§ Mr. Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is her estimate of the annual cost of restoring entitlement to income support to unemployed 16 and 17-year-olds; and what is her estimate of the present numbers of 16 and 17-year-olds who are not in education, training or employment. [12800]
§ Mr. ForthThe jobseeker's allowance has now replaced income support for unemployed men and women. Information is not available to calculate the cost of reintroducing JSA for unemployed 16 and 17-year-olds98W within normal estimating margins, due to behavioural factors. Illustrative costs, based on a range of assumptions are used instead.
Cost of introducing general entitlement to Jobseeker's Allowance to 16 and 17-year-olds Assumptions Benefit costs 1997–98 £ million 10 per cent. move from education to JSA 450 20 per cent. move from education to JSA 700 40 per cent. move from education to JSA 1,300 1 Costs are derived from the movement of young people from education to JSA, plus the costs of those who are defined as unemployed (but not on benefits) under the International Labour Organisation definition.
2 In addition to assumptions regarding the movement from education to JSA, it is assumed that (a) all 16 and 17-year-olds move into JSA from day one of the policy change; (b) 15 per cent. of the families of 16 and 17 year olds in education are on JSA (this assumption is the basis for an estimate of reduction in cost as a result of families losing entitlement to dependency and other family benefits); (c) half of the 16 and 17-year-olds who claim JSA move away from home and live independently and so receive Housing Benefit; (d) half of the 16-year- olds are the only children in their families.
3 To ensure consistency, the number of 16 and 17-year-olds in education and other groups affected by this policy are all based on the Spring 1996 Labour Force Survey. Estimates of costs are rounded to the nearest £50 million.
Of the 1,401,000 16 and 17-year-olds in Great Britain in autumn 1996, 172,000—12 per cent.—were not in full-time education, training or employment. Ninety-one thousand of those were unemployed, and 81,000 were either unavailable for, or not seeking, work.
Labour market educational status of 16 to 17-year-olds, autumn 1996 GB, thousands All In full-time education Not in full-time education All 1,401 940 462 In employment 679 389 290 ILO unemployed 181 90 91 Economically inactive 542 461 81 Source.
Labour Force Survey autumn 1996 "Rapid Release".
Notes.
1. The figure given in the answer is the number of 16 and 17 year olds who are not in full-time education, not in employment (full-time or part-time) and not on a government employment or training programme i.e. those who are not in full-time education and are either ILO unemployed or economically inactive. It includes a small number in part-time education as well as those who are sick, disabled or looking after the home/family. A fuller breakdown of young people's activities is in the table.
2. The figures are taken from the autumn 1996 Labour Force Survey (LFS) and were published by the Office for National Statistics in the LFS Rapid Release on 15 January.
3. All figures relate to young people who were 16 and 17 at the time of the survey.
4. The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is a sample survey of about 60,000 households in Great Britain conducted every quarter since spring 1992 and annually in the spring of each year between 1984 and 1991. As is the case with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to sampling variability.