PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES - United Kingdom Parliament

99WS
Written Ministerial Statements
26 MARCH 2013
Written Ministerial Statements
100WS
The new service will operate a mixed fleet of 22 stateof-the-art
helicopters from 10 locations around the UK.
Sikorsky S92 helicopters will continue to be based at the
existing MCA bases at Stornoway and Sumburgh, and
at new bases at Newquay, Caernarfon and Humberside
airports. AgustaWestland AW189 helicopters will operate
from Lee on Solent, Prestwick airport, and new bases at
St Athan, Inverness and Manston airports. All bases
will be operational 24 hours a day. These base locations
are strategically placed near areas with high SAR incident
rates and will help ensure maximum operational coverage
across the UK while reducing transit times to incidents.
This combination of aircraft and base locations will
provide a world-class search and rescue capability.
Helicopters will be able to reach a larger area of the UK
search and rescue region within one hour of take off
than is currently possible, and based on historic incident
patterns we estimate that there will be an overall 20%
improvement in flying times, with the average flight
time reducing from 23 minutes to 19. Presently,
approximately 70% of high and very high risk areas are
reachable within 30 minutes. Under the new contract,
approximately 85% of the same areas are reachable
within this time frame.
The new contract will see the creation of over
350 new jobs. The AW189 will be assembled at
AgustaWestland’s factory in Yeovil and Sikorsky plans
to locate a supply hub in the Aberdeen region that will
support not only the UK SAR programme but also
Sikorsky’s large fleet of helicopters in the region serving
the important offshore oil sector. The contract will have
a significant impact on the UK supply chain, providing
and sustaining jobs and apprenticeships.
The safety of professional mariners, aviators, all those
travelling by sea or air, and all of those enjoying our
seas, coasts and mountains for business or leisure is of
paramount importance. This new contract, which will
match or exceed our existing search and rescue capability,
will ensure that this country’s search and rescue helicopter
service will be the standard bearer, both in Europe and
beyond.
WORK AND PENSIONS
Social Fund Loans Budget Allocation
The Minister of State, Department for Work and
Pensions (Steve Webb): I am pleased to announce that
the gross national loans budget for 2013-14 will be
£460.7 million.
The national loans budget is funded exclusively by
recoveries from existing loan debt and will continue to
provide a national budgeting loan scheme until full roll
out of universal credit to help those still receiving
income support, income-related employment and support
allowance, income-based jobseeker’s allowance, and pension
credit.
I will allocate the national loans budget in line with
the provisions in the Welfare Reform Act 2007. The aim
is to control and manage the national allocation while
providing consistency of outcomes for budgeting loan
applicants wherever they live.
In addition, the Secretary of State’s directions and
guidance on the discretionary social fund have been
amended with effect from 1 April 2013 to reflect the
ending of community care grants and crisis loans and
the continuation of budgeting loans. This includes
maintaining policy arrangements under which budgeting
loan decisions can be subject to a further review following
an initial review by an appropriate officer in Jobcentre
Plus.
I will place an explanatory note about the 2013-14
social fund loans allocation and a copy of the amended
directions and guidance in the House Libraries later
today.
State Pension and Benefit Payments (Cyprus)
The Minister of State, Department for Work and
Pensions (Steve Webb): I would like to update the House
on actions taken by my Department in response to the
closure of the Cypriot banking system last week.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) acted
swiftly to hold on to benefit and state pension payments
to our customers with bank accounts in Cyprus or
accounts with Cypriot banks in Greece due to the
financial uncertainty and the extended bank closures.
In any event, the bank closures mean that recipients
would not have received their benefits as payments have
not been processed. And when the Cypriot banks do
reopen, delays in payment processing are possible.
DWP then took the decision to contact all those with
state pensions or benefits affected by the situation in
Cyprus. To speed up this process DWP couriered letters
to Cyprus to ensure this information reached individuals
as soon as possible. Our staff have also been contacting
individuals in Cyprus by email and phone.
We are advising customers to change the bank account
into which payments are made, for example by nominating
an alternative bank account or the account of a “trusted
friend” which is permissible under our current rules on
benefit payment. This is a practical measure to ensure
that payments reach our customers promptly, and we
are not advising these customers to close their Cypriot
bank accounts.
Customers who do not currently have another bank
account may wish to open one. HM Treasury have also
worked with Barclays to put in place a process so that
individuals can open a bank account quickly if they
wish to do so.
Government will continue to monitor the situation
closely from London and Nicosia and attempt to minimise
the disruption for those affected.
Customers who wish to change their accounts, or
require more information should contact the International
Pension Centre, whose details are on the Gov.uk website.