Written Statement of 18 May 2004

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

  China
  The Deputy Prime Minister (Mr. John Prescott)
  Following my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister's successful visit to the China in July last year, he asked me to head a short-term task force on China, to make recommendations for taking forward Sino-UK relations. Against the backdrop of our already extensive relationship with China, and considerable interaction across the range of Government business, the group was asked to come up with concrete proposals in four particular areas: trade and investment; science and technology; education and sustainable development and the environment.

  I chaired three meetings of the task force, which generated an excellent range of proposals in the areas mentioned. I was delighted to report back to the Prime Minister on our progress, as scheduled, ahead of Premier Wen Jiabao's visit this week. I was also delighted to introduce Premier Wen to the members of the task force at our meeting on 10 May and to present him with a summary of our recommendations.

  I have passed a copy of those recommendations to the Chair of the all party China group, and am today making copies available in the Libraries of the House. Details of the task force's composition, and the dates of their meetings, are contained therein. The recommendations will now be taken forward by the relevant departments, and I am grateful for the support of my right hon. Friends the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, in particular, in agreeing to help implement them. I intend to hold a further meeting of the task force in the autumn, to review progress to that point, and to visit China again myself as soon as possible thereafter.

WORK AND PENSIONS

  Benefit Fraud Inspectorate Report (Bromley Council)
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr. Chris Pond)
  On behalf of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the benefit fraud inspectorate (BFI) follow-up inspection report on the London Borough of Bromley council was published today and copies of the report have been placed in the Library.

  Following the housing Green Paper "Quality and Choice: A Decent Home for All", published in April 2000, the Department for Work and Pensions developed a performance framework for housing benefits. The 'performance standards for housing benefits' allow local authorities to make a comprehensive self-assessment of whether they deliver benefit effectively and securely.
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  They are the standards that the Department for Work and Pensions expects local authorities to aspire to and achieve in time.

  In 2002–03, London Borough of Bromley Council administered some £69.5 million in housing benefits, about 13.9 per cent. of its gross revenue expenditure. BFI inspected London Borough of Bromley Council against the performance standards for housing benefits, and concludes that the council's benefits service had not reached standard in any of the seven functional areas—strategic management, customer services, processing of claims, working with landlords, internal security, counter-fraud and overpayments.

  The report finds that the council's benefits service had improved its performance since the earlier inspection report, published in September 2001, implementing 72 per cent. of the recommendations from the earlier report. There was commitment and professionalism in the council's efforts to improve benefits administration and examples of innovation and good practice.

  The backlog of work identified in the first inspection had been cleared and processing times for new benefit claims had reduced from 120 to 81 days. Challenging targets had been set for 2004–05 but there was still much to do to reach the 36-day performance standard. Although the verification framework, the national standard for verifying evidence supporting benefit claims, had not been implemented, the council planned to be fully compliant by May 2004. The introduction of an electronic benefit claim form was helping claims to be processed more effectively and BFI commends the council for the quality and level of management checking, providing assurance on accuracy.

  The council's internal security controls were found to be inadequate but it quickly responded to BFI's recommendations to rectify these problems.

  The council had made major improvements in its counter-fraud work by entering into a partnership with London Borough of Greenwich Council, and there had been substantial improvements in the number of administrative penalties and prosecutions undertaken.

  The council had comprehensive plans to improve its benefits overpayment work and had good management information for this area of work. However, it accepted that more work was needed to improve its recovery of overpaid benefits. The report makes recommendations to help the council address weaknesses and to further improve the administration of housing benefit and council tax benefit, as well as counter-fraud activities.

  My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is now considering the report and will be asking the council for its proposals in response to the BFI's findings and recommendations.

  Employers Liability Compulsory Insurance
  The Minister for Work (Jane Kennedy)
  Further to the written statement on 4 December 2003 by the Minister for Work, my hon. Friend the Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Mr. Des Browne),Official Report, columns 68–70WS, when the Government gave a commitment to produce and publish a "Framework for Vocational Rehabilitation" by late summer 2004, I am pleased to announce the publication today of a

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  discussion paper on vocational rehabilitation. Comments on the discussion paper will feed into the development of the framework.

  The discussion paper describes the scope of vocational rehabilitation, outlines why the Department is developing a framework for vocational rehabilitation and describes what the framework will look like. The discussion paper also gives stakeholders an opportunity to share their thoughts and experiences on vocational rehabilitation.

  Copies of the discussion paper have been placed in the Library.

  Pension Credit
  The Minister for Pensions (Malcolm Wicks)
  I can now provide the latest monthly progress report on the take-up of pension credit, which became payable on 6 October 2003.

  There are now 2.45 million pensioner households (2.96 million individuals) being paid pension credit, an increase of 44,000 households (54,000 individuals) during April. As at 30 April, there are 1.78 million households (2.15 million individuals) now receiving more money as a result of the introduction of pension
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  credit. The pension credit application line, at our four sites across the country, has received 3.54 million calls since it became operational on 7 April 2003 and 94 per cent of calls have been answered within 30 seconds. The average pension credit award is £41.67 per week.

  We have now written to every pensioner household in the country to tell them about pension credit. We are continuing to work with organisations such as Help The Aged, Age Concern and Citizens Advice, amongst others, both at a national and local level, to encourage eligible people to take up their entitlement. The current phase of the campaign is focusing on those customers who are less likely to take up their entitlement.

  There is plenty of time for pensioners to apply for pension credit. To ensure that pensioners do not lose out there is a twelve-month backdating provision, as announced in the Budget statement. This will allow applications to be backdated for a year, or to the date entitlement begins if this is later.

  I am placing in the Library a report showing progress so far, including regional breakdowns of the number of pension credit households and numbers of pension credit awards in parliamentary constituencies in Great Britain. Copies of the report are also available for hon. Members in the Vote Office.

  China Task Force
  The Minister of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Lord Rooker)
  My right honourable friend the First Secretary of State and Deputy Prime Minister has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

  Following my right honourable friend the Prime Minister's successful visit to China in July last year, he asked me to head a short-term task force on China, to make recommendations for taking forward Sino-UK relations. Against the backdrop of our already extensive relationship with China, and considerable interaction across the range of government business, the group was asked to come up with concrete proposals in four particular areas: trade and investment; science and
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  technology; education; and sustainable development and the environment.

  I chaired three meetings of the task force, which generated an excellent range of proposals in the areas mentioned. I was delighted to report back to the Prime Minister on our progress, as scheduled, ahead of Premier Wen Jiabao's visit this week. I was also delighted to introduce Premier Wen to the members of the task force at our meeting on 10 May and to present him with a summary of our recommendations.

  I have passed a copy of those recommendations to the chair of the All-Party China Group and am today making copies available in the Libraries of the House. Details of the task force's composition, and the dates of their meetings, are contained therein. The recommendations will now be taken forward by the relevant departments, and I am grateful for the support of my right honourable friends the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, in particular, in agreeing to help to implement them. I intend to hold a further meeting of the task force in the autumn, to review progress to that point, and to visit China again myself as soon as possible thereafter.