§ Mr. RooneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the staff grade of local adjudication officers based in jobcentres; and what duties other than adjudication they are expected to undertake. [4432]
§ Mr. ForthResponsibility 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 Derek Grover to Mr. Terry Rooney, dated 18 November 1996:
The Secretary of State has asked me, in the absence of the Chief Executive, to reply to your question about Labour Market Adjudication Officers.The Labour Market Adjudication Officer (LMAO) role exists purely to decide questions arising on claims for Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA). Only a small number of labour market adjudication questions will be decided in Jobcentres, and decisions on these questions will only be given by selected ES people who have been trained as LMAOs. The selection of people to perform this task is at the discretion of business managers and, when making their selection, the specific features of LMAO work will be a key consideration.We do not expect there to be a need for the LMAO role to be carried out on a full-time basis, although this may change over time. The function will normally be performed by an adviser or a back to work team leader, in addition to their usual duties.The grading of each individual post depends, therefore, on its content and it would not be right to assume that everyone carrying out the LMAO function should be allocated to the same pay band. In some situations, it may be that the additional LMAO responsibilities are sufficient to take the particular post into the next higher pay band. LMAO duties are, therefore, carried out by people in Management Pay Bands 5, 6 or 7, depending on the precise combination of duties.It will take time for JSA and the role of the LMAO to settle down. Once a position of stability has been reached, we would expect a re-evaluation of individual posts to be carried out as appropriate.I hope this is helpful.
§ Mr. RooneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will place in the Library copies of(a) the central adjudication services guidance on jobseeker's allowance used by sector adjudication officers, (b) the Employment Service guidance on jobseeker's allowance used by local adjudication officers in jobcentres and (c) the volumes entitled "Local Office Adjudication and Adjudication Procedural Guidance" [4433]
§ Mr. ForthResponsibility 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.
416WLetter from Derek Craven to Mr. Terry Rooney, dated 18 November 1996:
The Secretary of State for Education and Employment has asked me, in the absence of the Chief Executive, to write to you concerning the placement in the Library of copies of the Central Adjudication Services guidance on Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) used by sector adjudication officers, Employment Service guidance on JSA used by local adjudication officers in Jobcentres and the volumes entitled, Local Office Adjudication and Adjudication Procedural Guidance.My understanding is that the Central Adjudication Service have placed guidance on Jobseeker's Allowance used by their sector adjudication officers in the Library.The guidance manuals you requested on Adjudication Procedural Guidance, Labour Market Adjudication Officer Procedural Guidance and Local Office Adjudication have not been made available. This is in accordance with Part 7 para (a) and (b) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.I hope this is helpful.