Community Action (Hansard, 20 January 1995)

§ Miss Widdecombe

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 M. E. G. Fogden to Ms Clare Short, dated 20 January 1995: The Secretary of State has asked me to respond to your question about the number of men and women who have participated in Community Action in each month since the programme began and the destination of Community Action leavers. Since the programme began on 27 July 1993 to 30 December 1994, the latest date for which figures are available, 45,588 men and 11,647 women have started on Community Action. The number of men and women who were participating in Community Action in each month since the programme began, in each Employment Service region and for Great Britain are contained in the attached tables. There are separate tables for the 1993/4 and 1994/5 operational years for ease of reference. Information is gathered on the destination of all Community Action leavers immediately on leaving and also through a postal follow up survey three months after leaving. From April to the end of December this year 30,010 men and 7,673 women had left the programme. Of these 10 per cent. of men and 13 per cent. of women directly entered employment a further 14 per cent. of men and 16 per cent. of women went directly into training or full time education. Three month follow up data shows that 15 per cent. of male leavers and 20 per cent. of female leavers are in employment at that stage, and 11 per cent. of male and 13 per cent. of female leavers are in training or full time education. This is at the top end of the target range for positive outcomes from the programme. I hope this is helpful.

727W

Table 2: Female community action participants each month—by region—1993–94
	July	August	September	October	November	December	January	February	March
Northern	—	—	—	2	4	10	22	66	210
Yorkshire and Humberside	—	—	—	17	60	87	139	206	308
East Midlands and Eastern	—	—	7	18	61	93	145	202	319
London and South East	—	—	4	59	145	246	500	972	1540
South West	1	9	12	29	64	100	160	221	304
Wales	—	—	2	15	47	78	105	143	225
West Midlands	—	—	1	18	49	84	131	186	442
North West	—	—		25	64	92	152	237	353
Scotland	—	—	10	29	51	80	119	275	394
Great Britain	1	9	36	212	545	870	1,473	2,508	4,095

Table 3: Male community action participants each month—by region—1994–95
	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December
Northern	1,667	1,636	1,575	1,458	1,257	1,022	610	667	712
Yorkshire and Humberside	1,919	2,003	1,860	1,851	1,684	1,604	1,333	1,328	1,296
East Midlands and Eastern	1,553	1,524	1,428	1,423	1,246	1,242	1,174	1,238	1,342
London and South East	6,343	6,002	5,883	6,097	5,809	5,750	4,969	5,140	5,125
South West	1,724	1,693	1,616	1,593	1,448	1,402	1,271	1,288	1,301
Wales	968	909	803	693	638	646	537	567	574
West Midlands	2,434	2,252	2,000	1,768	1,400	1,348	997	1,013	1,076
North West	2,564	2,297	2,341	2,288	2,049	2,038	1,803	1,781	1,764
Scotland	1,992	1,958	1,912	1,748	1,577	1,480	1,272	1,375	1,409
Great Britain	21,164	20,274	19,418	18,919	17,108	16,532	13,943	14,407	14,599

Table 4: Female community action participants each month—by region—1994–95
	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December
Northern	277	277	271	251	237	174	129	128	135
Yorkshire and Humberside	428	462	445	453	418	379	342	324	304
East Midlands and Eastern	383	385	372	364	335	336	322	342	378
London and South East	1,865	1,875	1,867	1,940	1,910	1,858	1,622	1,687	1,640
South West	368	382	381	389	377	360	332	343	353
Wales	274	267	217	206	183	207	174	169	160
West Midlands	991	704	653	573	462	411	313	309	323
North West	460	472	474	475	399	379	338	375	358
Scotland	450	461	436	399	366	343	292	313	333
Great Britain	5,196	5,285	5,116	5,050	4,687	4,447	3,864	3,993	3,984