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Learning Disabilities
Mr. Wigley: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will increase the income support disregard from £15 to £30 a week for people with learning disabilities. [74301]
Mr. Bayley: Our welfare reform programme has focused on making work pay and providing new and innovative ways to help people on benefit make an early return to work. The Disabled Person's Tax Credit, to be introduced in October this year, will ensure that sick and disabled people, who are able to work for 16 hours or more per week, are better off in work. In addition, the New Deal for Disabled People is exploring ways of improving opportunities for those who want to move into or stay in work.
Pensioners' Incomes
Mr. Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many pensioners have gross incomes of (a) above £50,000, (b) £30,000 to £49,999, (c) £20,000 to £29,999, (d) £10,000 to £19,999, (e) £5,000 to £9,999 and (f) up to £4,999. [74006]
Mr. Timms:
The information is in the table.
4 Mar 1999 : Column: 884
| Annual income | Single pensioners | Pensioner couples |
|---|---|---|
| Above £50,000 | 10 | 50 |
| £30,000 to £49,999 | 20 | 130 |
| £20,000 to £29,999 | 70 | 270 |
| £10,000 to £19,999 | 520 | 1,100 |
| £5,000 to £9,999 | 2,380 | 1,060 |
| Up to £4,999 | 1,160 | 20 |
| Total | 4,160 | 2,630 |
Notes:
1. Estimates are rounded to the nearest 10,000 pensioners, although they are not necessarily accurate to that degree. Columns may not sum to totals due to rounding.
2. Estimates of annual income assume no in-year variation in income.
3. Estimates are not available for incomes of individuals within couples. Therefore estimates for couples relate to the combined income of both partners.
4. Pensioners are defined as single people over State pension age (60 and over for women, 65 and over for men) and couples (married of cohabiting) where the head is over State pension age.
Source:
Family Resources Survey 1996-97
Pensions
Mr. Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what proposals he has for the election of trustees by pension holders as part of the arrangements for the administration of stakeholder pensions; and if he will make a statement. [74201]
Mr. Timms: We expect that many trust-based stakeholder pension schemes will include trustees who are nominated or elected by members of the scheme. The precise requirements applying to the composition of the trustee board in stakeholder pension schemes have not yet been decided. We expect to consult further on this issue in drawing up the detailed regulations that will apply to stakeholder pension schemes.
Mobility Allowance
Mr. Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the cost of extending mobility allowance to persons of retirement age. [74010]
Mr. Bayley: The cost of extending both the higher and lower rates of the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance to people disabled after the age of 65, or who claim after the age of 65, is estimated to be approximately £2 billion.
National Insurance
Mr. Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of how many people in Wakefield District will benefit from the changes in national insurance contributions to be introduced in April. [74041]
Mr. Timms: The information is not available.
Throughout Great Britain, some 20 million people will pay an average of nearly £70 a year less in National Insurance contributions as a result of the abolition of the employee entry fee in April 1999. The information is not available by district.
4 Mar 1999 : Column: 885
Dr. Tony Wright:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish a list of (1) task forces and (2) policy reviews established by his Department since May 1997 which (a) had external members recruited by way of public advertisement, and details of any person so appointed and (b) engaged in public consultation exercises, and the form that these took. [74459]
Mr. Timms:
Most task forces and reviews are short-term bodies established to give thorough consideration to important and difficult issues. External members are invited to sit on some reviews and task forces because they are able to contribute specific experience and expertise. In such cases, public advertising would be inappropriate and disproportionate.
Since 1 October 1998, appointments to those task forces which qualify for classification as advisory non-departmental public bodies have come within the remit of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
Since May 1997, the Department has consulted publicly on proposals outlined in the following documents which have arisen from policy reviews:
Mr. Duncan Smith:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what is the current level of debt owed to the Child Support Agency by absent parents; and of this, what proportion is deemed (a) collectable and (b) possibly uncollectable; [74342]
Angela Eagle:
The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mrs. Faith Boardman. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Faith Boardman to Mr. Iain Duncan Smith, dated 3 March 1999:
4 Mar 1999 : Column: 886
Pensions Review Consultation Document
Stakeholder Pensions: a Consultation Document
New Ambitions for Our Country: A new contract for welfare (Cm 3805)
Children First: a new approach to child support (Cm 3992)
Beating Fraud is Everyone's Business: securing the future (Cm 4012)
A New Contract for Welfare: Support for Disabled People (Cm 4103)
A New Contract for Welfare: Support in Bereavement (Cm 4104)
Supporting People: a new policy and funding framework for support services
A New Contract for Welfare: Partnership in Pensions (Cm 4179)
Strengthening the Pensions framework: a Consultation Document.
(2) what is the current backlog of cases in the Child Support Agency, and how many of these are (a) more than six months old and (b) over one year old. [74343]
I am replying to your Parliamentary Questions to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the level of debt and backlog within the Child Support Agency.
At 31 January 1999 the amount of child support full maintenance assessment debt was £507,794,866. This can be broken down further to £296,044,407 (58.3%) collectable debt, £197,532,203 (38.9%) possible uncollectable debt and £14,218,256 (2.8%) deferred debt. Deferred debt is where the Agency has deferred the debt indefinitely, provided non-resident parents meet certain conditions
on payment of regular maintenance and any remaining debt. Where appropriate the parent with care will be compensated for the loss of this money.
To further increase the flow of maintenance and to help non-resident parents pay the arrears that they owe, wherever possible the Agency makes every effort to re-schedule debts; re-scheduled debts are those where the Agency has negotiated a closely monitored agreement with the non-resident parent to pay arrears by instalments. The amount of debt re-scheduled included in the £507,794,866 at 31 January 1999 was £395,578,470 (78%).
I cannot provide precisely all the information that you have requested on the current backlog, but have provided as much as possible from the most recent information available.
At 31 January 1999, there was a total of 278,518 maintenance applications outstanding.
We normally refer to our maintenance assessment backlog as cases that are over 52 weeks old and have not yet been assessed.
At any time, the Agency would expect to have a normal head of work of around 210,000 maintenance applications. The speed with which assessments can be cleared is constrained by the complexities of the current legislation which can require up to 104 separate pieces of information to be collected and verified before an assessment can be made, however the Agency is steadily reducing the time taken and is clearing the backlog of applications from the early years.
Our original estimated volume of backlog cases outstanding in April 1997 was 225,000; by 31 January 1999 we had cleared 251,000, and in practice now expect to need to clear 300,000 cases. This is because as we have proceeded in clearing this work we identified more cases in the backlog than originally estimated. In June 1998 we introduced a major improvement of the Child Support Computer System (CSCS) which provided automated management information. To make full use of the automated information all of the existing cases on CSCS had to be checked to ensure their management information status was correct. This exercise involved validating 1.25 million cases, work was completed in December and means that we now have a reliable automated count of all work on hand.
To clear these 300,000 cases by 31 March will require the Agency to clear around 50,000 cases in February and March. Although this is very challenging we cleared over 27,000 in January, and therefore expect to clear the 300,000 cases.
We envisage that the extra resources which will be released as a result of clearing the maintenance assessment backlog will enable more resources to be concentrated on improving customer service and ensuring that parents meet their responsibility so that children receive the maintenance they are entitled to on a regular basis.
I hope this is helpful.
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