§ Mr. OatenTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what national standards apply to the hours of opening of jobcentres; [10428]
(2) what plans he has to extend the opening hours of jobcentres. [10429]
§ Mr. Alan HowarthResponsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Leigh Lewis to Mr. Mark Oaten, dated July 1997:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions concerning the opening hours of Jobcentres. This is something that falls within the responsibility delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.The Employment Service (ES) policy on opening hours is to allow for flexibility in service delivery. ES Regional Directors and District Managers agree with Jobcentre Business Managers hours of opening to suit local circumstances. Offices are termed full-time providing they are open to the public for a minimum of 36 hours per week. Offices open to the public less than 36 hours per week are termed part-time. Only a very few offices are in fact part-time.In addition we encourage local initiatives to open Jobcentres in the evening or on a Saturday to meet the particular needs of the local labour market, for example for Job Fairs or Open Days where local employers and programme providers are available to give information to clients. Additionally, we provide for extended opening hours where a large number of people need to make a claim for Jobseeker's Allowance at one time; for example in the case of a large scale redundancy.We continue to keep our policy under review. We are also currently exploring ways of enhancing the delivery of our job broking services through greater use of information technology.I hope this is helpful.