Restart (Hansard, 11 January 1993)

§ Mr. McLoughlin

[pursuant to his answer, 29 October 1992, c. 835–36]: The Chief Executive of the Employment Service has written further to the hon. Member.

Letter from M. Fogden to Ms. Clare Short, dated 11 January 1993: 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 to her about Restart Courses. These are matters which fall within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency. Unfortunately, due to an administrative error, our reply of 29 October did not include the figures about Restart Courses. This reply now contains the tables; please accept my apologies for any inconvenience this has caused. As you will know from previous correspondence Restart Courses are short courses aimed at helping people who are having the most difficulty returning to work. They are not an alternative to regular job search or other employment or training programmes. Essentially they provide people with the opportunity to explore all the options open to them and give them confidence to take the next step back to work. Since December 1990 people who have been unemployed for two years or more who at their Restart interview refuse or fail to take up a place on an Employment Department employment or training programme are required to attend a Restart Course. As your question has raised a number of specific points, I am setting out the information you have asked for in the two tables attached—one deals with all Restart Course attenders, the other just those covered by the requirement to attend. As explained in my previous answer, we collect at a Regional level the number of people who are referred to the course who are also unemployed for years or more. We have however not felt it necessary to keep similar figures for all those referred. The Benefits Agency make the decision on whether an individual's benefit should be reduced for failure to attend or complete the course. Their figures are compiled by their Districts which have different boundaries from those of our Regions. To avoid confusion, I have given the national figure only. 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 also place a copy of this letter in the Library of the House.

629W

	Northern	Yorkshire and Humberside	East Midlands and Eastern	London and South East	South West	Wales	West Midlands	North West	Scotland	Total
4. Total number of people with an outcome to follow up	14,396	15,317	10,714	24,925	6,930	7,533	17,026	28,341	21,516	146,698
¹Not available.

Restart course attenders unemployed for two years or more January 1991 to June 1992
	Northern	Yorkshire and Humberside	East Midlands and Eastern	London and South East	South West	Wales	West Midlands	North West	Scotland	Total
1.People referred lo restart courses	24,293	30,047	16,388	35,941	9,626	12,341	23,737	60,852	44,948	258,173
2.Starters	15,800	17,974	9,321	20,207	5,741	6,885	14,170	31,823	24,136	146,057
3.Total computers	14,930	16,619	8,252	17,900	5,042	6,176	12,290	29,071	21,764	132,044
Complctcrs who had agreed to follow up:
Jobs	3,291	3,970	2,433	3,394	784	1,473	2,911	5,845	11,402	35,503
ET	1,348	1,834	944	3,266	634	913	2,637	4,249	2,432	18,257
Jobclub	1,142	1,268	780	2,930	417	864	1,146	3,289	1,371	13,207
Other employment, training and related opportunities	8,819	9,379	4,927	10,284	2,226	3,185	5,531	14,430	8,771	67,552
4.People for whom a reduction in income support was made by benefits agency	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
5.Total number of people with an outcome to follow up	12,876	13,397	7,138	15,593	3,978	5,004	10,628	24,341	19,080	112,035
¹ Not available by ES region.