§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) if he will list by month for the last 12 months and by employment region in England the number of people disallowed unemployment benefit;
(2) if he will list by month for the last 12 months and by employment region in Scotland the number of people disallowed unemployment benefit;
(3) if he will list by month for the last 12 months and by employment region in Wales the number of people disallowed unemployment benefit.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythResponsibility 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 M. E. G. Fogden to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 8 July 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 Questions about the number of people disallowed unemployment benefit in each of the past 12 months in the employment regions in England, Scotland and Wales. This is something which falls within the responsibilities he has delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.
Unfortunately, the information you asked for is not available in the format you have requested. The statistics relating to adjudication officers decisions are not collated on a monthly basis but are compiled quarterly. This information, which includes an analysis of the grounds for disallowance, is published in a document, the "Analysis of Adjudication Officers' Decisions". Copies of this document are held in the 260W Library. The latest available information is for the quarter ending 31 December 1992. The report for the quarter and year ending 31 March 1993 will be published by the end of July.
As decided by the Administration Committee of the House of Commons, Chief Executive replies to written Parliamentary Questions will not be published in the Official Report. I will also place a copy of this letter in the Library of the House.