§ Mr. BarronTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, how many, and what proportion of vacancies advertised by his Department, and by each of his Department's agencies, in the last three years have listed the attainment of national vocational qualifications as an acceptable entry requirement; and, of those, how many have required (i) level 1 NVQs, (ii) Level 2 NVQs, (iii) level 3 NVQs and (iv) other level NVQs. [22978]
§ Mr. HagueThe Benefits Agency, Child Support Agency and Contributions Agency all accept NVQs as an acceptable entry requirement, although detailed 497W information in the form requested is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Other parts of the Department where recruitment has been more limited, are considering accepting NVQs for future recruitment exercises.