HC Deb 11 December 2002 vol 396 c373W
Mr. Heald

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many unemployed people have received support through the Action Teams for Jobs initiative; how many found work as a consequence of the initiative; and if he will make a statement on the sustainability of such employment. [85977]

Mr. Nicholas Brown

[holding answer 9 December 2002]Action Teams for Jobs are having a positive impact on the lives of disadvantaged people in the most employment deprived areas of the country. Up to the end of October 2002, Action Teams had engaged with 130,160 eligible jobless people and helped 53,010 of them into work.

Our research1 has shown that 80 per cent. of people who found jobs through Action Teams moved into sustained jobs (i.e. lasting more than 13 weeks).

1 Source"Evaluation of Action Teams for Jobs", Employment Service (April 2002).

Mr. Cousins

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the budgets were for each Employment Action Team in the last five years; and what the outturn expenditure was to April. [83245]

Mr. Nicholas Brown

[holding answer 26 November 2002]Action Teams for Jobs were launched in October 2000 and have so far helped over 50,000 people into work. Forty teams were in operation in the first, pilot year. In 2001, the initiative was expanded and the number of Teams increased to 63.

Information on the total budget and spend for the initiative in the last two financial years (April to March) is in the table.

£ million
Year Total budget Total spend
2000–01 20 10
2001–02 50 60

Notes:

All figures are rounded to the nearest £10 million. All figures include the cost of administering the Action Team initiative. The 2001–02 spend figure is forecast expenditure.

Source:

Jobcentre Plus

Information on the budgets for each Action Team has been placed in the Library, and is available on the Action Teams website, www.dwp.gov.uk/actionteams.

Information on the out-turn of individual Jobcentre Plus led Action Teams is not separately available. Out-turn figures for the contractor led Teams cannot be published because they are commercially confidential.