HC Deb 19 April 2000 vol 348 cc552-3W
Mr. Willetts

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many initial invitation letters have been sent to lone parents in the target group for the New Deal for Lone Parents. [119248]

Angela Eagle

514,821 initial invitation letters were sent to lone parents in the target group from July 1997 to January 2000, the latest figures available.

Mr. Willetts

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many lone parents whose youngest child is aged five years and three months or over are in receipt of Income Support. [119245]

Angela Eagle

The number of lone parents on Income Support in Great Britain with a youngest child aged five years and three months or over is 470,000.

Source:

Income Support Statistics Quarterly Enquiry, November 1999.

Mr. Willetts

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many lone parents, under the New Deal for Lone Parents, have secured employment in each month since the scheme began, broken down into(a) target and (b) non-target groups. [119247]

Angela Eagle

The information is in the table.

Information for National Phase—October 1998 to January 2000
National Programme Target group Non-target group Total1
October 1998 16 7 23
November 1998 802 533 1,353
December 1998 492 382 884
January 1999 792 628 1,427
February 1999 1,139 883 2,030
March 1999 1,382 989 2,383
April 1999 1,866 1,314 3,190
May 1999 1,527 1,029 2,569
June 1999 1,381 898 2,290
July 1999 1,463 1,019 2,495
August 1999 1,122 750 1,887
September 1999 1,502 1,010 2,525
October 1999 2,924 2,248 5,198
November 1999 2,577 1,910 4,509
December 1999 1,319 1,124 2,459
January 2000 1,307 800 2,133
Total 21,611 15,524 237,355
1 The total column includes those for whom target/non-target is not recorded, for this reason the columns do not sum to the total
2 The total figure differs from the total figure quoted in the Statistical First Release (SFR) due to rounding in the SFR.

During phase 1 (July 1997-October 1998) 2,473 target group and 920 non-target group lone parents obtained jobs1. In phase 2 (April 1998 to October 1998) a total of 2,878 lone parents obtained jobs2.

1 Information is not available in the format requested for phases 1 and 2 because results were kept clerically and it is not possible to accurately break them down on a monthly basis. 2 In some cases it was not recorded whether the lone parent was either from the target or non-target group, for this reason the figures cannot be split into these groups.