§ Mr. Steenasked the Secretary of State for Employment in how many cases the Government own the freehold of premises as jobcentres; and what were the costs in each case.
§ Mr. GoldingI am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that the Government own the freehold of 10 of the existing 236 jobcentre premises. It is not the practice of the Employment Service Agency to divulge details of purchase prices in respect of individual properties as these are confidential between the lessor, the agency and the Property Services Agency, which acts as ESA's agents in property matters.
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§ Mr. Steenasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) in how many cases the Government hold the lease of premises used as jobcentres; and what is the annual rent;
(2) what is the rental paid for each of the premises used for the jobcentres.
§ Mr. GoldingI am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that the Government own the leasehold of 226 of the 236 existing jobcentre premises. It is not the practice of the Employment Service Agency to divulge rent details in respect of individual properties as these are confidential between the lessor, the agency and the Property Services Agency which acts as ESA's agents in property matters. However, the total rent payable in respect of jobcentres during the current financial year will amount to about £3.3 million.
§ Mr. Steenasked the Secretary of State for Employment why a temporary job officie is needed on Wavertree High Street.
§ Mr. GoldingThe temporary office on Wavertree High Street is for unemployment benefits purposes. It was opened to reduce the pressure on the unemployment benefit office at Green Lane, Old Swan, Liverpool.
§ Mr. Steenasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is his estimate of the effects the Merseyside jobcentres are having on reducing unemployment.
§ Mr. GoldingI am informed by the Manpower Services Commission, which, through the Employment Service Agency, is responsible for the jobcentres, that it is not possible to isolate the effect of job-centres on the level of unemployment in Merseyside. The level of unemployment depends, of course, upon a large number of seasonal and economic factors as well as upon the efforts made by jobcentre staff to obtain and fill employers' vacancies. The Employment Service Agency does not itself seek to create jobs, but its aim is to bring prospective employer and job seeker together as quickly as possible. Experience of the new job-centres opened so far suggests that they have attracted 25–30 per cent. more vacancies and placed 30–40 per cent. more people into employment than would have418W been expected had they remained as employment offices.
§ Mr. Steenasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the total salary bill for full or part time paid staff in the jobcentres on Merseyside; what are the break-down figures between professional, clerical and auxiliary staff; and how many staff are on the payroll in all.
§ Mr. GoldingI am advised by the Manpower Services Commission that the total salary bill, including superannuation, for the 232 staff employed in the 10 job-centres in the Merseyside area of the Employment Service Agency is £853,450. There are no professionally graded staff employed in jobcentres, but the breakdown of the salary bill is as follows:
£ Managerial staff and employment advisers 376,627 Clerical staff 439,648 Auxiliary staff 37,175
§ Mr. Steenasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many new job-centres have been opened on Merseyside in the last three years; and how many staff are employed in each.
§ Mr. GoldingI am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that the Employment Service Agency has opened six new jobcentres in the Merseyside metropolitan county in the last three years. The names of the offices and staff numbers are as follows:
Staff Wallasey … … … 25 Kirkby … … … 23 Old Swan … … … 31 Southport … … … 21 Allerton Road … … … 6 Williamson Square … … … 40