§ Mr. Frank FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many claimants had benefits sanctioned for failure to comply with a community service order in the last 12 months; what the sanction was; and over how long it operated, broken down by sex of claimant; [66729]
(2) what data he has collated on fixed period sanctions to the income-related Jobseeker's Allowance for each year since the sanctions were first applied, subdivided according to whether claimants have without good cause (a) failed to carry out a reasonable jobseeker's directive, (b) failed to apply for a compulsory training scheme or employment programme where this has been notified to them, (c) given up a place on, or failed to attend, a compulsory training scheme or employment programme, (d) neglected to avail themselves of a reasonable opportunity of a place on a training scheme or employment programme and (e) lost a place on a compulsory training scheme or employment programme because of misconduct; and if he will break down these figures according to whether (i) two or (ii) four weeks' sanction was applied; [66721]
(3) against how many claimants sanctions have been taken since the introduction of the Jobseeker's Allowance; how many cases were because (a) they lost their job 816W through misconduct, (b) left their job voluntarily without just cause, (c) failed to apply or to accept a job notified by the Employment Service without just cause, (d) neglected to avail themselves of a reasonable opportunity of a job without good cause and (e) other causes; and if he will break this data down by whether the claimants were (i) men and (ii) women and by the age of the claimants, noting for each category the average length during which the sanction applied; [66723]
(4) how many claimants committing fraud have lost benefit on their second offence over the last 12 months; and if he will list the size of the benefit lost and the duration during which the sanction has been or is being applied, broken down by sex; [66722]
(5) against how many people aged 18 to 24 on the New Deal a (a) two week, (b) four week, (c) 26 week and (d) 52 week sanction has been applied, broken down by (i) the reason for the sanction being applied and (ii) sex of the claimants. [66724]
§ Nicholas Brown[holding answer 4 July 2002]: We have taken powers in the Social Security Fraud Act 2001 to strengthen benefit fraud investigation and punish persistent offenders more severely. The provision to sanction people convicted of two separate benefit fraud offences in a three year period came into force on I April 2002, and can be applied only to people who commit two separate benefit offences after that date. It is therefore too early for this new sanction to have been applied in practice.
The new community sentence and benefits measures are being piloted in four probation service areas from 15 October 2001. We are giving a clear message to offenders that their rights to benefits must be matched by the responsibility to comply with their community sentence orders. Sanctions are applied when people receiving a relevant benefit are found by a court to be in breach of their orders. The sanction lasts for a maximum period of four weeks.
The available information is in the tables.
Benefit sanctions for failure to comply with a community service order by gender Percentage Female Male JSA (100 sanction) 10 69 IS (40 sanction) 21 27 IS (20 sanction) 1 2 Total number of people sanctioned 32 98 Notes
1. All figures are unrounded.
2. Figures include a small number of people who have been sanctioned more than once.
3. Data are from clerical returns received at the DWP Information Centre between 15 October 2001 and 28 June 2002, and relate to the period 15 October 2001 to 7 June 2002.
4. There are four probation service pilot areas: Derbyshire, Hertfordshire, Teesside and West Midlands.
5. IS recipients have their benefit entitlement reduced, depending on the circumstances of the individual or family unit, by either 40 per cent. or 20 per cent. of the single person's personal allowance. Those in receipt of JSA incur the withdrawal of the whole of their benefit but may apply for a hardship payment.
817W
Jobseeker's Allowance: fixed-period sanctions—October 1996 to March 2002 October 1996 to March 1997 April 1997 to March 1998 April 1998 to March 1999 April 1999to March 2000 April 2000 to March 2001 April 2001 to March 2002 Refused/failed to carry out Jobseeker's Direction 215 1,027 2,218 7,277 5,542 3,819 Refusal of place on training scheme/employment programme 616 1,108 380 1,335 838 308 Giving up place on training scheme/employment programme 881 2,631 3,888 6,146 4,236 2.859 Neglect to avail of place on training scheme/employment programme 1,246 1,714 527 1,089 956 144 Losing place on training scheme/employment programme 183 1,049 2,222 5,671 6,465 6,178 Failure to attend place on training scheme/employment programme 14,528 33,208 7,028 12,637 17,652 19,493 Notes
1. The data refer to the number of sanctions applied; data are not collected on the number of individuals sanctioned. An individual may receive more than one sanction in the course of a year.
2. Separate data on whether income-based or contribution based Jobseeker's Allowance is in payment at the time the sanction is imposed are not collected.
3. Data on the length of sanction applied are not available.
Source
Employment Service Labour Market Statistics, Analysis of Adjudication Officers' Decisions/Sector Decision Making, for years ending 31 March 1997 to 31 March 2002.
Jobseeker's Allowance sanctions October 1996 to March 2002 October 1996 to March 1997 April 1997 to March 1998 April 1998 to March 1999 April 1999 to March 2000 April 2000 to March 2001 April 2001 to March 2002 Losing employment through misconduct 7,155 22,357 22,682 18,888 16,430 15,939 Leaving employment voluntarily 36,573 109,994 103,206 86,226 85,965 73,186 Refusal of employment 4,098 21,906 11,118 19,169 26,370 38,216 Neglect to avail of employment 86 244 146 85 57 52 Others 24,780 40,749 16,268 34,163 35,694 32,807 Totals (all sanction questions) 72,692 195,250 153,420 158,531 164,516 160,200 Notes
1. The data refer to the number of sanctions applied; data are not collected on the number of individuals sanctioned. An individual may receive more than one sanction in the course of a year.
2. Data are not collected by gender, age or length of sanction.
Source
Employment Service Labour Market Statistics, Analysis of Adjudication Officers' Decisions/Sector Decision Making, for years ending 31 March 1997 to 31 March 2002.
The number of people claiming Jobseekee s Allowance has fallen from 2,002,400 in October 1996 to 947,600 in March 2002.
Jobseeker's Allowance: Sanctions under the New Deal for Young People (NDYP) Reason for sanction Number applied Leaving option voluntarily 12,932 Misconduct 16,835 Refusal of option 1,983 Neglect to avail of option 1,864 Failing to attend option 23,679 Total 57,293 Notes
1. The data refer to the number of sanctions applied; data are not collected on the number of individuals sanctioned. Some individuals may have received more than one sanction.
2. Figures cover the period from the introduction of NDYP on 1 April 1998 to 31 March 2002.
3. Data are not available by length of sanction or by gender.
4. There is no 52 week sanction.
5. NDYP options are: subsidised employment option; voluntary sector option; further education and training option; and environmental task force.
Source
Decision Making and Appeals Computer System