§ Mr. MacleanTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will provide a breakdown of the average monthly flow from the unemployment count for claimants aged 18 to 24 and unemployed for over six months for(a) each year from 1990 to 1999, (b) April 1993 to May 1997, (c) October 1997 to March 1998 and (d) April 1998 to the latest available month; [109273]
(2) if he will provide a breakdown of the average monthly flow from the unemployment count for claimants aged over 25 and unemployed for over two years for the periods (a) April 1993 to May 1997, (b) May 1997 to June 1998 and (c) June 1998 to the latest available month. [109274]
§ Mr. TimmsThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. David Maclean, dated February 2000:
As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary questions on the average monthly flow from the unemployment count for claimants aged 18 to 24 and unemployed for over six months, and for claimants aged over 25 and unemployed for over two years.The ONS publishes a monthly count of claimants of unemployment-related benefits. The claimant count consists of all people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance or National Insurance credits at Employment Service local offices. They must declare that they are out of work, capable of, available for, and actively seeking work during the week in which the claim is made.Information on the numbers of people entering and leaving the claimant count by age and duration on the unadjusted basis can be obtained from the Nomis database at the House of Commons Library.Between April 1993 and May 1997 in Great Britain on average there were 18,325 (4.6%) claimants aged 25 and over who had been claiming unemployment-related benefit for 2 years or more (computerised claims only) leaving the claimant count each month. The corresponding figure was 16,579 (7.3%) between May 1997 and June 1998 and 8,498 (5.8%) between June 1998 and December 1999. Computerised claims by age and duration data for Northern Ireland is only available from February 1994, therefore the data refer to Great Britain.