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Child Tax Credit

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the number of families in receipt of income support and income-based jobseeker's
 
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allowance, also receiving full council tax benefit and assistance with mortgage interest payments, that will migrate to child tax credit. [185056]

Mr. Pond: As at February 2004, there were 54,000 families receiving income support or income-based jobseeker's allowance, and also receiving assistance with their mortgage interest payments; all of whom will migrate to child tax credit in due course.

There is no comparable data from which to determine the number that also receive council tax benefit; however, it is likely that the majority of these families will receive council tax benefit.

Notes:

1. Figures are based on a 5 per cent. sample and are therefore subject to sampling variation.

2. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100.

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) if he will estimate how many individuals have experienced a drop in their income as a result of migrating to the child tax credit from income support and jobseeker's allowance; [181580]

(2) how many interviews his Department has conducted to help to secure the position of those who have been floated off income support and jobseeker's allowance as a result of their benefits being passported to the child tax credit; and if he will make a statement. [181581]

Mr. Pond: The information is not available.

To date there have been 3,658 interviews recorded with families likely to float off income support or jobseeker's allowance.

Civil Partnerships Bill

Mr. Chris Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what savings on income-related benefits he anticipates making once the Civil Partnerships Bill is introduced for, and the living together test extended to, same-sex couples. [184728]

Maria Eagle: If the Civil Partnership Bill is enacted same-sex couples, whether they have formed a civil partnership or are living together as civil partners, will be treated in the same way as opposite-sex couples in the income-related benefits. It is possible that DWP will realise some savings as a result.

There is very little information about the number of same-sex couples in this country. The Labour Force Survey suggests that there are about 50,000 cohabiting same-sex couples in the UK, very few of whom are pensioners.

However, there is likely to be some under-reporting, because individuals' reluctance to disclose information about their personal circumstances. Further, the Department does not have any statistical information about individuals currently receiving income related benefits who are cohabiting with someone of the same sex. Savings are, therefore, difficult to assess with any degree of confidence and it has not been possible to include estimates in the Regulatory Impact Assessment of the Civil Partnership Bill.
 
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Sutton Disability Benefits Centre

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of how changes in civil service numbers announced by the Chancellor in his statement on the Spending Review will affect the Sutton Disability Benefit Centre. [185799]

Maria Eagle: The Department's contribution to Sir Michael Lyons's Review of Public Sector Relocation identified work at a number of sites in London and the South East which could be relocated subject to more detailed consideration in each case. Final decisions have yet to be taken about how the Sutton Disability Benefits Centre may be affected.

Civil Service Redundancies

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) whether the proposed job reductions in his Department will be achieved through (a) voluntary and (b) compulsory redundancies; [186066]

(2) what the timescale is for job reductions in his Department; [186068]

(3) if his Department will take part in cross-departmental negotiations concerning civil servant job losses to ensure that past and future job losses do not fall disproportionately on any individual community. [186069]

Maria Eagle: Following the Spending Review announcement, detailed business and staffing plans continue to be developed across all parts of the Department in order to manage the overall reduction of 30,000 posts over the four years to March 2008.

At this stage of planning it is too early to quantify the likely number of voluntary or compulsory redundancies. Compulsory redundancies, if required, will be a last resort after all other options have been considered.

The Department is fully engaged with the Cabinet Office to ensure cross Government co-ordination of staff redeployment and surplus management activity is effectively managed.

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what contingency plans are in place to ensure that his Department's staffing levels are sufficient to cope with an increase in unemployment; and whether a need for additional staff would be met from the (a) public and (b) private sectors. [186070]

Maria Eagle: The Department's workforce strategy and planned staffing levels take account of key economic assumptions provided by HM Treasury. The current assumptions suggest that unemployment levels will remain static over the next four years.

The Department's workforce strategy will be kept under review to account for any changes in these economic assumptions and the potential impact on staffing requirements in particular parts of the Department.

Mr. Meale: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what the estimated number of Civil Service jobs expected to be lost to the Department arising from the Spending Review is; [186171]
 
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(2) which local offices are included in his Department's closure programme arising out of the Spending Review; and what the timetable for closures is. [186173]

Maria Eagle: As announced in the Spending Review, the Department proposes to realise a net reduction of 30,000 posts by March 2008.

Detailed business and staffing plans continue to be developed across all parts of the Department in order to manage the proposed reductions. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State issued a written statement on 29 June 2004, Official Report, columns 8–9WS, outlining the first phase of this transformation. We will inform the House as further planning decisions are made.

Communicating Difficult Messages

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will place in the Library a copy of the memorandum to his Department's offices entitled Best Practice in Communicating Difficult Messages. [185708]

Jane Kennedy: The document requested has been placed in the Library.

The Best Practice in Communicating Difficult Messages document was produced in-house by Jobcentre Plus drawing on good practice from within the communication industry.

The document was intended to provide brief, and easy to absorb information to support local managers when communicating to their staff about aspects of Jobcentre Plus business which could have an impact on people's jobs.

Community Sentences and Benefits Pilots

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he next expects to be able to report on the results of operational improvements to the community sentences and benefits pilots. [182128]

Mr. Pond: We have said that the scheme would continue, with operational improvements, for a further year. We will report on the results of the improvements once they have been thoroughly evaluated.

Departmental Accountancy Practice

Mr. Bacon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions who the Finance Director of (a) the Department and (b) the Child Support Agency is; what accountancy qualifications each Director holds; and on how many occasions there has been a qualified opinion on (i) the resource accounts and (ii) other accounts of each in the last five years. [183418]

Mr. Pond: The Finance Director of the DWP is John Codling who is CIPFA qualified. The Finance Director of the Child Support Agency is Jim Edgar who is CIMA qualified.

The DWP and its predecessor Department, DSS, has had its resource accounts qualified in each of the years since published resource accounts were first produced in
 
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1999–2000. Since the DWP was formed in 2001–02 its resource accounts have been qualified in both 2001–02 and 2002–03 due to:

significant levels of estimated fraud and error in benefit expenditure recorded in the operating statement;

weaknesses in the Department's audit trails relating to contributory and non-contributory benefit customer over-payments debtors and the encashment control creditor. The Department has a programme in place to address these long standing system weaknesses.

The 2003–04 resource accounts will be available later this year.

Prior to 1999–2000 the Department's accounts were produced on a cash basis and the DSS Vote 1 Account was qualified on the basis of fraud and error since 1990–91 along with the National Insurance Fund Account which was the responsibility of the Department prior to its transfer to the Inland Revenue in 2001–02.

In the past five years, all other accounts within the Department, with the exception of the Child Support client funds account, have been produced free of a qualified audit opinion.

The Child Support Agency administration account has never been qualified. The client funds account has been qualified each year due to largely historic errors in the underlying maintenance assessments resulting in misstatements in receipts and payments, and in the maintenance balances outstanding.

The 2003–04 CSA client fund account will be available later this year.

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