Training (Hansard, 3 November 1992)

§ Ms. Short
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what is the latest information she has on the percentage of men and women in each occupational group for(a) youth training and (b) employment training; what is the comparable information for one year previously; and if she will make a statement;
(2) for each region and for Great Britain as a whole, how many and what proportion of all employment training participants were within (a) the guarantee group and (b) the aim group for each year since 1989, and for 1992–93; and if she will make a statement;
(3) if she will list the qualifications that were achieved by participants for each six-month period of employment training since September 1990.

§ Mr. McLoughlin
As the information is contained in a considerable number of tables, I will write to the hon. Member.

§ Ms. Short
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what arrangements have been made to ensure that unemployed claimants who join a place on employment training do not lose payments and coverage from conditions in mortgage protection insurance policies which require them to obtain regular confirmation from the Employment Service that they are available for and actively seeking work; and if she will make a statement.

§ Mr. McLoughlin
Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Mr. Fogden to Ms. Clare Short, dated 3 November 1992:
As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to write to you direct to respond to your Parliamentary Question about what arrangements have been made to ensure that unemployed claimants who join a place on Employment Training (ET) do not lose payments and coverage from conditions in mortgage protection insurance policies which require them to obtain regular confirmation from the Employment Service that they are available for and actively seeking work. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.
It is our policy to provide factual information to insurance companies, or other organisations, providing the request is accompanied by the consent of the client concerned. After recent meetings between my people and representatives from 206W the Association of British Insurers, a standardised insurance form has been designed which will be used in all my offices to ensure that information about clients is supplied swiftly and accurately. This should help insurance companies to reach quick and appropriate decisions on what payments may be due under the terms of the client's policy. The information that we supply to the insurance companies includes the dates that a client has been "signing on" as unemployed, the benefits in payment, whether the client is in part-time employment and whether the claim is suspended or disallowed for any reason, such as a doubt that a client is available for or actively seeking work.
It may be helpful if I explain the ET payment system. Participation on the programme is voluntary and the general principle governing the entitlement to training allowance is that every trainee should be £10 per week better off than they would be if they remained (or became) unemployed. Training allowance is therefore paid at a level equal to their previous benefit rate but with the addition of a £10 training premium. People on ET cannot simply continue to receive the benefits that they were getting before, for example, unemployment benefit, because by joining ET they cease to satisfy the eligibility conditions for those benefits.
Whether payments under insurance policies can be made to people who are participating in Employment Training is a matter for the insurance companies, depending on the detailed terms of the policy taken out by the client. In general these require people to be unemployed, available for and actively seeking work in order for payments to be made.
If however, payments under insurance policies cannot be made, clients may, if they have not already done so, wish to seek help with housing costs through Income Support (IS).
I hope this is helpful.
As decided by the Administration Committee of the House of Commons, Chief Executive replies to written Parliamentary Questions will now be published in the Official Report. I will place a copy of this letter in the Library of the House.