§ Mr. AlexanderTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what percentage of the women who have used the single work-focused gateway were(a) single mothers, (b) married, (c) widows and (d) carers; and what steps have been taken to ensure that staff who operate this service are trained to give the proper advice to each category of women; [121099]
(2) what proportion of the clients who have used the single work-focused gateway have been women in the pilot projects in (a) Great Britain and (b) Clyde Coast and Renfrew. [121101]
§ Angela EagleCurrently, the information we collect from the ONE pilot offices is not broken down by gender or marital status.
April 1998 April 1999 April 2000 April 2001 Price uprating of RP (based on previous September RPI) 3.6 3.2 1.1 3.4 Earnings uprating of RP (based on previous September AEI) 4.1 4.9 4.4 4.3 Earnings uprating of the MIG (based on three months to previous July AEI) — — 4.6 4.9 Notes
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- 1. The minimum income guarantee (MIG) is uprated by average earnings index (AEI), based on an average of three months to July of the previous year. Actual AEI used for April 2000 uprating and an assumption for 2001 uprating. It is assumed that the take-up rate of the MIG remains broadly constant. Therefore any effects of this year's take-up campaign are not included.
- 2. The assumptions for Retirement Pension are actual price uprating to April 2000, based on previous September's Retail Prices Index (RPI), and an estimate of September 2000 RPI for 2001 uprating. Earnings uprating is based on previous September's average earnings figures up to April 2000, with an estimate of September 2000 earnings for April 2001 uprating.
Currently, the information we collect is not broken down by gender. Neither is information on marital status collected.
However, in the first seven months, the basic model ONE service was used over 72,000 times to make a claim to benefit. Over 60,000 of these were claims for Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA). Of the non-JSA claims, around 22 per cent. were claims for Income Support for lone parents, and around 8 per cent. were claims for other benefits including Widows' Benefit and Invalid Care Allowance.
ONE Personal Advisers receive individual tailored training through the ONE Learning Assessment Framework which has been specifically designed to match training provision with the individual training needs of staff. The Framework will be used by staff to review their learning needs and assess their competence development, which will provide them with the knowledge and skills needed to deal professionally with all ONE clients, including lone parents, widows and carers.