To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners draw their retirement pensions at (a) post offices, (b) banks and (c) building societies in the Portsmouth, South constituency; and if he will make a statement. [98099]

The number of pensioners in receipt of Retirement Pensions collectable at Post Office in the Portsmouth, South constituency was 7,886 at 28 December 2002. This figure includes payments by giro cheque, which can also be paid into a bank or building society account. The number of pensioners in receipt of Retirement Pension paid directly into a bank or building society was 6,373 as at 28 December 2002. Information to differentiate between payments into bank and building society accounts is not available.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners draw their retirement pensions at (a) post offices, (b) banks and (c) at building societies in the Easington constituency. [97158]

The number of pensioners in receipt of retirement pension collectable at post offices in the Easington constituency was 9,939 at 28 December 2002. This figure includes payments by giro cheque, which can also be paid into a bank or building society account. The number of pensioners in receipt of retirement pension paid directly into a bank or building society was 2,853 as at 28 December 2002. Information to differentiate between payments into bank and building society accounts is not available.Some customers who are paid direct into an account can also collect their benefit in cash at post offices through network banking arrangements at the Post Office. There are no data available on the number of benefit claims collected in this way.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners have migrated from over-the-counter benefit payments to direct bank transfer in Portsmouth, South; and if he will make a statement. [97274]

The number of pensioners in Portsmouth, South constituency that have migrated from payments collectable at post offices to payment into a bank or building society account is 50 as at 28 December 2002, compared with the same records from data available four weeks earlier.

New registrations/change of scheme status
	Open		Closed		Frozen
	Number of schemes	Number of members at registration date(thousand)	Number of schemes	Number of members at effective date of status change(thousand)	Number of schemes	Number of members at effective date of status change(thousand)
1 April 1998–31 March 1999	111	25	103	180	41	11
1 April 1999–31 March 2000	86	16	115	54	52	8
1 April 2000–31 March 2001	97	59	161	94	87	113
1 April 2001–31 March 2002	78	32	263	560	65	45
1 April 2002–31 March 2003	22	19	198	146	65	41

There are some important points to note with regard to the data in the table:'Open' schemes are those that had a registerable date on to the Pensions Scheme Registry during the year in question, and were also recorded as being open on 10 February 2003. This does not represent the total number of schemes that were open in the year in question. Figures in the table refer to the 'flow' of new open schemes in each particular year, rather than the `stock' of all open schemes. Because of the way scheme-status changes are recorded on the Registry, it is not possible to identify the stock of all those schemes that were open at a particular point in time prior to the

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners collect benefits from post offices in Portsmouth, South; and if he will make a statement. [97277]

The number of pensioners receiving DWP benefits (including war pensions) collectable from post offices in Portsmouth South is 10,034 as at 28 December 2002. This figure includes benefits paid by giro cheque, which can also be paid into a bank or building society account.Some customers who are paid direct into an account can also collect their benefit in cash at post offices through network banking arrangements at the Post Office. There are no data available on the number of benefit claims collected in this way.