§ Sir Archy KirkwoodTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what research he has commissioned on the use of profiling; and if he will make a statement on the use of profiling within the benefit system. [134931]
§ Mr. PondWe have commissioned research to explore the potential in using statistical profiling to allocate work-focused help within the Department's client groups: sick and disabled people, lone parents and unemployed people. This research, which has been carried out by the Policy Studies Institute, is due to be published on 20 November 2003 and a copy of the report will be placed in the Library.
We also commissioned a large-scale literature review to help inform the development of the screening process used in the Incapacity Benefit reform pilots introduced in October 2003. This screening is used to distinguish between those incapacity benefit clients who are likely to make an early return to work and those who are not. This enables us to provide more intensive support to return to the labour market to people in this second group. The report of the review "Screening to identify people at risk of long-term incapacity for work" by Professors Gordon Waddell, Kim Burton, and Chris Main was published in May 2003.
In addition we have commissioned a literature review from the Institute for Employment Research, Warwick university to provide evidence to establish whether customer profiling could be useful to Jobcentre Plus, by using international comparisons from other public employment agencies.