§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many(a) 16-year-olds and (b) 17-year-olds in the Doncaster area were in receipt of a bridging allowance at the latest available date, and on that date in each year since 1988.
§ 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 19 January 1994:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your Question about bridging allowance.
The information you have requested, taking 16 and 17 year olds together, is provided in the attached table. Unfortunately, separate figures for each age group are not available, nor are the December 1988 and 1989 figures for Doncaster. However, the table provides figures for Yorkshire and Humberside for these dates, together with comparable figures for following years.
Bridging allowance can be paid to young people as long as they are registered at a Careers Office for Youth Training (YT) and have left or lost a job or YT place. Youth Training Bridging Allowance was introduced at the same time as YT to allow a young person to find another YT place if their existing one proved unsuitable. Bridging Allowance is available to young people outside the child benefit extension period.
It is a short term allowance paid for up to 40 days in any 52 week period while a young person finds another job or YT place.
I hope this is helpful.
Numbers in receipt of bridging allowance in Doncaster and Yorkshire and Humberside: December 1988–December 1993 Doncaster Yorkshire and Humberside December 1988 — 1,224 December 1989 — 841 December 1990 38 917 December 1991 43 777 December 1992 39 672 December 1993 28 475