§ Mr. GibbTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the finding of the National Audit Office report on the New Deal for Young People of 28 February 2002 on the average annual cost per additional person of any age in employment. [141796]
§ Mr. BrowneThe National Audit Office (NAO) estimates of the average annual cost per additional job were similar to those found in earlier research. Cost per job figures such as those produced by NAO count all the expenditure on the programme up to a point in time, but not all the benefits that will ultimately result from that expenditure—such as social benefits. They are, therefore, likely to over-estimate the long-run cost of the programme to the economy.
A study by the National Institute for Economic and Social Research found that for every £5 spent on the New Deal for Young People, the Government gets £3 back in higher tax returns and lower social security spending.