HC Deb 24 February 1969 vol 778 cc1053-5
9. Mr. Fortescue

asked the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity what action she is taking to ensure that the staff at employment exchanges recommend the withdrawal of unemployment benefit as soon as it becomes probable that a claimant is not genuinely seeking employment.

The Under-Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity (Mr. E. Fernyhough)

Staff at employment exchanges are under instruction to refer for consideration by the independent statutory authorities any case where there is doubt about a claimant's eligibility for benefit because of an unreasonable attitude towards employment.

Mr. Fortescue

Is the Under-Secretary aware that there are very great variations in attitudes to this matter between the various offices of his Department? Is he further aware that, in a recent case in Liverpool, withdrawal was not recommended until the man had refused 26 jobs, and that recommendation was made only because the man had been found to be forging the signature of the employers to whom he was sent? Would the hon. Gentleman please issue instructions to his offices to be more diligent in the detection of such abuses?

Mr. Fernyhough

I am satisfied that the case to which the hon. Gentleman referred, about which I have had no previous notice, will be an isolated one. By and large, the vast majority of people signing the registers are genuinely unemployed, and are willing to accept work that is available. I am satisfied, too, that the instructions given to the staff at the various employment exchanges are such that the necessary powers are available for dealing with anyone who might be dodging the column.

Mr. William Hamilton

To get this into perspective, could my hon. Friend give any figures for the number of people who have been refused unemployment benefit for the reasons stated in the Question?

Mr. Fernyhough

I could not give that information to my hon. Friend without notice. I will certainly see that he gets it by letter.

Mr. R. Carr

Can the hon. Gentleman say whether the instructions are the same as they have always been or whether they have been reviewed in any way during the last year or two?

Mr. Fernyhough

No. They are precisely the same instructions which obtained when the right hon. Gentleman and his friends were sitting on this side of the House.