HC Deb 01 November 2001 vol 373 cc844-6W
Mr. Clappison

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of those leaving the New Deal for Lone Parents left to enter(a) jobs lasting less than 13 weeks, (b) sustained jobs and (c) jobs lasting more than 26 weeks. [9681]

Mr. Nick Brown

The New Deal for Lone Parents has already helped over 100,000 Lone Parents move into work. More detailed analysis of the length of time people leaving the programme for work remain in their jobs will be included in the evaluation of the New Deal for Lone Parents National programme, which is due to be published in spring 2003.

Mr. Clappison

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many persons(a) were eligible and (b) entered the New Deal for the Long-Term Unemployed under the early entry provisions in each year since its inception. [9333]

Mr. Nick Brown

The monthly New Deal Statistical First Releases, which are placed in the Library, give information on the numbers joining the New Deal under the early eligibility criteria. Early entry to the programme is voluntary and no estimates are available of the total number of people who would have been eligible to join the programme early.

Mr. Clappison

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many of those entering(a) the environmental task force option and (b) the voluntary sector option in the New Deal for young people obtained a qualification through day release education or training in each year since 1998. [9329]

Mr. Nicholas Brown

The monthly New Deal Statistical First Releases, which are placed in the Library, give information on the numbers of young people starting each of the New Deal options. Information on qualifications gained is not available.

Mr. Allen

To ask the Secretary' of State for Work and Pensions what discretionary payments can be made from the Advisers Discretionary Fund; and if he will make a statement. [8098]

Mr. Nicholas Brown

New Deal Personal Advisers can make an award from the Advisers Discretionary Fund, up to a maximum of –300 for any goods and services needed to support a jobseeker with jobsearch, or to help them overcome barriers which prevent them applying for or taking up a job.

Mr. Clappison

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of(a) personal advisers and (b) senior advisers in the new deal for young people are members of an ethnic minority, broken down by ethnic minority; and if he will give the same breakdown for the members of the new deal for young people. [7978]

Mr. Nicholas Brown

The Employment. Service collected data on the ethnic breakdown of Personal Advisers across all the New Deals at the end of February 2001 as part of a one off exercise.

The results of that exercise are in the table.

Percentage
Ethnic group Proportion of Personal Advisers at end of February 2001
White 78
People from ethnic minority groups1 7
No data held 15
1No data held on specific ethnic minority groups

Source:

Employment Service Head Office Personnel Division

The ethnic breakdown of clients on the New Deal for Young People programme are in the table.

Percentage
Ethnic group1 Proportion of new deal for young people clients at the end of July 20011
White 79.6
Black-Caribbean 3.2
Pakistani 3.0
Black-African 2.1
Black-Other 1.6
Indian 1.4
Bangladeshi 1.0
Chinese 0.2
Other 3.0
Prefer not to say 4.9
1 Providing ethnicity information is voluntary, we cannot compel individuals to specify their ethnic origin.
2 The proportions shown are of those New Deal clients who completed an Employment Service form which requests information about ethnic origin. 95 per cent. of clients completed the form.

Source:

New Deal Evaluation Database

Mr. Clappison

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many personal advisers in the new deal for young people have left in each year since its inception; how many of these have left as a result of promotion in the Employment Service; and what estimate he has made of the average length of service of such personal advisers. [7979]

Mr. Nicholas Brown

The information is not available.

Mr. Clappison

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average cost per place on each of the four options in the new deal for young people in the last 12 months was. [7976]

Mr. Nicholas Brown

The information is in the table.

£
Option Unit costs for the year ending August 2001
Subsidised employment 1,638
Full time education and training 1,358
Voluntary sector 2,360
Environmental Task Force 2,478

Source:

Employment Service Management Information on New Deal for Young People