§ Mr. Sainsburyasked the Secretary of State for Employment on how many occasions in the six months to 30th September 1975 unemployment benefit has not been paid to unemployed persons on the grounds that the claimant was adjudged to be not capable of and available for work and the adjudication was made on the basis of availability.
§ Mr. John FraserFigures for the six months ended 30th September 1975 are not yet available.
295WDuring the six months ended June 1975, 811 claims for unemployment benefit were disallowed on the ground that the claimants were not capable of work and 4,304 were disallowed on the ground that the claimants were not available for work. In addition 2,320 claims were disallowed in the same period on the ground that the restrictions the claimants were placing on their availability for employment left them with no reasonable prospect of securing employment.
Capability, availability and restricted availability are three distinct issues affecting entitlement to unemployment benefit and are considered separately by the independent statutory authorities who adjudicate on claims for unemployment benefit.