pensioners in Portsmouth, South constituency(excluding war pension) As at December Payments into bank/building society accounts Payable order Payments through post office 2002 1,490 0 3,275 2003 2,240 0 3,355 Notes: 1. Payable orders are sent to the customer's home address but must be produced for payment at a bank or building society. 2. Included in payment through the post office are customers paid into post office card accounts and customers paid by girocheque. Girocheques are either encashable at a post office or payable into a bank or building society account. 3. The account figures in Table One and Two above exclude war pension and child benefit customers as these accounts are the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence and Inland Revenue respectively. 4. Some customers who are paid direct into an account can also collect their payments in cash at post offices through the wider range of banking services now available at post offices. There is no data available on the umber of benefit claims collected in this way. 5. The number of pensioners receiving one or more DWP benefits (including war pension) collectable at post offices in Portsmouth south at 28 December 2002 was –9,935.